There is hereby authorized the creation of the office of "electrical inspector" of the county or metropolitan area as defined herein. Such electrical inspector shall be a person familiar with all types of electrical installations and methods and shall be familiar with the electrical code of any affected municipality or county and shall have ten (10) years' practical experience in electrical work as a contractor, engineer or Class A journeyman electrician, and shall be licensed by the joint electrical examining and appeals board.

A city electrical inspector shall be appointed by the governing body of the city, a county electrical inspector shall be appointed by the board of county commissioners and a metropolitan electrical inspector shall be appointed in accordance with any written agreement executed by the governing body of the city and board of county commissioners creating such office. The governmental unit or units authorized to make such appointments may employ such deputy electrical inspectors who shall possess the same qualifications, for such terms and at such compensation as the affected governmental unit or units shall determine.

It shall be the duty of any such electrical inspector and/or any such deputy electrical inspectors to inspect all electrical installations on new construction and on changes, revisions or remodeling of existing structures lying within the jurisdiction of the appointing governmental unit or units, to determine that all such installations are in strict conformity with the requirements of this act and to determine that all such installations are performed by competent licensed workmen, according to the qualifications herein contained; provided, any person who shall make a false affidavit in order to obtain electrical inspection shall be guilty of perjury and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished as provided by the statutes of this state relating to the crime of perjury. Nothing contained herein should be construed as exempting any unlicensed individual who is otherwise authorized from the payment of regular inspection fees, or as exempting his electrical work from compliance with the same standards of safety as are applied to the inspection of electrical work by a licensed workman.

Any electrical inspector of the appropriate jurisdiction shall have the authority to condemn any electrical wiring which is unsafe within any city, county or metropolitan area within the terms of this act, provided, however, that a county electrical inspector shall not have jurisdiction in the corporate limits of or upon property owned by any city having established an electrical inspection department. Such city shall have jurisdiction upon property owned by it whether located within or without its corporate limits. Provided further, that nothing herein contained shall be construed as extending the jurisdiction of any inspector of a city having a population in excess of one hundred eighty thousand (180,000) persons, the county or metropolitan inspector to areas within the corporate limits of cities or towns having a population less than one hundred eighty thousand (180,000) persons and located within any affected county.

Notices shall be mailed to the property owner specifying any necessary changes and a reasonable amount of time shall be given any such owner to comply with the inspector's decision, and a copy of the notice shall be filed with the utility supplying electrical service. If compliance with the inspector's decision has not been completed on or before the expiration of the time allowed, the inspector shall have the authority to have the electrical service of such property disconnected.

The affected governmental unit or units of any such county shall determine and fix the reasonable fees to be charged for inspections, which fees shall be sufficient to meet the expenses of operation of the office or offices of the electrical inspector. All of such inspection fees shall be payable to the general fund of the authorizing and supervising governmental unit or units.

The electrical inspector shall adopt such rules in regard to the method of inspection and the time thereof as may be necessary and proper to carry out the intent of this act, but all of such rules and regulations shall be in strict accordance with the terms of this act. After notice is received by the office of the electrical inspector of the desire by any person for an electrical inspection, the same shall be accomplished as soon as practicable. No public utility shall furnish electrical service until such work has been inspected and approved.

The chief electrical inspector of the city, county or metropolitan area shall have the authority to designate one person, qualified as an electrical inspector as provided herein, to act as an investigator for the purpose of enforcing the provisions of this statute. Such person shall be responsible for presenting all cases of violations to the city or district courts for prosecution. He shall be bonded and shall carry a commission for this purpose.

No electrical inspector shall accept any gratuity for any services performed, acts of commission or omission in connection with the duties and obligations charged to be performed by his office, or be connected in any way with any person, firm or corporation engaged in the business of electrical contracting of any classification.

Upon the application of any municipality which lies wholly or partly within the county or metropolitan area and which is not otherwise covered by this act, and upon the authorization of the board of county commissioners, and the governing body of the city if a metropolitan electrical inspection office has been created, the electrical inspector may inspect electrical installations in such excluded municipality, provided that such municipalities shall collect and pay to the general fund of the county a fee for each inspection in an amount determined by the board of county commissioners.

This act shall apply to all counties having a population of over three hundred thousand (300,000) according to the last decennial census.

Added by Laws 1965, c. 406, § 10, emerg. eff. July 5, 1965. Amended by Laws 1968, c. 251, § 1, emerg. eff. April 26, 1968; Laws 1983, c. 102, § 1, emerg. eff. May 9, 1983.