Approved Minutes — original pdf

Approved Minutes

REGULAR CALLED MEETING March 20, 2024 Electric Board APPROVED MINUTES The Electric Board convened in a Regular Called Board Meeting on March 20, 2024, at the Permitting Development Center at 10:03 am. Board Members in Attendance: Victoria Shope, David Johnson, , Delwin Goss, Christian Spies, Michael Grant and Ben Brenneman Members Not in Attendance: Gabe Flores, David Deshaine and Joel Cochran. Staff in Attendance: Rick Arzola (DSD), Josh Davis (DSD) James Epperson (DSD), Marty Starrett (DSD), Todd Wilcox (DSD), Moses Rodriguez (ACD) PUBLIC CITIZEN COMMUNICATION: Austin Code personnel Moses Rodriguez gave a brief update on proposed changes to the 2021 International Property Maintenance Code (IPMC) that felt the Electrical board would have some interest in. In that update, 60 amps in residential to 100 amp to coincide with the NEC and mandate the owner of residential properties to provide Air Condition to the residence. This is a council mandated item however the affordability impact may be too difficult to enforce. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1. The minutes were approved for the October 18, 2023, regular called meeting on board member Brenneman motion, board member Goss second the motion. Motion passed on a 6-0 vote. DISCUSSION 2. Electrical Ordinance 80.8 Suspension of Registration- Building official Todd Wilcox provided information that the current enforcement issues sit with electrical inspectors, and they are not staffed to enforce anything beyond to their regular electrical inspections. And with the current shortfall to the budget, there will not be any hiring of personnel to the enforcement team or fees to cover the additional work. So currently, the executive staff feels that there is not an appropriate staffing level to enforce more than what we do now. 3. Code Enforcement on Stop Work Orders related to Electrical Ordinance- Mr. Rodriguez with Austin Code will run the numbers for 2023 but was unable to provide the information at this board meeting. We will visit this agenda item at the next board meeting. Building official Wilcox did weigh in on this matter and wanted to clarify that since the merger Austin Code with Development Services, the code division will issue stop work orders violations on the electrical sections of the IPMC. The electrical inspection division of Development Services issues stop work orders on violations of the National Electrical Code (NEC). 4. Commercial Plan Review Update-. Development Services Commercial Electrical Plan reviewer James Epperson provided that commercial review remains to be on time. An electrical plan reviewer position has been posted with 4 potential candidates; interviewing should begin in the next few weeks. Plans submissions are on the rise post spring break. Expedited plan review and residential plan review are down in numbers, roughly 34%. 5. Service Center update on staff personnel and permit output- Service center staff manager Josh Davis provided that 3 new temps were hired and will start on Monday after loosing 4 staff positions in the last 6 months. 1 lead position in the service center closes on Friday and the addition of one more supervisor in the coming days to assist with Amanda issues. The numbers remain the same as last year, 500 applications a week through the AB+C portal and webforms. Roughly 1-2 days behind targets but steady in deadlines. 6. Commercial and Residential Inspection update on staff vacancies and timely inspections- Division Manager of Commercial Electrical inspections, Marty Starrett provided that both Residential and Commercial Electrical inspections survived the BPI training in November and the holidays. Commercial Electrical was roughly 75% at the end of November, however, did lose 2 electrical inspectors during that time. Also, in that Nov-Dec time frame, both residential and commercial electrical inspectors saw a large number of scheduled shutdowns to prep for winter storm events by supplying inspections for generators in residential homes. Both groups did close to 600 inspections for this and knocking down AE backlogs roughly 4 months. In January DSD posted for 4 commercial electrical inspectors, the initial candidate turned down the officer, the second individual, accepted the position and 3 day later decided to leave, the third candidate, accepted the position and plans to start on Monday. The fourth individual was offered but has not responded. Commercial Electrical numbers are roughly running about 79% for March and were 89% for February. Residential numbers are not fully known at this time as Residential supervisor Aaron Finney was absent to provide that information. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS 1. Electrical Ordinance of 80.38 Suspension of Registration of Electrical Contractors. 2. Austin Code- Numbers on Stop Worker orders that are being issued in the community. 3. Commercial Plan Review update on number of submittals, on time ratio and staffing. 4. Commercial and Residential building inspection update on turnaround time and staffing. 5. Service center update on applications turnaround time and staffing. 6. Technical Advisory review Panel and how changes to the Criteria Manual go through this panel for 7. Discussion and Action- Election of Chair and Vice Chair nominations. its decision making. ADJOURN: Board member Brenneman made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Board member Goss seconded the motion. Motion passed 7-0. Board member Shope left the meeting prior to adjourning. The meeting was adjourned at 11:43 am. Minutes were approved at the May 15, 2024, meeting on board member Grant motion, board member Johnson second the motion. Motion passed 7-0. Board member Spies and Cochren were absent from the meeting.