Information and Links of interest to members:

PACK Newsletter July 2008

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ACCESSING EX-OFFENDER INFORMATION ON KASPER

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House Bill No. 2058
AN ACT concerning cities and counties; relating to the licensure of certain contractors; relating to certain license or occupation fees, charges and taxes; amending K.S.A. 12- 1509, 12-1542, 12-1617 and 19-2233 and repealing the existing sections.

What is Home Rule?
Kansas is a Home Rule State and that is the basis
for authorization by the local governing body.

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From the City of Wichita-OCI Plumbing & Mechanical - January 2007

Continuing Education:
There has been much confusion concerning Continuing Education. The following is the House Bill and City of Wichita requirements in part, which pertains to Continuing Education.

............... all persons receiving such license (Plumbing and/or Mechanical Certificate) annually to obtain not less than 12 hours biennially of continuing education approved by such local governing body. Continuing education may be provided by the local governing body or a nationally recognized trade association. All 12 hours of education may consist of code up-date training on the code currently adopted in the county or city where licensing is being requested.

The emphasis above is noted by myself. It is my intent to inform the reader the actual requirement appointed by the State. It is up to each Local Governing Body to approve the training. Speaking not for other local governing bodies, but for the City of Wichita, the requirements of the State are Minimum and can be exceeded by each local governing body. Following are the requirements by the City of Wichita for Plumbing and Mechanical certificate holders for Master and Journeyman Certificates.

All training must be submitted and approved by OCI prior to class time.

Any approved training shall be in a classroom setting. Examples of classroom settings would be: Union Halls, Associations, which have access to classrooms designed for training. (Such as KCCA uses Service Master's training room) KPHCC (Uses Local 29 class room) PACK has their own classroom, other manufacturers have training rooms and of course Convention Centers have designated training rooms.

All training must be related to the type of certificate(s) issued. Safety and safety related training would be considered.

Training may be product related provided it is to perform service and technical training on a particular appliance.

Training on the code is accepted, provided it is at a minimum of the year in which this jurisdiction is in. Example: City of Wichita is currently under the 2000 UPC. So any plumbing code 2000 and up would be considered. City of Wichita is currently under the 2000 IMC so any code training 2000 and up would be considered.

Credit is given for actual classroom hours.

It is the responsibility of the Certificate holder to make sure the class they are taking is approved locally. They are also responsible for keeping track of the approved courses they have taken.

Note: The City has some forms you can use to track approved classes you have taken. Bringing course I.D. numbers will not suffice as we cannot track them, nor can we approve classes at renewal time.

Credits may be carried over from one year to another, but not skip over a year.

Example: If you have more than required in 2007 to renew for 2008, you may carry over the extra credits earned in 2007 (2006 credits cannot be carried over into 2008).

All 12 hours of approved credits must be presented at the time of renewal.
[Wichita OCI standardized form
CEU Log to track your continuing education unts]

If you took a code class and got your certificate in 2006 or 2007, continuing education credits would not be required until next renewal cycle. (Be sure to have proof of the code class taken).

A list of approved classes is available at City Web site.

City of Wichita will start accepting certificate renewals September 4, 2007 for the 2008-2010 cycle. Please do not wait till the last minute to renew.

REMEMBER: Always check with YOUR local governing body to be sure the classes you are taking count for renewal in that jurisdiction.

Please Note: There are several Associations you can access that have Web sites. They also have calendars that list classes available. Remember, just because they may be listed on a Web site does not mean the City of Wichita has approved them. I do not know of any place you can go to get Statewide approval at this time. These Associations are: KPHCC (Kansas Plumbing, Heating, Cooling Contractors), KCCA (Kansas Cooling Contractors Association), and the PACK (Plumbing Association of Central Kansas).

Dan Leidy - Wichita OCI

The PACK - http://pack-ice.com
KCCA - http://www.kccaks.org
KPHCC - http://www.kphcc.org

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Wichita OCI standardized form
CEU Log to track your continuing education unts

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Cell Phones - OCI
Just a reminder: Wichita Inspectors have cell phones which are intended to provide improved communications between inspectors and contractors. However, repeated calls to an inspector to ask him or her where they are and exactly when they are going to arrive at a particular site only serves to further delay the inspector's schedule. If you have called once and spoken with the inspector, of have left a voice message for the inspector, it doesn't help to keep calling or to leave more messages. If inspectors are in traffic, on other calls, or providing an inspection service to another customer, they will generally be unable to take your call at that time. However, inspectors are instructed to call you back as soon as possible when it is safe to do so or when they have finished another customer's inspection activity.

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Scheduling Inspections
Wichita OCI allows contractors to request AM or PM inspections, however, that does not mean you will get them at the time frame requested, but they will try to accommodate your request whenever possible.

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Water Heaters
OCI plumbing inspectors are frequently finding appliance connectors on water heaters that do not meet the size requirements. Also, the water connectors, (if used) ARE REQUIRED to be full sized to the inside diameter, and many of them are not.

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