MINUTES OF MEETING OF BOARD OF ELECTRICAL APPEALS May 10, 2005 - 3:00 p.m. OFFICE OF CENTRAL INSPECTION CITY HALL, 455 NORTH MAIN OCI CONFERENCE ROOM, 7th FLOOR Chairman Roy Meinhardt called the meeting to order at 3:07 pm, with Board members Larry Hackney, Dale Johnson, John Whittit and Secretary Tom Kerschen present. Also present was Steve Schauner electrical inspector and Doug Moshier attorney for the City of Wichita. Board members Harold Ragland, Larry Clark and Jerry Addington were absent. The minutes of the April 26, 2005 special meeting were read. Board member Whittit made a motion the minutes be approved as written, it was seconded by Board member Hackney and approved. The recent examination results from Experior Assessments for electrical examinations administered by their office for City of Wichita approved applicants were presented to the Board. The results were as follows: APPLICANT APPLICANT EXAMINATION EXAMINATION NAME NUMBER CLASSIFICATION RESULT Rodney Schlick 7633 Master Passed Gary Lindow 8802 Journeyman Failed Jody Olsen 8428 Journeyman Passed Heath Alcaraz 9570 Res. Journeyman Failed Four (4) Master Electrician and two (2) Journeymen Electrician examination applications were reviewed for approval to be administered the appropriate examination for certification. The results were as follows: NAME NUMBER CLASSIFICATION ACTION Bradley Ashcraft 4938 Master Approved Michael Branstetter 6164 Master Approved Kevin Dearinger 4951 Master Approved John Clark 9610 Master Approved Kevin Vanderhoff 4039 Journeyman Approved Michael Henley 0231 Journeyman Approved Under part A of the unfinished business section of the agenda, the Board welcomed Tom St. Peter of Saint Electric and Boyd W. Howard, attorney at law. Secretary Kerschen explained the violations of Section 19.08.015 of the City of Wichita Title 19 to Tom St. Peter about having an apprentice electrician on a job site without the required supervision of a journeyman or master electrician and asked if he had any comments. Mr. St. Peter explained to the Board in detail about his experience and that he has been in business for about 18 years and his company mainly wires new houses. He continued stating his company has wired about 5000 homes and has not had any complaints from his customers. He felt that he did an adequate job of supervising his electrical apprentices work without having to be with them. Mr. St. Peter explained that a journeyman would, in some cases, be just a few houses away or went after material or he himself would be close by. Mr. St. Peter explained to the Board that he was in the process of downsizing his company but he would like to stay in business so he was requesting the Board reinstate his electrical contractors license. Mr. Howard asked the Board is he could speak and the Board granted him the floor. Mr. Howard explained that Mr. St. Peter's father had recently passed away and that he has been out of town helping his mom. Mr. Howard also stated that the letter Mr. St. Peter received telling him to attend the April 12th Board meeting did not describe the seriousness of this and that the consequences could be so severe. Mr. Howard requested that the term "job site" as used in the ordinance be defined as he thought maybe a couple of houses away in the same development might be considered as job site. Mr. Howard also requested the Board reinstate Tom St. Peter's electrical license for Saint Electric and make it retroactive back to April 12th. Board member Whittit made a motion to go into executive session for 15 minutes to discuss this issue with Doug Moshier, the City attorney. Board member Hackney seconded the motion and it was approved. This time was 3:40 pm. At 3:55 pm the Board reconvened. A motion was made by Board member Hackney to reinstate the electrical contractors license for Saint Electric effective immediately and directed the Office of Central Inspection (OCI) to send Tom St. Peter of Saint Electric through Boyd Howard a letter stating the interpretation of supervision of apprentices/helpers by (OCI) and a definition of job site as used in Section 19.08.015 and outline the penalties for failure to comply. Board member Whittit seconded the motion and it was unanimously approved. Under part B of the unfinished business section of the agenda, the Board welcomed Lawrence Newton of Newton Electric. Secretary Kerschen explained he received a faxed letter on March 17, 2005 from Wayne Wilson addressing concerns about electrical wiring that Nevins Electric, Kevin Nevins, was doing at his stepdaughter's house at 3612 W. St. Louis. Secretary Kerschen checked the records at the Office of Central Inspection (OCI) and discovered that Nevins Electric was not a licensed electrical contractor and that Kevin Nevins was not certified by (OCI) as a journeyman or master electrician. Secretary Kerschen did find an electrical permit issued to Newton Electric for a service upgrade at 3612 W St. Louis and he explained to the board that he called Mr. Wilson to verify that the company name was Nevins and not Newton electric. Mr. Wilson told Kerschen that Nevins Electric was the name of the contractor and that he thought his stepdaughter had receipts with that name on them. Kerschen continued to explain that he talked to the stepdaughter, Theresa Dragoo, and she confirmed what Mr. Wilson said and she said that Mr. Nevins was at the house working right then. Secretary Kerschen told the Board at that point he contacted Inspector Schauner and requested he go by and investigate. Inspector Schauner explained he went to 3612 W St. Louis and found Mr. Nevins working and when asked to see his electrical certificate Mr. Nevins said he did not have one for the City of Wichita. Inspector Schauner said that Mr. Nevins told him he was working for Newton Electric. Lawrence Newton told the Board that Mr. Nevins contacted him and asked if he would help him do a service upgrade at 3612 W. St. Louis and he agreed thinking he would be on the job with Mr. Nevins doing the work. Mr. Newton said the Mr. Nevins contacted him a couple days later and said the work was done and ready for inspection, but then contacted him again the next morning and said it was not ready after all so Mr. Newton felt that was better as he could be there when the work was done. Mr. Newton explained that it was later that day that Secretary Kerschen contacted him about that job and asked him is he was aware that not only the service had been upgraded but also the house had been rewired. Mr. Newton said he was not aware of that, but he would check into it. The Board asked Mr. Newton if he corrected the wiring, had a successful inspection and if there was additional charge to the owner. Mr. Newton said the wiring had been corrected and inspected, Secretary Kerschen confirmed this, and that this was done at his own expense. A lengthy discussion followed between the Board members and Mr. Newton about the seriousness of violating Section 19.08.120 of the City of Wichita Title 19. The Board stated they were pleased that Mr. Newton took the responsibility to make the corrections on his own and follow it through to a successful completion. Board member Hackney made a motion that Mr. Newton accept this as a warning and take steps to not allow this to happen again. Board member Johnson seconded and it was unanimously approved. Under part C of the unfinished business section of the agenda, the Board tabled the review of the 2005 NEC, because of the late hour, until the May 24th special meeting. With no new business to conduct, Board member Hackney made a motion to adjourn. Board member Whittit seconded the motion and the meeting adjourned. The time was 4:50 pm. Tom Kerschen, Secretary, Board of Electrical Appeals 1