The WasteWater Treatment Plant Inspection UnNecessary

I have copied an email i Received yesterday below. It seems that the Ohio Dept. Of Commerce, Industrial Compliance Division does not need to inspect. It is exempt from the Ohio Building Code according to the email. So I assume that the Violation will disappear and that the project will continue on without any third party inspections.Look below for the emailed information.

Jeremy

RE: Notice of Violation

Tuesday, April 28, 2009 6:51 PM

From:

"James J. Klamet"

View contact details

To:

"J Shaffer" , "James E. Gabriel, P.E." , "Don Seaton" , "Jay W. Shutt, P.E."

Cc:

"Mac McCauley, P.E."

Mayor,

I just want to assure you that I did speak to Geoff Eaton (Bureau Chief & Assistant Chief Building Official) at the Bureau of Building Code Compliance today. He verified that this project does not need to be inspected by the State since the structures involved are exempt from the OBBC inspection requirements. He apologized for the oversight by his staff in requiring a plan submittal last Fall. He will also refund the building permit fees that the Village paid for (@$1,600). I need to provide the Village Tax ID number to complete this request for reimbursement. Please have Kim e-mail this number to me as soon as possible.

James J. Klamet

Official Notice of Violation

I have uploaded the Notice of Violation. I received this today from the State Building Inspector assigned to this project. I hope this explains the snag I mentioned a few days ago. I have other letters, one that I sent to the Engineer regarding the importance of this project and growing concerns. I have received a copy of a letter that was submitted to the Department of Commerce, by Floyd Browne CEO, Jay Shutt, in response to the Violation.
It is important that we understand the repercussions of this, the Village is under an EPA mandate, this project is funded with public Money, the community needs the increased capacity etc... It is important that the project is done correctly the first time. I have been doing my best to make sure that the project is being done in the best interest of the community.

Criminals Beware

An Organizational meeting to develop a Neighborhood Watch was held today. It was a huge success. There were people from throughout the Community present. The group set regular meeting dates to be the 2nd and 4th Saturday of each month at 10AM.
The next two meetings will be held on May 9th & May 23rd. At the Lynchburg Municipal Building located at 155 S Main Street. At the next meeting the group will have a standardized log sheet to assist in tracking potential crimes. A Contact list of important numbers. They will be ordering T-shirts and Yard Signs that points out a Neighborhood Watch is underway. Please join the Neighborhood Watch and assist in helping keep the community safe.

Lynchburg Police Contact:
911 for Emergency
Office 937-364-6659
LPD On Call 937-509-6057
HCSO Dispatch & LPD After hours         937-393-1421

WWTP Phase One Has a Snag

The improvements to the Waste water treatment plant have been going smooth until this week. The expected substantial completion was going to be around the first of May. AT the last construction update, on Friday April 10, there were a few new updates that the Engineer, Floyd Browne, had not taken into account on the electrical portion of the job. The Engineer presented me with work directive three. This was a change order to the electric portion calling for larger wire and service to handle the larger wet well and potable water pumps throughout the project. The contractor noted that they would need extra time due to delays on the electrical and due to some weather days during the course of the winter. This will probably set the substantial completion off by 30 days or more. All parties seemed to believe that the project would be completed in time for the final inspection and final completion dates.
On April 23rd, the State inspectors for building and electrical were present at the job site. The electrical inspector told the Electricians to proceed, however the Engineer needed to submit changes to the State of Ohio for the electrical updates. The building or structural inspector reported that there was a violation, due to the fact he had not been notified of the projects progress and this was the first time he had been on site. He did report a violation and informed the engineer, Floyd Browne, that they were to submit a letter and supporting documentation of the progress and take responsibility for the work that had been done and not inspected. Throughout this project, I had asked about inspections several times, which seemed to fall on deaf ears. This may, and will probably slow the project completion. It will depend on how quickly the Engineering firm works to repair the situation. The site representative, for the engineer, has taken pictures and notes throughout the project.
The contractor, Sunesis, has seemed to have done good work and has been particular throughout the project thus far. I do not want to make this sound good or bad, at this point I do not know. It is very disturbing that the State inspectors have not been kept informed as they should have. I have sent letters and emails expressing my concerns to the engineer, Floyd Browne.
The next scheduled Construction Meeting will be held on Friday May 8th at 10am at the Municipal Building

Lynchburg Building Department

Many of you may know that in May of 2008, the Council passed several resolutions regarding the certification of a Lynchburg Building department and entering into an agreement with Clinton County Building and Zoning for enforcement of State Building Codes.
The Agreement with Clinton County was to issue permits and inspect work. This was at no annual charge to the Village, however Clinton County would charge developers, builders, etc for the issuance of a permit. This building department will cover all building and upgrading within the Village corporation limits.
At the time this was enacted and application was sent to the State, Myself and the Council members believed that this was important, in order to put standards on all building within the Village. As many know there have been several problems in the past with building and substandard workmanship.
This is not a fix all, however it will increase property value over time.
The application was submitted last year to the Board of Building Standards. They have set a meeting date for the Certification of this application for May 1st 2009, 10am in Reynoldsburg Oh at the Board of Building Standards office, room #1 at 6606 Tussing Rd.
As you may see from this, it takes quite awhile to implement and move forward with legislation. I will continue to work hard to make Lynchburg a better place, and set a higher standard for the quality of Life.

Upcoming Dates to Remember

Upcoming Dates to remember:
April 25th Nieghborhood Watch 2nd Organization Meeting 12 Noon at Municipal Building
April 30th, May 1st, May 2nd - Yard Sale Days
May 5th Special Election
May 9th Lynchburg Village Clean up Day (Dumpster Available at Village Street Barn)
May 24th Memorial Day Parade and Program, Masonic Cemetery

To Better Inform and Communicate

I have found it hard to find the right tool to flow information easily to the community. There are many devices which I use and many of you may be familiar with those. I send regular articles to the local media, write a newsletter article once a month, send out information by way of email. Still it seems that the daily activities are not logged easily to keep people up to date and informed or at least not as much as I would like for the bar I have rasied. Part of this is due to the fact that the amount of information is overwhelming to me at times, as you may know I do not have a staff in my office, after all it is a small town. Part of it is I try to tackle what is important at the time, and what I can handle, so things are prioritized and put on hold. I came to the realization I can not do everything, even though I would like to, there is not enough time. Lastly, I do not always know what is going on with different parts of the organization all the time. Each department is carrying out a different mission, and they work under their own set of rules and regulations. I may have influence over the departments as Mayor, however when things run smooth, I usually do not hear anything. The Departments of the Village Government are as follows, Wastewater, Water, Law Enforcement (Police), Fiscal Officer, Utilities Clerk, Mayors Court. Currently there is not a street department, however the Village Council does contract maintenance foe streets. The legislature is the Council which is made up of six elected officials, which are broken down into working commitees. At this time the Village government only has 8 employees that are paid for their time or service. Three of which are appointed, which are the Fiscal Officer, Mayors Court Clerk, Magistrate. The other employees are the Utilities Clerk, two Police Officers, Water and Wastwater Supervisors. The Village operates it's Utilities and Service with very minimal staff. This is due largely to budget constraints, however there is an efficiency created by having a small and quality workforce.
I will attempt to use this blog to send information on thoughts and progress of activities as I know about them. Please bear with me, I may not post everyday.