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-electrical contractor responsible for these installations to make <br />necessary corrections. Mr. Miller refused to acknowledge any <br />responsibility because he assumed the electrical installations <br />were inspected and approved by the Building.Department. <br />The Home Owners Association did not agree with Mr. Miller's <br />position and requested a resolution to the problem. A private <br />electrical contractor was hired to inspect seven (7) units and <br />according to his findings, the units were in violation of the' <br />National Electrical Code. A copy of this report was filed with <br />the Building Department along with a request for us to inspect. <br />The Building Department had previously inspected these units but <br />the electrical inspector who prepared the report was no longer <br />employed .by the County so it was necessary to re --inspect. The <br />current electrical inspector reported that -all seven units were <br />unacceptable and, in his opinion, below minimum standards. Fur- <br />thermore,, he concurred with the report filed by the private con- <br />tractor and recommended immediate action to correct deficiencies. <br />In an effort to resolve this matter, it was decided to seek <br />remedy through the Code Enforcement Board. The complex owners <br />and unit owners were notified of the code violations and subse- <br />quently ordered to appear before the Board. Since the violations <br />were similar in all cases, the Board elected to hear testimony <br />and try only one case at the first hearing. The final order of <br />the Board required both the property owner and unit owner to cor- <br />rect the violations or face a fine. Following the action of the <br />Board, the seven unit owners apparently hired an electrical con- <br />tractor to correct the. deficiencies. The work has been completed <br />and inspected to verify code compliance on six of the units. <br />The seventh unit repairs have been delayed due to an unrelated <br />conflict with the power company. <br />I will attempt to explain <br />after many hours of research, <br />during the development of this <br />we are addressing today. <br />to the best of my knowledge and <br />the inspection procedures followed <br />project that led to the problems <br />It became apparent in 1975 that mobile homes were becoming <br />a booming industry and there was a concern as to how safe these <br />units would be during- a hurricane. Indian River County adopted <br />a mobile home tie -down ordinance on ,July 21,_ 1975 to provide ade- <br />quate protection for -mobile homes. Prior to the adoption of this <br />ordinance, the Building Department authority was limited to the <br />pedestal supplying the electrical service to the unit. Procedures <br />were developed to make sure that every unit in Indian River County <br />was properly anchored. The first inspection was to check the <br />tiedown and, if the pedestal was installed, a sticker was placed <br />on the unit. In some cases, the electrical service was energized <br />at that time. After the electric was connected, the Department <br />lost some control over other work done on the site; such as, air <br />conditioning equipment and utility room wiring. The records will <br />clearly indicate that in some cases, no permits were issued for <br />air conditioning equipment and electrical wiring was added to <br />utility rooms that were supposed to be used for storage only. <br />The records also indicate these are the areas where most of the <br />violations occurred. Apparently a lot of this work was done with- <br />out securing proper permits and therefore was not subject to in- <br />spection. <br />It is important to understand mobile homes are entirely dif- <br />ferent than conventional on-site construction. The mobile home <br />unit is manufactured as a closed system, delivered to the site <br />as an approved structure and ready for occupancy. We have no <br />authority over the construction of this structure nor do we apply <br />any part of the Standard Building Code. This is the reason we <br />have different procedures for this type development. It is very <br />unlikely these problems would occur on conventional -type construc- <br />tion because the department inspects everything on-site as it <br />is being built. The electrical service is not energized until <br />all work is completed and ready for occupancy. The approval for <br />energizing is our best source of quality control. <br />41 <br />AY 14 1986 <br />MBoa 64 PnF 44.E <br />