Approved Minutes — original pdf

Approved Minutes

REGULAR CALLED MEETING Electric Board APPROVED MINUTES The Electric Board convened in a Regular Called Board Meeting on June 15, 2022 at the Permitting Development Center at 10:15 am. Board Members in Attendance: Rogelio Wallace, David Johnson, Michael King, Delwin Goss, Gabe Flores, Victoria Shope, Randy Pomikahl, Ben Brenneman and Christian Spies Members Not in Attendance: David Deshaine Staff in Attendance: Rick Arzola (DSD), Eric Zimmerman (DSD) Marty Starrett(DSD), Joshua Davis (DSD), Mitchell Tolbert(DSD) and Michael Pittman(AE) June 15, 2022 1. CITIZEN COMMUNICATION: There was no registration of citizens to speak at this Electrical Board. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The minutes for the regular meeting of March 16 were approved with the following amendments on board member Goss motion. The amendments were: to strike the word “is” from the registration criteria listed in discussion item A under Austin Energy Criteria Manual. 3. DISCUSSION A. Austin Energy Criteria Manual- Austin Energy Distribution Process Manager Michael Pittman addressed the board on the summary of requested changes with Austin Design Criteria Manual. After some conflict with the proposed changes and confusion with conflicting codes, the board has asked for a copy of these proposed changes for their review and possible input. B. Contractor Disconnect Program- Commercial Electrical Inspector Marty Starrett provided a minor update to this as key members of Austin Energy were not able to make today’s meeting. In his update, currently 7 contractors have applied but only 3 did show up for the first class and the deadline for the last class is at the end of this month. To apply, you first would register with DSD special electrical inspection program and fill out the forms that are listed on Austin Energy website. https://austinenergy.com/ae/contractors/working-with-austin-energy/contractor- disconnect-program. C. Residential and Commercial Inspection Update- Commercial Electrical Supervisor Marty Starrett updated the board that commercial staff is at a 85 to 90 percent on time and that currently one inspector is out due to long term illness. Division Manager of Residential Inspections Eric Zimmerman updated that his staff is 70-75 percent on time and is the process of still training. Lost 3 inspection team members due to promotion but have filled their vacancies and in the process of training them. Staff is continuing to train on the residential combination inspection program. D. DSD Permit Process- Service Center Supervisor Josh Davis updated staff that the service center has hired 6-7 new agents and 6 of them have been mostly trained but it takes 6 weeks of appropriate training to learn all aspects of the service center but it takes about 6 months for them to be comfortable with handling permit issues on their own without assistance. Currently the service center goals for permit applications entered thru the AB+C portal is 1-3 business days and is currently working on 2 business days behind. Web form goals are 1-5 business but currently are 8-10 business days and should hit the portal and web form goals by the end of the month. Also the service center phone number was removed from the website to focus on the goals but you are still able to call 311 and request a call back, schedule an appointment by either in person or virtual or by using the service center request form. E. Update on Plan Review- Plan Review manager Mitchell Tolbert provided his update that his new Customer Experience Unit at the height of the winter storm were 19 business days behind and currently 3 days total in processing applications. Review is actually 5 days ahead and caught up. Currently fully staffed and has one position vacated but will repost in the coming days. One item for future discussion that was provided in his update that City Council passed a street impact fee in 2020 and it will be part of a collection from plan review before permit issuance. Projects with other disciplines could result in delays on the payment of these fees. Also the trade only permit review program in collaboration with the service center and inspection office is when a project has been submitted to the service center it is sent to the inspection office to determine if a trade only permit can be issued as a trade permit then it goes back to the permit center for issuance. But if inspections determines if it requires more than a trade, plan review submits it back to their intake unit for processing. To offset this, Plan review has established a Quick Turnaround Review for plumbing, mechanical and electrical trade permits in which require coordination of trades but not necessarily a building permit. This is roughly a 3 day turnaround. Also working a on project in which is a 3 day Express permit lane which will allow for projects that may need a building review and perhaps electrical but not necessarily other trades. But this is still in the works. F. Electrical Permits in the ETJ- Board member Pomikahl addressed DSD staff on addressing issues and on why electrical permits are required in the ETJ if services are provided by Austin Energy. Staff commented that they are working on the addressing issues and that if it happened again to contact Mitchell for assistance. As far as permits in the ETJ, the Building Criteria Manual is specific to ETJ areas and dictates that these areas in the ETJ will require electrical permits for service only. 4. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS a. Street Impact Fees approved by Council b. Austin Energy Criteria Manual Feedback c. Disconnect Contractor Program-Austin Energy d. Residential and Commercial Electrical Inspection update e. DSD Permit Process with the Service Center f. Update on Plan Review 5. ADJOURN: Board member Goss made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Board member Johnson seconded the motion. Motion passed 9-0. Meeting was adjourned at 11:59 Am. The minutes were approved at the August 17, 2022 meeting on board member Goss motion, Board member Johnson second on 9-0 vote.