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City Council Regular Meeting - Febr~ 23, 2004 -Page 2 •
<br />Ayes: Engelken, Beasley, Griffiths, Mosteit, Young, Ebow, Meismer and Malone
<br />Nays: None
<br />Abstain: None
<br />5. PETITIONS, REMONSTRANCES, COMMUNICATIONS, AND CITIZENS AND
<br />TAX PAYERS WISHING TO ADDRESS COUNCIL ON ANY ITEM POSTED ON THE
<br />AGENDA
<br />Cazlos Smith of 1003 East D Street, La Porte, Texas 77571, commented that a member of Council has a severe
<br />conflict of interest on the code selection. Mr. Smith suggested that Councilmember Mosteit, in all good
<br />consciousness, absent himself from this Council, Chamber and refrain from voting or discussing the code
<br />selection.
<br />Carroll Pruitt of 5936 Lomita Verde Circle, Austin, Texas 78749, with Pruitt Associates, represents the
<br />International Code Council. The City has an important decision to make tonight. ICC has previously
<br />presented information to you regarding the ICC Codes. As Code Consultant and representing the ICC, he
<br />strongly encourages you to put extreme consideration of the ICC.
<br />Rodney Lewis, PE, 6150 Richmond, Suite 228, Houston, Texas 77057, is a consulting engineer in Houston,
<br />Texas, and practices all over Harris, Chambers and Galveston County, and has for over thirty yeazs. Mr.
<br />Lewis is significantly involved in building codes and strongly recommends that you follow recommendations
<br />of your Committee and adopt the C3 Codes.
<br />Linden Raimer of 21316 Pat O'Brien Road, Covington, Louisiana, 70435, would like to thank Council and
<br />Mayor for having the Committee review and compare both Codes. Mr. Raimer understands there was some
<br />discussion regarding the difference in the costs of the two codes. He recently attended a SARS Conference in
<br />California with the World Plumbing Code Council; one of the items discussed was trap seals. Trap seals were
<br />being lost, this was one of the things that bred the SARS disease in China. It is very important to maintain a
<br />trap seal. Another item in the discussion regarding cost was the air admittance valve, and not having the vent
<br />pipe extend through the roof. Air admittance valves replace vents, one of the reasons the Uniform Plumbing
<br />Code did not allow it is because it only allowed for negative pressure, not positive pressure. Since we
<br />addressed the positive pressure, the one that just addresses negative pressure is the reason they did not allow it
<br />in the Uniform Plumbing Code. There has to be positive pressure to protect the seal from ruining. The
<br />average cost per house per house saved $30 to extend the vent up through the roof. Mr. Raimer realizes that
<br />air admittance valves without the positive portion may have problems later on. Can the constituents be
<br />informed of the consequences of a trap seal without the positive portion? Mr. Raimer reviewed there training
<br />courses, which will be of no chazge. If Council adopts the C3 Codes tonight, Mr. Raimer ensured Council
<br />they do not have to change the structure of the Fire Department.
<br />Tommy Moser of 402 S. Virginia, La Porte, Texas 77571, was selected to be on the Ad Hoc Committee,
<br />meeting for 15 weeks. Part of the process was drawing information and data. The Committee studied, broke
<br />down, reviewed and discussed the costs, and reviewed the complexity of installation and the methods, and they
<br />weighed it all out at the table. The vote was divided and it was not a majority, but you probably never will get
<br />a majority. When the Committee began, Mr. Moser was in favor of the ICC Codes. After they started
<br />reviewing the books, and the actual wording in the books, they determined the C3 Codes aze better for the
<br />citizens. La Porte needs to lead, not follow.
<br />Bill Scott of 1802 Lomax School Road, La Porte, Texas 77571, on August 25, 2003, Mr. Scott showed
<br />Council photos, like these taken six days ago after five days of dry weather. As a refresher, the photos at the
<br />bottom show the Blackwell's nice, dry and shallow ditch, just north of the Scott's,. Mr. Scott also pointed out
<br />Mr. Blackwell's illegal 100' culvert, which the City knows about. The culvert is illegal on three counts; too
<br />small in diameter, 100' length, Blackwell installed it on City property and the City knew about the violations.
<br />Compaze that nice, shallow, dry ditch of the Blackwell's to our ditch, just south of it. These were taken six
<br />days ago. At the top you will see a 2' framing squaze, that ditch is 4' across, filled with water about 9-10"
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