Lewiston mulls new options for plumbing contractors

by Terry Duffy
Lewiston Porter Sentinel, April 5, 2008

The Lewiston Town Board’s plan to establish licenses and restrictions for plumbers working within the town “went down the drain” in the form of protests by dozens of contractors who packed Town Hall at a March 24 hearing.

Many opined the proposal, which called for plumbers to pass written competency tests, pay for an annual license, and only allow master plumbers to be entitled to work, would set the stage for creating a monopoly in the town. “Passing a test doesn’t guarantee the competency of a plumber,” said Wilson plumber Doug Edwards at the session. “By passing this you’ll be benefiting a few at the expense of many … You’ll be guaranteeing a monopoly” (for master plumbers) and passing the cost on to residents, he said.

Youngstown plumber Paul Lotz of Paul’s Plumbing and Heating agreed. Questioning the quality of work he’s seen done by some master plumbers, Lotz told Supervisor Fred Newlin and board members that while not a master plumber himself, he nonetheless services all towns and has often been called on to repair work that “wasn’t done right” by a master plumber in the first place. “I’m not a master plumber … all my work is inspected,” Lotz said. “Everything gets done; I see no reason for this.”

Others such as Lewiston resident and contractor Paul Game argued that the proposal of only having master plumbers eligible to work would “open the town to shoddy workmanship” that he says is often found in other areas, citing the City of Niagara Falls as a major example. “It costs you more,” said Game, adding that limiting a pool only to master plumbers would also limit the number of eligible contractors, potentially impact the quality of work done at residences and cost everyone in the form of more money or aggravations.

Nearly all called on the town to table and re-examine the issue, which the board ended up doing that evening. “We’re not going to vote on this tonight,” said Newlin as the board prepared to go into an executive session, which some aired objections to that night due to open meetings law concerns.

“This was our best attempt to address a need” – that of contending with the work done by bad plumbers – which town residents have and continue to deal with, said Newlin.

In turn, Newlin, with board members concurring, moved to form an Ad Hoc Committee comprised of Councilman Al Bax, Councilman Sean Edwards, a plumber by trade who spearheaded the initial proposal, Town Building Inspector Tim Matthews, and Tim Lockhart of the town’s Water Pollution Control Center. Invited plumbers to the panel included Paul Lotz, Paul Game, Doug Edwards, and Glen Andrews, an Elliott Drive plumbing contractor who argued that night Lewiston would be better off enforcing building and town codes than policing plumbers.

At its first session Thursday night at Town Hall, ad hoc committee members debated the issue and all were in consensus on two areas: a pressing need to address a glaring lack of issued permits or inspections of any type currently done in the town; and requiring competency, accountability and verified insurance of plumbers intending on doing work in Lewiston in lieu of a sole master plumber requirement.

“The town does not have a plumbing inspector; no permit process, no list of insured contractors on file,” said Edwards. “We don’t have a process … it’s terrible.” Calling for change, Edwards argued, “There’s no coordination … we’ve got to change.”

The session wrapped up with plans for Lewiston to investigate establishing a registry system for plumbing contractors, similar to those currently in use in other towns. Such a plan would cover both new build construction, as well as the service (plumbing repairs) industry. Discussions also involved creating an ID card system for permitted contractors, requiring insurance of all doing work in the town, and an expanded look at revamping the town’s permitting, building code enforcement and inspections process. Another meeting is planned for later this month, which could then begin to pave the way for yet another Town Board hearing and further action on the plumbing issue.