Tom Jackson e-mailed an interesting article regarding the Village of Palatine’s position with elevator inspections in their village.  Basically they are stating that they have turned over elevator inspections to the state Fire Marshal which currently is under staffed in the elevator inspection department. A point that was made by Tom is whether or not more villages and townships will go this route.  It will be interesting to see what happens in the upcoming year as our state struggles with the new elevator code that has been adopted by the entire state of Illinois, except the city of Chicago. Thanks Tom for sharing this article.

Link To Scanned Article palatine.pdf

Palatine, IL – The Village Council has agreed to hand over elevator-inspection duties to the Illinois state fire marshal’s office.

New Illinois regulations call for more stringent inspections but give communities the choice of enforcing the rules or turning over inspections and enforcement to the state.

Under the regulations, about 65 of Palatine’s 162 elevators would need costly upgrades, Village Manager Reid Ottesen said at a council meeting Monday (December 15^th, 2007).  He said the work could cost $100,000 an elevator.

“We don’t want to get involved in the court costs and shutting down elevators that enforcing this would involve.”  He said.

Palatine now hires a contractor to do inspections and collects a fee from building owners that covers the village’s costs. – Jeff Borgardt – Chicago Tribune Columnist – December 2007 Article