Minutes of the March 17, 2004 Meeting


The March meeting of the Gulf Coast Division was called to order by President, Bill Pancake. The meeting was held at the International Super Buffet in Port Charlotte. There were 25 members and guests present. After the pledge, all members and guests introduced themselves.
The minutes were approved as written.
The Treasurers report was approved as read.
We began the meeting by discussing our upcoming speakers. We will have David Chamberlain giving a presentation on modular wiring devices at our April meeting. We will have a representative from 3M at our June meeting giving a presentation on fire stopping. Jerry Novak from Sunshine State One Call of Florida, Inc (the people you need to call before you dig) will be at our July meeting.
Ben Cotroneo, told us about a new type alarm system for pool barrier requirements that Cape Coral has approved. It is an infra-red system. Ben told us that he will try and set up a speaker to show us the new alarm system.
Bill Pancake then went over our committees and it was decided that Tom Lasprogato will remain as chairman of the entertainment committee.
Bill then brought up the subject of low voltage wiring and the permitting and inspection of these systems. He checked with four jurisdictions around the state and found that they all permit and inspect these wiring systems.
I then told everyone that I have Mark Ode coming in on June 26th to Victoria Estates to put on a seminar for us. He is going to do Swimming Pools (Article 680) in the morning and in the afternoon he will be doing Wiring Methods ( 300 ), Health Care Facilities (517), Motors (430), and A/C and Refrigerating Equipment (440). This should be a great presentation. These are articles that everyone has been requesting.
Gregg Brown talked about various states and their licensing requirements for low voltage wiring contractors.
Bill told us about the inspection checklists that have been put on the websites of different jurisdictions around the state.
Our guest speaker today was Bob Duncan, representing Ulectra Electrical Technologies. Bob put on an outstanding presentation of Simtra Cable System. This was great training presentation for inspectors to let everyone know what they are looking at when they see this cable system. Simtra Hybrid Cable is comprised of power cable along with data, or other signal cables. The advantage of this type of cable is the ability to combine power and data into a single cable. As of now this power cable comes in #12 and #10. Bob went over typical applications and installations. He also went over all the testing and results that this cable has gone through. In the near future, it will be available in MC cable. We all certainly appreciated the presentation given by Bob.
The meeting was adjourned at 2:00 P.M.
The next meeting will be April 21, 2004.