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Friday, October 20, 2017, Magee Mayor Dale Berry called for a special Board of Alderman Meeting at 5:00pm. Mayor Berry called the meeting to order with first stating he had met earlier in the day with Joe Worrell, the Magee City Building Inspector, and Charlie Valadie, the Magee City Fire Marshall.
The special called board meeting was in reference to the new building being built in downtown Magee on Main Street by Lacye Coulson Evans. This new building will be 1600 sq ft of commercial on the first floor with two 850 sq ft residential apartments on the second floor. The building is located at 110 Main Avenue North.
The City attorney was unable to be at meeting:therefore,l Attorney Chris Purdum was present for legal advice if needed.
Mayor Berry asked who would like to begin speaking and Charlie Valadie offered to speak first. Charlie spoke of concerns of some engineered beams being used in the construction. He stated due to manufacture specifications the beams must be “wrapped”. He also stated there was never a material list given which would have shown this engineered beam.
As Joe Worrell began to speak, Joe stated “he would take the hit for not getting the material list”.
Mayor Berry asked on numerous occasions during the meeting how many times the owner had met with Fire Marshall Valadie and her response was once. When asked how many times Mrs. Evans had met or spoke with Mr. Worrell her response was many occasions even as recent as that day.
Mayor Berry stated as he has heard from several businesses that they would not build in the city of Magee due to the strict fire codes. I learned after the meeting the Magee Fire Code Book is the same as the International Fire Code Book. The previous Board of Alderman adopted the International Fire Code Book for the City of Magee. This book is used for larger cities. So question now is should the Magee Fire Code Book be revisited and possibly updated to fit our City of Magee?
Alderman Patrick Brown asked if the owner was willing to go in and insert 5 or 6 24′ beams if that would put the building in code.
Aldermen Matthew Hickman and Whitney Baker both spoke and said the board had already approved this construction.
There was no motion or vote in this matter because there was no change.
The meeting was adjourned.
