(a) License Required. No person shall install, alter or service, or contract to install, alter or service, any refrigerant containing part of any refrigerating system in the City without first obtaining a refrigeration contractor's license therefor. Such licenses shall be issued by the Building Official to qualified applicants in accordance with the recommendations of the Board of Examiners.
(Ord. 3. Passed 2-6-62.)
(b) Designation of Board of Examiners. The City of Detroit Board of Examiners is hereby designated to serve as the Board of Examiners for refrigeration contractors' licenses.
(Ord. 3-A-2. Passed 7-18-73.)
(c) Authority of Board of Examiners. The Board of Examiners is hereby authorized to adopt rules and regulations necessary to make effective the contractor licensing provisions of this section.
(d) Application Forms. Application for refrigeration contractors' licenses shall be made on forms furnished for such purpose by the Department of Engineering and Building. The application, in affidavit form, shall, as a minimum, provide the following information:
(1) The name, age and address of the applicant;
(2) The refrigeration experience of the applicant;
(3) If the applicant is a corporation:
A. The full and accurate corporate name;
B. When and where the corporation was incorporated;
C. The full name and address of each officer of the corporation;
D. The name and refrigeration experience of the officer or supervising employee designated to take the examination for the corporation;
(4) If the applicant is a partnership: The names and addresses of the partners thereof and the name and refrigeration experience of the partner or supervising employee designated to take the examination for the partnership; and
(5) If the applicant conducts business under a trade or assumed name, the following additional information shall be given:
A. The complete and full trade name; and
B. The name of the person or persons doing business under such trade or assumed name.
(e) Examinations Required. The Board of Examiners shall determine, by written and oral examinations, the qualifications of an applicant in accordance with the sworn affidavit submitted. The Board shall determine the time and place for such examinations. There shall be at least three members of the Board present at the oral examination of any applicant.
(f) Experience Required. Except as provided in paragraphs (1) and (2) of this subsection, no license shall be issued until the applicant has shown to the Board of Examiners, by sworn affidavit, that he, she or it has been actively engaged in the installation or servicing, or both, of actual installations of refrigerating systems for a period of at least three years for Class A applicants, four years for Class B applicants, and five years for Class C applicants, or has in his, her or its regular employ, and actively in charge, a supervising employee who has been previously engaged in the installation or servicing of actual installations of refrigerating systems for a period of at least three years for Class A applicants, four years for Class B applicants, and five years for Class C applicants. The applicant in the sworn affidavit shall show the refrigerants and sizes of refrigerating systems with which he, she or it has familiarized himself, herself or itself during his, her or its actual engagement or education in the installation or servicing, or both, of refrigerating systems.
(1) Credit varying up to maximum of three years of actual experience in the installation or servicing of refrigerating systems shall be extended to any applicant who is a registered professional engineer, or who possesses at least a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical or Chemical Engineering, or who is a graduate of a refrigeration trade school, provided that a minimum of two years of practical experience on actual installations or servicing, or both, shall be required for all applicants.
(2) An applicant holding a mechanical contractor's license in the City, shall be examined by the Refrigeration Board of Examiners (i.e. the City of Detroit Board of Examiners) for a Class B Refrigeration Contractor's License or for a Restricted Refrigeration Contractor's License, the choice of which will rest with the applicant.
(g) Age of Applicants. Persons making application shall be at least twenty-one years of age.
(h) Classification and Limitation of Licenses. A refrigeration contractor's license shall be classified and limited as to definite refrigerants and size of refrigerating systems with which the applicant is familiar in installing or servicing, and the applicant shall be licensed for that particular refrigerant or refrigerants and size of systems. However, any person may make application for and receive a license to engage in the installation and servicing of all sizes of refrigerating systems containing any or all approved refrigerants.
Contractors' licenses shall be classified as follows:
(1) Class "A" License - Limited to the installation and servicing of completely self-contained domestic boxes for private use in residential occupancies;
(2) Restricted License - Limited to the installation of self-contained refrigerating systems used for air conditioning for human comfort and employing Group 1 refrigerants, installed only in residential, commercial or industrial-type occupancies, when actuated by motors or engines of not in excess of seven and one-half horsepower. The holder of this class of license may not service any of the refrigerant-containing parts of the system.
(3) Class "B" License - Limited to the installation and servicing of refrigerating systems actuated by motors or engines of not in excess of seven and one-half horsepower; and
(4) Class "C" License - Unlimited as to horsepower for installations and servicing.
(i) Designation of Supervising Employee. The application shall name the supervising employee as well as the employer when an application is made for a license based on the regular employ of a supervising employee.
(j) Termination of Services of Supervising Employee. Should the qualified supervising employee's services terminate, the installation and service operations of the employer shall cease and no person shall continue such operations until another supervising employee is certified for the employer by the Board of Examiners, provided that a ten-day period may be allowed for the employer, with the approval of the Board of Examiners, to replace him or her by a qualified supervising employee. The Department of Engineering and Building shall be notified in writing by both the employee and by the employer when such change takes place and the new supervising employee's name shall be entered on the current license and application.
(k) Renewal, Suspension and Revocation of Licenses. All refrigeration contractor licenses shall expire on December 31 of every current year and shall be renewable within sixty days thereafter.
Licenses may be revoked or suspended by the Building Official upon recommendation of the Construction Board of Appeals established in the current Michigan Building Code, as adopted in Section 1410.02. Such revocation or suspension shall be made in the following manner: The licensee shall be given seven days of notice that his or her license will be suspended or revoked, and the reason or reasons therefor, unless good cause is shown to the contrary at a hearing provided before the Construction Board of Appeals. Pending the hearing, the Building Official may forthwith suspend such license if the circumstances, in his or her opinion, justify such action. After the hearing, the Board of Appeals shall make its recommendation to the Building Official who may suspend or revoke the license if such action, in his or her opinion, is in the best interests of the people of the City.
No person whose license has been suspended, revoked or not renewed shall engage in the business of installing, altering or servicing, or contracting to install, alter or service, any refrigerant containing part of any refrigerating system until such expired license has been renewed or such suspended or revoked license has been reinstated.
(l) Cause for Suspension or Revocation of Licenses. The causes for which a refrigeration contractor's license may be suspended or revoked shall be gross incompetence, gross neglect, deliberate misrepresentation or willful failure to comply with any of the requirements of this section.
(m) Reciprocity. The City shall license refrigeration contractors legally licensed by other municipalities of the State to engage in the business of installing, altering or servicing, or contracting to install, alter or service, refrigerating equipment covered by this section, parts of accessories thereof, or appurtenances thereto, within the corporate limits of the City, upon registration with the Department of Engineering and Building and the payment of a nominal registration fee, provided that such municipalities reciprocate in recognizing refrigeration contractors duly licensed under the provisions of this section by granting them the same privileges and charging them the same uniform license and registration fees.
(n) Conditions of Participation in Reciprocal Licensing. The licensing ordinance, examinations and examination procedures of such municipalities having a desire to participate in reciprocal licensing shall be substantially similar to the requirements set forth in this section, and their regulations governing the installation and maintenance of refrigerating systems shall be in substantial conformity with the provisions of this Building and Housing Code. No refrigeration contractor's license shall be recognized for the purpose of registration by the City if such license has been issued by a municipality which has failed to approve, by affirmative action of its legislative body, the reciprocal provisions contained in this section.
(o) Right to Participate in Reciprocal Licensing. The right of any municipality to participate in the reciprocity provisions of this section shall be determined by the Building Official, based upon qualifications outlined in this section.
(Ord. 3. Passed 2-6-62; Ord. 2002-14. Passed 5-21-02.)