Letters to the Editor

City must modernize regulatory ordinances

The plumbers and electricians serving Altoona are competent professional tradesmen. But Altoona's regulations for these trades are a jumbled mess of contradictions. There are two regulatory standards.

1. The International Trade Council (ICC) examinations which verify the contractor's proficiency. The City of Altoona does not receive or need these test results.

2. The uniform Commercial Code (UCC) adopted by Pennsylvania requires plan drawings, plan review, permitting, initial and final field inspections of the work to ensure safety and code compliance.

The inspections should be conducted by an independent agency, with records maintained by a City Department. The UCC code purpose is to enforce good building and construction practices.

Altoona has adopted the UCC code, but does not follow it. A City ordinance regulates the licensing and permitting of building, plumbing and electrical services, but does not mention inspection. Which regulation applies, the UCC with Independent inspection or no inspection?

The electrical regulation says each place of business shall have no more than two Apprentice electricians to one Journeyman or one Master. Altoona has 52 Apprentice electricians, 45 Journeymen, and 129 Masters. The places of business are not identified. Only licensed individuals are noted.

Only the Plumber Examiner can issue licenses for Apprentice, Journeyman and Master plumbers. The ordinance says only Journeymen have the option of taking the ICC test. Altoona's ordinance does not understand the purpose of the ICC test.

The Plumber regulations also limit each business to one Apprentice, one Journeymen,

or one Master. Currently Altoona has 51 Apprentice, 29 Journeymen, and 65 Master Plumbers. Places of business are not recorded; only licensed individuals are recorded. This is very confusing.

Altoona needs to modernize its regulatory ordinances to conform with the UCC guidelines and Pennsylvania Law, including inspections conducted by a neutral party and written records of those inspections.

Lawrence D. Carter

Altoona