Staff and Batavia council see plumbing inspector issue differently

The simplest solution is to apply for a charter to make Batavia a Village instead of a City. It gets you off the hook and it sets the record straight after centuries of misrepresenting itself. Buffalo is a City and Rochester is a City, is Batavia a City? In name only. You can call a bicycle a car but it will still be a bicycle. I happen to like bicycles, a lot more than I do cars, and so do y'all or you wouldn't live in Batavia. Just call me Metaphor Man. I also answer to "Frickin' Retard" the nickname lovingly attached to me by Richard Gahagan of "You won't get any more traffic from me hicktown TMZ" fame. And I don't recall Barb Toal retiring until well after Jason Molino cut her full time position to half time, or does my memory fail me?

Howard, you forgot to mention the part where the Plumbing inspector from Amherst (who happens to be a Master Plumber) called bullsh*t on Molino's reference to his town using code enforcement officials to inspect plumbing.

If this is going to be anything like trying to get licensed to do plumbing the city - GOOD LUCK! It's sounding like nobody on the planet is "qualified".

The big problem is that this is a small city and the job is only part time.

So you have to find a Master Plumber who wants only part time work and by NYS law is no longer working as a plumber and by NYS law lives in the City.

That leaves somebody who is retired or no longer able to work as an active plumber anymore. And there are just not that many Master Plumbers around, period, in this City.

The code enforcement officers have NO TRAINING in plumbing, and there are safety issues to think about.Van Nest and Molino don't know what they are talking about, neither of them have any training in plumbing. The date and time slip my mind at the moment,but somewhere in Ontario a hundred or so people died from contaminated water due to improper plumbing. Molino and Van Nest have no clue!!! Molino declared a state of emergency and ordered the code officals to do plumbing inspections, it is still illegal. They have no training in plumbing.If I am not mistaken, Ron Toal quit because the board was being pressured to do things they did not want to do and populated by unqualified appointees,people who have no business being on a plumbing board, more city employees, appointed by.... you guessed it ,Molino. Seems to me this city HAD a qualified employee that could legally do plumbing inspections, and had all the training and certification to do code enforcement,but some idiot didn't like that person for some reason and started this whole stinking mess. I think for the safety of the people of the city of Batavia, council should send him packing, he is a threat to the well being of this city!!!

At the risk of pushing fiscal conservative buttons, I think the whole stinking deal smells back to when a city full time employee was forced into retirement if she didn't want to see her retirement cease to grow while continuing to work at half time pay. It's called the WalMart mentality, people are numbers. Most caring adults call that shameful, in Texas some nitwits cheer. You guys are better than that, and so are Texans. We're going to show y'all in November. Mark my word. -El Retardo de jorge! Verdad!
Love you Howard, not gay love (although there is nothing wrong with that) just everybody love, that is lacking in the world everywhere. Love.

Ken,
I remember Barb Toal was going to retire, full time or not. She had to work a little longer than she might have wanted at the end because of going part time, but she was going. She had put in her time. Did you think she would stay forever?

And even if she stayed another year, the same problem would come up. There is a lack of Master Plumbers who meet the NYS requirements: live in the city and who are not in the plumbing business.

I am not saying your wrong about the training the enforcement officers have, but do you know Master Plumbers looking for part time work who meet the state requirements?

John,
She had no plans of leaving for a long while, twenty years is not the mark for retirement, she was forced out by the nit wit and you know it! Anyways, the city is breaking the law.
How long is Molino's emergency going to last? Had he not created it, we would not be having this problem for another eight to ten years. Why would any Master Plumber work part time for this city, when they can make more in one day as a plumber. The plumbing inspectors job should be full time anyways. Then we would not be having this discussion.The city is breaking the state law. State law also says the plumbing board is to be paid, maybe all past board members should get together and file a lawsuit, I think that would be an outstanding idea! Maybe all the Plumbers should get together and boycott the permit process all together, illegal is the way to go here, just ask the city manager.

Ken,
OK, I had heard wrong. But that does not change the fact that there is a serious lack of Master Plumbers available to take the job, full or part time. There just are not that many, who meet the state requirements.

How many do you know who could meet the requirements, if they wanted (city resident and not an active plumber)?

Any idea way there is a shortage?

And you might remember how people demanded the city cut back on the number of people it has working for it. You do remember, right?

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying your wrong. Just that even if Barb had stayed longer, we would still have the same problem. One solution would be to ask the State for an exemption from having to have residence requirements. Then you could go outside the area for a Master Plumber to work part time, and to get more Master Plumbers for the the Plumbing Board of Examiners. With the declining population around here, that might be an idea to look into.

John,
Make the job full time as it should be, and it would be filled in no time at all. Oh, wait a minute, we had that and some idiot screwed it up. Lets see, we will make the plumbing inspector/code enforcement officer part time to save the city money, then we will hire a code enforcement officer full time, belittle the plumbing inspector that is part time till she quits, declare an emergency (only after you are found to be in the wrong) and have your unqualified code officers do plumbing inspections. How much more garbage does he have to thrust upon this city before council gets a spine and cans his useless ass?

Ken,
Fact is the job is part time. And it is not going back to full time any time soon.

What do you think of asking the state for an exemption from the residency requirements for both the Board and Inspector? There must be a Master Plumber in Erie or Monroe County who would be interested.

John,
How about we make the job full time as it should be. You will not get a master plumber to come here from Erie or Monroe county and deal with the managers stupidity, they are used to dealing with professionals. I know for a fact that his decisions to cut that job to part time has cost one contractor doing a very large job in this city well over $9000.00 because he could not get inspections. I told him to send a bill to the city, in care of Molino. Everyone just keeps defending him, he does no wrong. What a crock!
I hope I'm wrong but, it is just a matter of time before something happens. Lawsuits by the hundreds.

Here you go. Another reason why not to consolidate the town and city of Batavia and call it all a city. Current town residents would not be able to change their own faucet or toilet without having it inspected costing town residents more money again. NO CONSOLIDATION!

John,

Isn't this situation a good reason to admit that taking the plumbing inspector job to part-time may not have been a great idea.

Sometimes when people yell about cutting city employees, they need to be reminded that for a city to function properly and safely, certain requirements need to be met.

I'll give you an example. One of the jobs I did in the Air Force was crash recovery. My co-workers and I spent a lot of time in the office watching The Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel, but nobody ever suggested that we should stay home for half of the day because we weren't all that busy.

We also did flight control rigging which, like plumbing is a pretty exact science. Every job we did was inspected and signed off on by someone who had more experience and more knowledge than the person who performed the work. The reason for this should be obvious, but I'll spell it out here anyway. When a person performs a task that has life/death implications for other human beings later on, that task should be approved and the work double-checked by a second pair of trained eyes.

Actual life/death example: A little over a decade ago, an F-15 had it's elevators rigged backward. Upon takeoff the jet flipped over, crashed and exploded killing the crew. Proper inspection and supervision of the rig and ops check would absolutely have averted the disaster.

Plumbers do more than install tubs and toilets. We're talking about gas lines, sewer lines, contamination avoidance etc...

I'm sure Mr. Toal can spell out the myriad of reasons that work needs to be inspected by people who understand the intricacies of the plumbers' more difficult tasks and I'll go out on a limb and assume that he'd agree with me that even a master at his craft sometimes needs the reassurance of a second pair of trained eyes following him up.

The city code officers need to be protected here as well. They have had a responsibility foisted off on them that they are not prepared for. It is purely the fault of city management that there are untrained people being required to inspect work they have no business inspecting.

What if, God forbid, something goes wrong in the next few weeks. If someone gets hurt or sick because of a bad installation, how much do you think the lawsuit is going to cost the City of Batavia, because you'd better believe that if something like that happens, some savvy lawyer is going to realize that inspections were being done by unqualified individuals and soon enough, the city is going to be shelling out millions to a plaintiff instead of paying thousands to keep the Plumbing Inspector job full time.

Now, I know that there is some bad blood between city management and former members of the plumbing board. I have no idea why it exists, nor do I care. All I know is that the City of Batavia looks, to the untrained eye, like a municipality that can't see the forest for the trees. Pretend you're a fly on the wall for a minute and try to explain to yourself how our city went from a fully functional Plumbing Board and a qualified inspector one month to having a single-member Plumbing Board, no inspector and a declaration of emergency the next.

I am a firm believer in the idea that there is no such thing as a surprise when you're doing your job correctly. City management either knew this was going to happen and didn't care, or ignored the fact that this was happening and engaged in CYA tactics when the proverbial fecal material hit the rotating blades. Either way, somebody needs to hand Jason Molino a plunger and a snake 'cause there's an awful mess to clean up.

Chris,
I don't know if the job had enough work for a full time employee, maybe yes, maybe no. City Council and the manager didn't think so. And they don't seem to be changing their minds.

Some small cities in NY have gotten exemptions from this law (Elmira, Hornell, Beacon, Glenn Falls and a few others).

Others, like Corning have exemptions from the residency rule.

Maybe Mr. Toal is right and nobody local will take the job, maybe not even at full time. I think this is the time to approach the State and get the exemptions, or Mr.Diegelman is right, consolidation is dead. Why would the Town want to be stuck with such restricted rules?

And George is right, if we became a village, automatically, this problem goes away.

Is there no end to the discussion of the need for more government spending? There is no doubt the world will come to an end without a full time plumbing inspector for our one horse town. What’s the thinking here? The name of our town starts with the word “City” therefore, we need all kinds of people on the dole. Let’s spend all the money we can!! We obviously need to create more government jobs.

Safety? What a crock of shit… WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE???? WAKE UP!!!!

John,

All I see here is a situation that needs to be rectified, I don't have a dog in the fight. I'm also seeing that city management, for whatever reason, seems to have been treating its plumbing board as an adversary rather than as a partner; that bothers me.

Charlie, yes, SAFETY. Turns out, it's important. I'm not trying to save or reinstate jobs here, just show me a solution that has our plumbers being inspected by people who understand the job thoroughly and I'll walk away happy.

Chris,
Just to play devils advocate.

Why is only Plumbing required to have a special board to pick who can do business in the city and have a special inspector?

Because plumbing is complicated and you don't want just any old hack messing with your gas and sewer lines. And before you ask why villages and towns don't need to have the same, my answer is, 'Maybe they should.'

My solution for this would be to open up the residency requirement and keep the job part-time, if there are no takers then bump the job to full-time again. Sometimes to do the job right, you have to pay for it, pretty simple.

Not for nothing, but what about villages with a sizable population? If safety is the true concern, why is there no inspector required in every municipality? And why is my safety living in a large village less concerning than the safety of those living in a tiny city?
Personally, it always puzzled me why Batavia, as well as Hornell and Salamanca, were designated as cities. They are really larger villages. How ironic is it that Johnson City, about the same size as Batavia, is a village?

Chris said "And before you ask why villages and towns don't need to have the same, my answer is, 'Maybe they should.'"

Spoken as a true democrat, more government is always the answer.

Bud, I'm sure you meant, 'Spoken like a true Democrat, the safety and health of every citizen is always the answer.'

Chris,
Isn't electrical work complicated? How many fires in Batavia have been the result of bad wiring or electrical problem? How many from a plumbing problem?

Non-sequitor John. Also, back flow from your breaker box doesn't affect your neighbor.

Let's keep our eyes on the problem here before we get too far afield. The city manager has had to declare an emergency because he couldn't keep the team together. Personal squabbles have interfered with the business of the city and the situation is completely unacceptable.

A lot of folks who post here say that government should be run like a business. What would typically happen to an employee who had an entire department resign because of him?

Also John, couldn't the excellent safety record of plumbing in Batavia be because of the rigid inspection process?

Why can't the two jobs be merged into one full-time Plumbing Inspector/Codes Enforcement Officer position that requires a master plumber as a job qualification?

I'd sign up for that JoAnne.

Chris,
The "emergency" had nothing to do with the lack of a Examining Board of Plumbers. The board, which usually meets once a month if needed, approves who can get a license and work in the City. And the board is not part of a department but and are not city employees.

The emergency had to do with a lack of an Inspector.

The inspector's duty is just that, inspect. The inspector is a member of the board automatically.

If we had an inspector, but no board, there would be no emergency.

I don't think making the inspection job full time just to fill it is the way to go. Paying more would be better when you consider the added cost of benefits and retirement a full time person would cost taxpayers.

John, I linked the two here because, in this situation, there is no discernible difference between why we don't have a board and why we don't have an inspector.

You knew that though.

Chris,
While the two are related, it is the lack of an inspector, not the board, that resulted in the "emergency".

But if we ask the State for residency exceptions like other small cities (and two large ones) have, and maybe raise the pay for the part time job, we should be able to resolve the problem. And even if the job had to be full time, the residency rule should be removed.

Or we could, like 6 other cities, ask to be exempt form this mandate altogether.

Chris, oh yes I forgot. You can get crap in your gas pipes without a “master” plumber on the job. They can save that one for an idiot they are looking to rip off with an overpriced work estimate. Sorry, they can’t have anymore of my money to support some outdated unfunded mandate from Albany meant for a real city.

This plumbing board has greased the wheels long enough in this town. Our “good old boy” plumbing board keeps people from passing their magical test so they can monopolize all the work as they screw over the competition.

Then they crap all over the City Manager because he is on to their game. The gig is up, Jason isn’t stupid.

Charlie, they were forced to grade those tests and both applicants failed. Looks like plumbing isn't as easy as you'd like people to believe.

I'm not questioning the intentions of city management. When they took the Plumbing Inspector job down to part time, fiscal responsibility seemed to be the goal. Looks like that was the wrong choice, but it OK to be wrong every once in a while.

I like JoAnne's solution to this. If the code officer was also a Master plumber the problem would be solved, waiving the residence requirement would open the door to more qualified job candidates. We'd end up paying the same salary for a code officer minus one part-time inspector job and we could all get on with our lives.

Chris,
There were 3 tests graded and all failed. One was a city DPW employee who was originally said to be eligible, then later the Examining Board said he was not eligible. One of the other two is licensed in many other municipalities, but "failed" the test here.

As for the Code Enforcement Officer being a Master Plumber, it sounds good. But you have to be a plumber here for a very long time to even be allowed to take the test. And then they might fail you. Now, if the DPW worker had "passed" the test, he could have done the inspector job and we would have saved a bit of money, and this would not have been an issue.

So, lets hope the city asks for the exemptions ASAP.

John, it's a written test, 'they' don't fail you. You fail yourself.

Back to the point though. There are no surprises in management This 'Much Ado About Plumbing' drama has been going on for over a year; Mr. Molino saw this coming and failed to head the problems off at the pass. The result was a declaration of emergency. For a subject so basic to result in an emergency is unacceptable from my viewpoint.

Chris, you’re not a gullible person so, take a moment and think about this…

You’re a plumber making a good living. You are also on the government board that decides the qualifications for any competition you might have. So what you would like me to believe is that in Batavia, it just doesn’t seem like anyone is “qualified” to be a plumber, huh?? Pipes is like rocket science...

Leave the sarcasm at the door Charlie, this is a serious issue. Are you publicly accusing former members of the plumbing board of immoral or illegal activity? If that's the case, you should have had John and his Charter posse change the structure of the plumbing board so there was more oversight by City Council.

This looks like another case where former and current City officials recognized a problem and instead of addressing and fixing in right away they sat on it until it was convenient to use said problem as a crowbar to push an agenda. Once again, unacceptable.

What ARE the qualifications to be a licensed plumber in Batavia?

For someone like me, plumbing IS rocket science; but I happen to be an excellent test-taker. I would think that there should be additional qualifications (schooling, apprenticeship, experience, etc.) required to be licensed so that someone like me couldn't cram and pass a written test to be deemed qualified for something that I am obviously not qualified for.

JoAnne, there are some pretty serious experience requirements.

Charlie has implied that the qualifications are unfair so as to limit competition. I only ask because I do not know what the qualifications are and find it difficult to "read between the lines" of all these posts.

Chris,
One of the questions was why do you want to be a plumber. They could fail you just on that. Come on, if they want you to pass, you pass, if they don't want you to, you don't.

It would appear the City believed the DPW worker would be qualified, problem solved.

But since the board had decided the DPW worker was not qualified, after he had already taken the test, there was no way he was going to pass. Now there was problem.

And Charlie makes a point as to why the city needs residency exemptions.

JoAnne,
The qualifications are whatever the Board says.

Joanne, from what I have heard the qualifications change on the fly. As do the when the tests are offered and how and if your test is even graded. So you could study all you want, you’re not getting your license. Don’t take my word for it; go ask a plumber who has tried to work in the city. There is a lot of them so, it should be easy to find one.

Chris, there is no crow bar in my hand, I don’t call the shots and don't care too. It is nice to see that Jason has finally gotten around to cleaning up this problem; he has been a busy man for the last few years. I'm glad we have him.

All I'm asking John, is if there is a written set of qualifications somewhere; or are they just made up and applied arbitrarily, as is being implied here?

Can anyone give an example of a qualification imposed by the board that is unreasonable or arbitrary?

JoAnne,
Yes and no. There is a written set of qualifications in the Department of Public Works. You can go over and read them (I don't know if they are on line or not). But the Board can change them as it wants. The Board also makes up the test and scores the test.

Like the question, why do you want to be a plumber? How do you get a right answer? It's up to the Board. If they like your answer, great, if not, too bad. How do you prepare for that question (I'd answer, " so I can make some money").

None of the qualifications, such as time as a working plumber and the like are unreasonable, but they are arbitrary. They can make the time required as a plumber shorter or longer as they see fit. There is also no set time, like once a year in May, that the test will be given, that's arbitrary also. They give it when they want.

But, the real problem is that the people who pass or fail you, are most likely to be your competitors in the future. That just does not seem right to me. Does it to you?

On a side note, I am glad Dave Pero brought this up. Most people did not know there was an Examining Board or what it did, or anything about it.

Charlie,
As you have said in board meetings in the past, It is not illegal until you get caught.
Safety? What a crook of shit! Well ask Mr Brown in Oak Orchard if safety is an issue, his house exploded when someone that knew nothing of proper plumbing practices tied a line into the sewer without a trap, water heater lights,BOOM there went the house.Call over to Atwater house, ask about someone drilling into the copper drain line to drain the furnace condensate pump, oh wait a minute, thats the sprinkler line, quick turn off the water,most people don't know one pipe from another. If you don't like one estimate get more than one, any Idiot knows you get more than one. Or people can do like you did and do it yourself illegally.

Joanne,
We had a plumbing/code officer. The city did away with her job.

John,
Electric is inspected by a third party, it has to pass before the power company even places the meter. The plumbing board does not pick who can work in the city, it is a written test, pass it and you too can do plumbing in the city, fail it,study more and try again.

Charlie,
I forgot one point. The qualifications to take the test have been the same for years, the whole board was not there, one of the missing people caught the mistake after the fact.

Ken,
I don't need a licensed electrician to put in new lighting or wiring in my house, or even to hook up an generator. But unless I do it myself, I need a licensed plumber to put in a new faucet or toilet. I can't use somebody who is a plumber in the Town of Batavia, but not approved by the city.

I am not against inspections, but only plumbers need to be licensed and only in cities, and then not even in all of them.

Ken, are you in favor of eliminating the residency requirements for both the board and/or inspector? If not, why?

JoAnne,
They did not do away with the Inspector's job, but reduced it to half time, which was and still is controversial.

John,
Electric is supposed to be done by an electrician and inspected. Do know how many amps 14/2 wire can handle? Do you know how many recepticals can be on one 15 amp breaker? If not , something could over heat and start a fire.

Joanne,
They reduced that job to part time, and then hired a full time person in the code enforcement office to save the city money, not sure how that works, go from paying one person 8 hours a day that can legally do both jobs, to paying one person 8 hours a day and one person 4 hours a day. Not very cost effective if you ask me.

John,
Residency issues, don't know of any. The last two inspectors both lived outside the city limits. Sitting board member at this time live outside the city limits. Did the assistant city manager move in to the city yet? I do not recall.

Ken,
1st) But why doesn't the electrician not have to be examined by the city, like a plumber? That's my question. Again, inspection is not the issue here, but only one trade being required to pass a test.

2nd)Since we do not have enough qualified people who live in the city, as required by law, we have ignored it. If Barb Toal didn't live in the city, she was in violation of the law as a member of the board, same as the Asst. Manager. So, why not ask the State for an exemption and do it right.

3rd) Would a formal exemption be OK with you personally?

John,
I don't care who does the inspections, as long as it is done by a master plumber who knows what is what.People who don't know what pipe is what or think all pipes are the same, should not even touch plumbing. Those things I wrote about a couple of posts ago are not made up, do plumbing wrong and possibly die!

Ken, what we have is a group of plumbers who make the rules for their own benefit. They limit competition and control the market. They used to break up monopolizes, it's an unfair act.

The law was made to milk us for fees.

John,
Do electric wrong and maybe get knocked on your ass with a shock, or burn your house down. Electric is supposed to be inspected. I think electrical inspectors are tested by the state possibly, I 'll check with my electrician.

Ken, are you serious with this " do plumbing wrong and possibly die!". You could die crossing the street. Should we hire a Master Crossing Guard for every street? How else can government save me?

Charlie,
There is no group of plumbers making the rules to benefit themselves. They don't limit competition and control the market.
The tests were made up from the Plumbing code of the State of New York and The plumbers licensing study guide. Know the codes and you can pass the test.
Ask any Plumber in the city and you will get the same response, no one wants to stick their hands in shit, people these days want an air conditioned office job. The inspection department is the only department making the city any money.

Ken,
Then we agree.

There is a need for inspection and should be by a qualified person. I think a journeyman might be OK, but that is just an opinion. Our main agreement is that the inspector or board member do not have to be local.

You and I have probably beat this horse to death.

Ken, I have no gripe with plumbers. They do a crappy job at times and earn their money everyday. I also understand plumbing is a skilled position and one to take pride in. My problem is with what I see with this board and government intervention. I don't need government to check my toilet.

Ken, it should be my choice who I hire to do work in my house. I should be allowed to hire a master plumber or JoeBob if I want to be cheap. If I pick someone who doesn't know what the hell they are doing, then it's my fault.

Bad analogy Charlie, just about everybody can cross the street without dying by instinct alone. Plumbing is a skill and a highly technical one at that.

As long as you insist on ignoring the fact that plumbing is a science that has serious repercussions when done improperly, you'll be on the wrong side of this issue.

I feel like I need to remind the folks reading this that plumbing is about more than your tub and toilet. Look past your house and think about commercial plumbing applications like gas lines, fire suppression systems etc...

I'm confident that if folks take the time to really think about all the jobs that plumbers perform, they'll understand why qualified inspectors are necessary.

Chris,
When this law was first crated in the early 1900's the purpose was to make sure main water lines and sewage lines were not mixed and done right. Like many things, over the years the law morphed and ended up requiring inspection and licensed plumbers to install sinks and toilets.

There are number of things that could help solve this. Require Master Plumbers for major plumbing work where the public interest is involved; like water mains and sewage lines and gas line work Drop the rule for things like sinks and showers.

We could do like Binghamton, Schenectady, Elmira, Beacon, Hornell, Glenn Falls and Poughkeepsie and be exempt. I believe they are all larger than Batavia.

Ken,
Do you have any idea how did plumbers end up with gas lines instead of the gas companies?

John,
In most cases the gas company hires a contractor to put gas mains and service lines in up to and including the meter set. The plumber is responsible for the lines through the house. That's the way it has been for the 17 years I have been in the business.

Ken,
I have no problem with who ends up doing the gas lines. I was just wondering how historically it ended up a plumbers job and thought you might know. It was just a long shot.

Do we need a plumbing board? is it a local law? there's no electric board,construction board,roofing board,HVAC board. My opinion,if you're in the business or have an interest in one, you should not be in a position to say who will be your competition (conflict of interest). All work, (plumbing,electric,whatever)should be inspected and permitted (as in construction permit),by the city/village/town. In the case for electric,the work is checked by a UL inspector in different stages of work,service,rough in,and final inspection,should be no different for plumbing or anything else. The inspector should be qualified,certified by the state or governing body to the trade in question,but not be "in the business" (conflict of interest)or allowed to bid on jobs he/she is inspecting. All building trades are under the gun to provide good craftsmanship,myself included,but today if someone watches This Old House,HGTV,or DIY channel for 15 minutes they think they're qualified. Those shows are to INFORM the viewer,not QUALIFY them. I was in the store pricing out washers and dryers and a lady asked her son,(late teens,early 20's) if he knew how to run a gas line and he said, "I think so - maybe - it cant be that hard". Just remember, it may cost alot to get something done by a qualified craftsman,but remember, they're paying for insurance,certifications,and schooling to stay up to date with the latest and greatest to make sure the work is done to,or above code, and the money spent is staying in the community at various stores,and the local electrical,plumbing,HVAC,Roofing supply houses.

P.S. I've never heard of an essay question on a plumbing test...

Paul Dibble
City of Batavia Resident
Union Member
Rochester, NY

Paul,
It a NYS law that cities, no matter how small have to have this board. But many cities have exemptions.

Ok John, I guess I got off track, the real issue is the inspector. I guess the city has some work to do,not only to find a replacement but someone that can cover as a back-up in case of emergency,like an illness to the new inspector. Who approves the new inspector,the board? or council? Do/Can they only inspect plumbing,or can they do other things in the codes office? Does an interim inspector fall under the same "rules" as a perminent position in regards to residency,and whether they still work in the trade or not? If all this is mandated,did the city attorney tell jason and was the job posted before Barb left?