After a long process, the Beecher Village Board finally approved an overhaul of its building codes.
How long did it take?
“This has been a very, very, very, very lengthy process,” Mayor Marcy Meyer said at the Jan. 26 meeting. “It was probably over a year.
“Even at the very end, we thought we almost had it and there were one or two little teeny things that we needed to do.”
The board approved the ordinance amending construction code regulation provisions and repealing all village code sections and ordinances, or parts of them effective March 1.
Most of the codes served the village for decades and the board felt the need to make changes and updates
There were 11 pages of changes to the codes, but one that drew recent interest was the decision to ban Romex wiring and keep conduit wiring for home builders.
During a September meeting, Beecher Fire Protection District Chief Joe Falaschetti stopped by after he saw a builder in the village using Romex and worried about its safety.
“We noticed some unusual things,” he said. “I thought it was kind of odd that they were using Romex in the construction.
“I was curious if the village changed their electrical requirements and if we are now allowing Romex just so we, as a fire district, have an understanding of if it’s an additional hazard that we have to worry about.”
The chief said that new home building is welcome, but safety has to come first.
“There are a lot of high-end houses built with Romex,” Meyer said in September. “There is not anything wrong with Romex. We’ve always gone with conduit and right now we’re in a situation where there is Romex showing up and it isn’t supposed to be there.”
Electricity purchase
The short meeting also featured the board approving a resolution authorizing the village to enter a contract for the purchase of electricity from the lowest-cost provider for the purposes of commercial accounts through the Northern Illinois Municipal Electric collaborative bid process.
It is a contract for electricity at the village water and sewer facilities.