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Building Safety Department under Fire Department

Re: Building Safety Department under Fire Department

I have seen what happens to the building department when it gets taken over by the fire department. The fire guys impose their will upon the building department and the consequences for not following without questions is the unemployment line. Under no circumstances should a building department allow itself to be part of the fire department.
 
Re: Building Safety Department under Fire Department

My daughter and son-in-law live in Champaign, IL. They built an addition to their home. Paid for the permits. Not much for inspections. When he had questions the son-in-law called me. They are moving out of Champaign in the near future, to Mahomet [out in the county] where things are worse... pay for the permit, no plan review, no inspections... and people think 'out west it's dangerous'?
 
Re: Building Safety Department under Fire Department

Building Department is part of Public Works here. My boss is the Director of Public Works and also the Planning Director. Because of him, and my flexibility, I am doing minor planning duties (admin) which is keeping me employed at 3/4 time. I have fire department questions, I go ask the Fire Marshal. Being small has it's advantages if everyone cooperates.

Sue, hmmmm..........which hat now? ;)
 
Re: Building Safety Department under Fire Department

Code Neo,

No problem :)

Thanks for the link,

Uncle Bob
 
Yes building safety department will come under fire department. The Building and Safety Department saves lives, but rarely gets the credit as policeman and firemen rush to the rescue. Improving building safety with photo luminescent markings and safety signage is affordable, and requires no consultation fees.
 
It would be fun to see a jurisdiction put the fire department under the Building Safety Dept. I'm guessing the whining and gnashing of teeth by the fire chief would be deafening with their moral plummeting to unimaginable lows.
 
incognito: Lmao!

In the 4 ahj's I handle 2 I am the FM. Two I am not. One in particular I want that way just for the second set of eyes. We seem in all places to work very well together. What ever the case may be, I believe it should be equal with respect for each other. The codes are two pronged. Structural on the one side and Fire protection on the other. The underlining of both is life safety plain and simple.

Now we have green, energy and a bunch of others tossed in. Maybe the best thing would be to have both the fire and building under a new growing green department. That would settle all the fights between Building and Fire cause they would have a new master.
 
incognito said:
I have seen what happens to the building department when it gets taken over by the fire department. The fire guys impose their will upon the building department and the consequences for not following without questions is the unemployment line. Under no circumstances should a building department allow itself to be part of the fire department.
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I don't disagree, but the BO can be kicked to the curb just as easily by the Director of Planning/Development, the Town Manager, or the Town Councilmen.
 
RJJ said:
incognito: Lmao! Now we have green, energy and a bunch of others tossed in. Maybe the best thing would be to have both the fire and building under a new growing green department.
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I have no interest in supervising FD, but I so want to be in charge of the Green Department.
 
GREEN CODE DEPARTMENT?!

RJJ and Texasbo, should have their tongues cut out and feed to them; lol.

Code Neo,

No problem with the highjack; I found out three days after I started that I'm the "Zoning Officer" and my immediate "Supervisors" are the Stormwater Manager, Code Enforcement Officer, Mayor, and Part-time City Planner.

Minimum time for issuing a shed permit is about 7 days.

All permits must be inspected and initialed by the Mayor, Stormwater Manager, and City Planner before being issued. No place for my signature; but, it is my responsibility. Can you spell gopher?

I would love to be under the Fire Chief right now,

Uncle Bob
 
The two entities should work together routinely. It is, after all, supposed to be about building safety...
 
I expect that in as little as one year, if you stay put, you will be able to look back and see to a significant degree how you have made it your own. Builders will use anchor bolts. There will be a place on the permit application for your approval. And, there will be numerous other influences and contributions made. I think you are a servant-minded employee UB, but I really don't see you as the type of person who is ever really under anybody. The authority of knowledge is at least as legitimate as the authority of position.
 
Wow, lost track of this one after CFC's lazy boy comment :) Anyway, building inspectors and fire inspectors should always work together since we evaluate safety measures in various means and hopefully similar to serve all interests.

I've seen it work both ways and don't have any issues with either way since I'm all about teamwork and every building inspector I've worked with totally understands the way I evaluate safety measures in new and existing structures. To get anything accomplished team members have to check their ego's at the door and remember those we serve and have a strong understanding of customer service; not to be mistaken with discression or lack of enforcement capability.
 
FM: I agree that ego's need to be left at the door. My fire guys at times see things differently then I do. Often it is a positive view on a condition or issue. We all benefit. Just like here on this board! In some way we all benefit form the different views even when we don't agree.

Texasbo: You will probably get your wish soon because Green is on the move and soon will dominate all code decisions.

UB: I will cut out my own tongue!

I sat in a meeting yesterday for about an hour & a half. I did not even make a mark on the tablet. One of the green people ask at the end if I had any comments and would I be willing to review the ordinances they had been considering. My answer to the do I have any questions was no. The answer to reviewing the ordinances was I do not think you want to hear what I have to say. Another asked as I was leaving you forgot your tablet! My response was there was nothing worth noting, so save the paper.
 
Well there you go, RJJ, you "went green"! My only hope is that the sheep, with their predictable short attention spans, will find another fad, another bandwagon to jump on, and all of the green BS will fade away. Kind of like the once-hot trend of throwing paint on people's fur coats, or scratching the paint on Hummers. All it will take is a new reality show to come along, or maybe a scandal on "Dancing With The Stars", and "Green" will all of a sudden be passe'.
 
Tesasbo: Just never heard such junk! There are some brain dead people in local politics and the room was full of do gooders! even being paid to sit through it did not compensate for the pain.

No I am not green, but am being forced into something that is not well thought out. I do agree we can do better. But I draw the line at reusing the coffee stirrers. Some of the things I listened to were so far fetched I had to keep for saying anything at all.
 
anyone that can correctly spell "luminescent" shouldn't be hanging around here with us peasants.
 
packsaddle said:
anyone that can correctly spell "luminescent" shouldn't be hanging around here with us peasants.
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With copy and paste, you don't need to be able to spell...
 
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