Electrical Commission

Approved 1 Minutes of the Northbrook Electrical Commission Meeting 2 Village of Northbrook 3 1225 Cedar Ln. 4 Northbrook, IL. 60062 5 Cook County, Illinois 6 January 8, 2015 7 8 Commissioners Present (4) 9 Rick Jamerson, Chairman 10 Robert Boiko, Commissioner 11 Dennis Lauer, Commissioner 12 Kevin Frangiamore, Director Fire Prevention / Rep. for Acting NB FD Chief 13 14 Village Staff (1) 15 Corey Friedman, NBK Electrical Inspector 16 17 Other (2) 18 Jamie Clar, PT/OC Electrical Inspector 19 Brian Lamberg, PT/OC Electrical Inspector 20 21 Guests (1) 22 John Cartland, Electrical Engineer representing 666 Dundee 23 Not Present (1) 24 Bernard Petchenik, Commissioner 25 26 CALL TO ORDER 27 Chairman Jamerson called the meeting to order in the DPS Conference room of Village Hall, 1225 Cedar 28 Lane at 5:35 p.m. 29 30 REVIEW OF MINUTES 31 Review of minutes from meeting held on September 18, 2014. No corrections or comments and 32 unanimously approved as presented. 33 34 HEAR FROM AUDIENCE 35 Chairman Jamerson called for any comments from the audience. There was no audience and no 36 comments made. 37 38 39 40  Approved 41 REVIEW OF TECHNICAL REQUEST FOR LIGHT POLES 42 Inspector Friedman gave the Commission a synopsis of the situation including the following: 43 a). Present light poles are old and are/or becoming dilapidated and are/or becoming dangerous and the 44 owners of the property wishes to replace them. 45 b). Based on phone calls with the electrical contractor and special permission letter by the electrical 46 engineer, it is believed that the feeders to the existing light poles is a 2-wire / ungrounded direct burial 47 cable and that the existing light poles are not grounded. 48 c). Based on conversations with the electrical contractor, the property owner does not want to install 49 new wiring due to costs. 50 d). The electrical engineer has proposed adding a ground rod at each pole to compensate for a lack of 51 ground wire (equipment grounding conductor) at each light pole. 52 e). The electrical engineer has proposed adding GFCI protection each pole. 53 f). It is the opinion of Inspector Friedman that proposal of installing ground rods: 54 1. Will not be effective to clear a ground fault. 55 2. Is not acceptable by electrical theory and NEC to be used instead of a ground conductor. 56 3. Will create or allow a dangerous situation to be present. 57 4. The installation would be in violation of the NEC. 58 g). It is the opinion of Inspector Friedman that the proposal of adding GFCI protection: 59 1. May not be reliable due to resistance / leakage and the long distances of feeder runs. 60 2. Is not intended to be used instead of a ground conductor in application such as this. 61 3. Is not permitted to be used by the NEC instead of a ground conductor in this application. 62 4. May cause other hazards from nusance tripping (i.e. dark parking lot). 63 5. High probability of improper and lack of maintenance / monthly testing of the GFCI. 64 6. Property owner does not have “qualified professionals” on site. 65 7. Impossible for NBK to enforce / monitor proper testing of GFCI devices. 66 8. High probability of GFCI devices being removed if false trips occur. 67 68 ELECTRICAL ENGINEER 69 The electrical engineer( John Cartland) presented how he wanted to have the light poles installed, in 70 particular with adding ground rods and GFCI’s. 71 1. The electrical engineer disagreed with Inspector Friedman & the electrical commission as to 72 purpose of ground rods and how they would work in a situation such as being proposed. 73 2. The electrical engineer presented his opinion that ground rods could be used in lieu of 74 equipment grounding conductors and would be acceptable and would work to clear ground 75 faults. 76 77 ELECTRICAL COMMISSION 78 Questions were asked of the electrical engineer by various commission members. Technical 79 conversation between various commissioners and the electrical engineer followed and the topic was 80 debated. The electrical commissioners agreed with Inspector Friedman regarding the issues of using  Approved 81 ground rods in lieu of equipment grounding conductors and the risks associated with GFCI devices in 82 this application. 83 84 After listening to the proposal from the electrical engineer and discussing its electrical installation and 85 electrical theory, the Electrical Commission decided to not recommend the installation (request for 86 special permission) of the light poles and grounding as proposed. 87 88 Chairman Jamerson asked for a motion to deny the request: Commissioner Boiko made a motion to 89 recommend to deny the request to use ground rods and GFCI protection in lieu of equipment grounding 90 conductors. Commissioner Lauer seconded the motion, all commissioners were unanimous in the 91 recommendation to deny the request. 92 93 OLD BUSINESS 94 Chairman Jamerson called for any old business. There was no old business. 95 96 NEW BUSINESS 97 Chairman Jamerson called for any new business. There was no new business 98 99 ELECTRICAL COMMISSION BRIEFING 100 Inspector Friedman provided the commission with handouts / photographs of various projects 101 highlighting improper installations, code violations and the on-going challenges of the NBK DPS 102 inspection team. 103 104 ADJOURN 105 The meeting was adjourned at 6:45 p.m. 106