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ELECTRIC TIMES
S E R V I N G T H E E L E C T R I C A L I N D U S T R Y I N A R I Z O N A
THE
VOLUME 28, NUMBER 10 www.TheElectricTimes.com
JULY
2021
Joe French, founding member of IEC Arizona
chapter, sees continued growth for the organization
Alan M. Petrillo
Electric Times
Joe French, one of eight Valley electrical
contractors who formed the Independent
Electrical Contractors Arizona Chapter in
1968, sees a bright future for the organization
and continued growth of its membership.
French graduated from the apprenticeship
program of the International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers Local 640 in Phoenix and
started his own electrical contracting business
, French Electric in 1967.
French and George Padgett of Delta Electric
, another independent electrical contractor,
wanted to offer individuals the opportunity to
train as independent electricians, so with six
other independent electrical contractors, they
contacted the national IEC and formed the
IEC of Arizona chapter on Feb. 8, 1968.
The next year, IEC of Arizona hosted the
IEC National Convention at the Del Webb
Townhouse in Phoenix. At that convention,
French was presented the Jack Nance Award
for Outstanding Service.
French never believed in letting grass
grow under his feet. He opened Retail Electric
and Lighting Supply in 1970, and in
1971 served as IEC National vice president,
and from 1970 to 1976 served as IEC of Arizona
Chapter president.
In 1974 he brought his daughter, Nancy
Levey, onto the board as executive director
of IEC of Arizona. She served from 1974 to
1985, when she left to head up another
organization, but returned to IEC of Arizona
as executive director in 2001, a position she
continues to hold.
One of French’s notable achievement''s
came on March 9, 1976, when IEC of Arizona
received approval as the state’s first
Merit Shop Electrical Apprenticeship Program
.
Besides his work with IEC of Arizona, his
electrical contracting business, and the Retail
Electric and Lighting Supply business, from
July of 1976 to April of 1982, French served
on the city of Phoenix Building and Safety
Advisory Board, during which time he was
awarded three certificates of appreciation for
his service.
French said he is very pleased with the
direction the IEC of Arizona chapter has
taken.
“We started our own apprenticeship
school and still operate it today,” French
said. “It’s been wildly successful. We never
thought the chapter would grow so big. We
stated out with eight people, and it''s now
Joe French stands by the IEC of Arizona Past Presidents plaque. He is
also an IEC of Arizona founding member and served as the IEC National
president in 1971.
grown to 85 electrical contractor members
and 70 associate members.
French believes the IEC of Arizona chapter
will continue to grow.
“There’s no reason why it shouldn’t get
bigger and bigger,” he observed. “More contractors
will join because they can get well
trained workers. The apprentices coming out
of our school are very job smart and qualified
workers.”
Phoenix plans to expand its remote video inspection program
The city of Phoenix Planning and
Development Department plans on continuing
its Remote Video Inspection program,
and because it has been so successful, likely
will expand the number of residential
permit categories in the program by the end
of the year.
“Since the program was established in
March of 2020, we have done about 400
remote video inspections,” said Michael
Grubbs, the department’s team leader for
residential, non-permitted construction and
remote video inspections. “The program
has been widely accepted by electrical and
photovoltaic contractors, and allows us to
do a main breaker inspection on a
moment''s notice, instead of setting up an
appointment with the power company. The
inspector can connect immediately with the
contractor and record a remote video that
we can email to the utility that it''s okay to
energize that location.”
Grubbs said that before the end of the
year, the program likely will be expanded
to include electrical rough inspection
where walls are open to expose wiring and
electrical boxes, and small rough framing
inspection in a home.
He noted that remote video inspections
allow customers to make specific inspection
appointments, freeing them from
multi-hour arrival windows that are necessary
for in-person inspections.
Remote video inspections are available
for a dozen commonly requested residential
permit inspections, he said. Permits for
all those projects can be purchased online
in the Online Project Tools section of the
department website at: phoenix.gov/pdd.
The current residential permit categories
that are eligible for a remote video inspection
are:
• Main breaker “de-rate" for photovoltaic
(solar) panel installations
• Electrical service upgrades (up to 200
amps)
• Electric meter socket replacement
• Minor electrical work
• Water heater replacement
• Minor plumbing work
• Plumbing, repipe 1 bathroom
• Plumbing, repipe 2 bathrooms
See ‘Inspections’ page 4
Inside
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Code Corner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Fairmount Scottsdale Princess a unique place to manage . . . . 3
Interview with Borders States’ CEO David White . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Groups partner to help recruit young people into trades . . . . . . . 5
IEC of Arizona holds multiple graduation events . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Fox Valley Electric growing its Home Services division . . . . . . . . 7
SRP,City of Tempe add library EV charging stations . . . . . . . . . . 8
Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
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