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05-01-1985 Special o 0 CITY OF EDGEWATER Building Code Board May 1, 1985 Special Meeting Minutes Mr. Howard, Chairman, called the special meeting of the Building Code Board to order at 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers of City Hall. Members present: Mr. Howard, Mr. Cole and Mr. Vanzin. Excused: Mr. Hall and Mr. Ogram. Also present: Dennis Fischer, Building Official and Joan Taylor, Secretary. Mr. Howard reminded the members of the statement made by the City Attorney at the last meeting, i.e., any complaint against a contractor or subcon- tractor cannot be discussed with any person before this Board has heard it and acted on it. OLD BUSINESS Duties and Responsibilities of the Board Mr. Fischer, Building Official, provided the Board with a copy of the enabling ordinance of the City of Port Orange and that of the City of New Smyrna Beach. The purpose of this meeting is to come up with four items for the proposed building ordinance: name, definitions, enforcement and appeals, and regulation of the trades, Mr. Howard explained. Mr. Howard opened the floor for discussion regarding the name change. Mr. Cole questioned if they could make a name change, as this would not be in accord with the Southern Standard Building Code. Mr. Howard said that the City Attorney will need to advise the Board if they are permitted to do this, under the Charter. He went on to say that they are incorporating the name, building trades, which is in the Standard Building Code. The new name for the board was discussed. The members agreed to the name, City of Edgewater, Building Trades Regulatory Board, and Mr. Vanzin moved to recommend this name to the City Council. The motion was seconded by Mr. Cole and CARRIED 3-0. The members next considered the section on definitions. Mr. Howard said that both the Port Orange and New Smyrna Beach ordinances would be used as guides; he said the content of each is about the same. Mr. Howard read from the Port Orange ordinance and asked the members to comment and to make recommendations for changes where necessary. The section on defi- nitions was recommended as follows: Definitions When used in this ordinance, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them as follows: 1. Contractor means any person who, for compensation, undertakes to, or submits a bid to, or does himself or by others, construct, repair, alter, remodel, add to, subtract from, improve any building or structure, including related improvements to real estate for others, or for resale to others, and who is responsible for substantially the entire project. Contractors are subdivided into three (3) categories as follows: a. General Contractors b. Building Contractors, and c. Residential Contractors 2. Contracting means, except as herein exempted, engaging in business aS,or performing services as,a contractor. 3. Board means the City of Edgewater, Building Trades Regulatory Board. 4. Certificate of Competency means a certificate of competency issued by the City of Edgewater, Florida, as provided herein. ~ Q 5. City means the City of Edgewater, Volusia County, Florida. 6. Building Code means the technical codes and regulations in Chapter 7, Article II, Code of Ordinances, City of Edgewater, Florida. 7. Building Official means the official in charge of the building inspection department of the City of Edgewater, Florida. 8. Firm means any type of business organization including partner- ship, corporation, joint venture, association and individual. 9. Occupational License means a valid and current occupational license as issued under the provisions of state statutes by any Florida municipality or County. 10. Owner-Occupier means a person having a vested interest in the property who either occupies or intends to occupy the premises and who improves the premises for his own use. 11. Registration means a certificate of registration issued by the City as provided herein. (Ref. Section - $5.00 for subcontractors) . (a) Certificates of registration shall be valid throughout the City and shall be renewable annually, upon conditions hereinafter described. A register shall be kept in the office of the Building Official in the City Hall, showing the name, date, and the address of all persons to whom a certi- ficate of registration is issued hereunder. (b) The fees required by Section of this Ordinance are due or payable on the first day of of each year. Any subcontractor found working in the City without a valid certificate of registration shall be subject toa $25.00 fine and shall do no further work in the City until a valid certificate of registration is acquired. (c) A certificate of registration shall become invalid if a sub- contractor's occupational license shall not have been renewed within thirty days after its expiration date. (d) Subcontractors applying for an original certificate of regis- tration shall submit to the Building Department the following: 1. A copy of a valid Florida occupational license, unless this is for an original Edgewater occupational license. 2. Proof of proper insurance coverage as defined by Section XIX of this ordinance. 3. Subcontractors who are state registered shall show proof of their State registration. 4. A copy of a valid surety bond in the minimum amount of $1,000 made payable to said City. At this point Mr. Fischer briefly outlined his recommendation and procedure for registering the subcontractors. 12. Responsible Managing Employee or Official means any agent or officer or employee of a general contractor who has authority to make admin- istrative decisions, to hire, promote, transfer, lay-off, discipline other employees, or effectively to recommend such action, or to superintend work in progress, and who is available for consultation in the technical and administrative phases of his principal's business. 13. Subcontractor means an individual or firm which enters into an agreement with a contractor, owner, or with another subcontractor for the performance of any part of such work as described in the definition of con- tracting. SECTION No person or firm shall engage in business as a con- tractor or subcontractor as herein defined in the City without having a valid and effective license and a certificate of competency or certificate of registration. Building Code Board - 2 - May 1, 1985 o o Under Classification of Contractors, all members agreed that this section, defining general contractor, building contractor and residential contractor, should be included in the ordinance. The members again discussed the registering of subcontractors. Mr. Fischer emphasized the need to be sure these people are insured. Mr. Howard suggested this section on definitions be sent to the City Attorney for perusal. Mr. Vanzin asked if this will be returned to the Board for review after the City Attorney looks at it and Mr. Howard assured the members that it would be returned for further review by the Board. Mr. Vanzin moved .to send the proposed definitions to the City Attorney for his review. The motion was seconded by Mr. Cole and CARRIED 3-0. Under adoption of standards by code is 3(a), Enforcement of Trades by the Board. Mr. Howard referred to the enabling ordinance for the Building Trades Board of New Smyrna Beach, which gives the general outline for composition, terms, qualifications, organization and compensation, and suggested altering this to fit the Edgewater Board. Mr. Howard read from this ordinance, using the terminology for Edgewater: There is hereby created a building trades regulatory board for the City of Edgewater which shall be composed of seven (7) members: one general contractor, one con- tractor at large, one journeyman or master electrician, one plumber and gas installer, one architect, one mechanical installer and one at large. Each member shall serve for a term of three (3) years; provided, current members as of the adoption of this ordinance shall serve an iterim period as members for thirty (30) days following the adoption of this ordinance, at which time their terms will expire. Members of the board shall be resi- dents of Volusia County, Florida, and preference shall be given to residents of Edgewater in the appointment of members. Four (4) members shall constitute a quorum for the conduct of business of the board. It shall require a majority vote of those members present, assuming there is a quorum, to take any action that is within the jurisdiction of the building trades regulatory board. It shall be the responsibility of the board to make certain that all members of the board maintain their qualifications to serve on the said board. If the board determines that a member has ceased to possess the re- quisite qualifications, the board shall thereupon have the authority to suspend that member from voting and shall so notify the said member in writing and shall further notify the city council in writing of its action. The city council is hereby vested with the authority to remove the said member. If a member misses three (3) unexcused regular meetings of the board, that member shall be considered automatically removed from the board, and a person from that field shall thereafter be appointed to fill his or her unexpired term. In any case, the city council shall, in all cases, have the authority to remove any member of the board at any time at its pleasure. Whenever a vacancy is to occur on the board by way of the term of a member expiring, the building trades regulatory board shall make one or more recommendations as to nominations for the position to be filled, and said recommendations shall be in written form and shall be turned into the city clerk at least sixty (60) days prior to the vacancy. Whenever a vacancy occurs not due to expiration of a term, the said board shall make its recommendation within forty-five (45) days after being notified of said va- cancy. The board itself shall annually select a chairman and a vice chair- man. The members of the board who are general contractors, the members of the board who are master electricians and the members of the board who are mechanical contractors shall have the qualifications specified for their respective fields as required by the ordinances of the city and laws of the State of Florida, where applicable. The member of the board who is a gas installer shall have the qualifications of a master plumber. The member of the board who is an engineer shall be a registered engineer under the laws of the State of Florida. The member of the board who is an archi- tect shall be a registered architect under the laws of the State of Florida. Members of the board shall serve without compensation. The following wording was recommended for the duties of the board: The building trades regulatory board shall have and perform the following duties, powers and responsibilities: (a) To determine that an applicant for a certificate of competency or a certificate of registration has the requisite qualifications Building Code Board - 3 - May 1, 1985 o o for the field for which he is applying, and to revoke or rescind a certificate of competency or a certificate of registration where that person is found to be incompetent or lacking in the requisite qualifications, providing, however, that the building official shall have the authority to issue a certificate of registration, unless, in his opinion, the applicant should be reviewed by the building trades regulatory board. (b) To satisfy itself as to the character and integrity of each applicant for a certificate of competency or a certificate of registration and to require such pertinent information as it may deem necessary. (c) To recommend amendments to the various codes and regulatory standards that have been adopted by the city council that bear upon the construction industry and building trades in general. Mr. Vanzin said that he would like to suggest an addition to this section. He recommended that the Board be given the authorization to interview applicants for the position of building official. The members agreed with this suggestion and added the following paragraph: (d) (Reserved) Said board reserves the right to satisfy itself as to the character, integrity and experience of any person or persons applying for the position of building official prior to being interviewed and/or hired by the city council, and further- more, reserves the right to make recommendations on said person prior to the hiring of this person by the city council. (e) To hear appeals and apply adjustments whenever an appeal is made by an aggrieved party who is a contractor, subcontractor, owner, or any other person engaged in the building trades industry, from any decision of the building official. Mr. Howard suggested that if all membemagree with the enforcement and appeals section a motion would be in order. Mr. Vanzin moved to recommend that these items be accepted. Mr. Cole seconded the motion, which CARRIED 3-0. It was agreed by the members that there should be a full board present when the section on the regulation of the trades is discussed. Copies of the Port Orange and New Smyrna Beach ordinances will be provided to all members at the next meeting, as well as a draft of the material covered this evening. Mr. Fischer recommended that the members meet in two weeks and.then allow a month for him to get copies of the 1985 revisions. He also pointed out that the City will pay the fee for any of the members attending the Code Revision Seminar being held May 17 and 18 at the Holiday Inn, Surf Side. The five code areas will be reviewed and Mr. Fischer suggested the members may wish to attend only that part of the seminar dealing with their trade. He said that everyone in his department is attending. The next meeting of the board is scheduled for May 15. The members briefly discussed a letter from the Daytona Beach Area Home Builders' Association concerning the lifting of performance bonds in Edgewater. The Chairman pointed out that this matter will be addressed at a regular meeting of the board. Mr. Vanzin moved for adjournment, seconded by Mr. Cole. The meeting was adjourned at 8:32 p.m. Minutes prepared by Joan Taylor Building Code Board - 4 - May 1, 1985