During its September 10, 2024, meeting, the Branson Board of Aldermen narrowly defeated an ordinance amending the Branson Municipal Code to permit the use of relocatable power taps [strips] in hotel and commercial buildings. The vote was three to three, with Aldermen Clay Cooper, Marshall Howden, and Glenn Schulz voting “Yes” and Aldermen Thomas’ Artie’ Lucas, Ralph LeBlanc, and Ruth Denham voting “No.” Mayor Larry Milton broke the tie by voting “No.”
The staff report for the item said that Alderman Schultz is “sponsoring the ordinance change which would allow the use of relocatable power taps (outlet strips) or surge suppressors (outlet strips with surge protection) that bear proper UL 1363 or UL 1449 listing marks, respectively. Relocatable power taps would be permitted where existing, permanent wall or floor outlets are insufficient in number or not conveniently located. This is a common issue in older lodging facilities, where amenities such as a micro-fridge, microwave, coffee maker, television and cable box do not meet the floor plan and electrical outlet spacing. This amendment provides an alternative solution when the estimated load is 80% of the rated current of the outlet strip.” It contained no “Detailed Analysis” or “Backup Documentation.”
In introducing his amendment, Alderman Schultz said that the board “Should consider this the same way we do in our own homes. I think we all have a situation, whether it’s an office area or an entertainment area, where we go to set up all of our electronics and other junk in there, phone chargers, routers, all those kinds of things, printers, computers, blah blah blah, and before you know it after two of those you are pretty much out of outlets in that area and so the consumer response to this is to use what we commonly call an outlet strip, add some outlets, plug the other devices in and away you go.”
“And of course, as we all know from our home use of those types of power strips, if done properly, there really are no issues so what we present today in this ordinance is essentially a reasonable accommodation of a similar situation in hotels. We have hotels, as you know most hotels these days want to have a little fridge in them, maybe a coffeemaker, clock on night stand, maybe even a microwave and pretty soon just like our home office situation, you’re out of outlets. The answer today the way our code reads is that the hotel has to break open walls and install more outlets to satisfy all the plugs they have. I think that we’d agree if we had to do that in our own homes we’d probably not even consider that option under those circumstances.”
During the public comment on the ordinance, Branson Fire Chief Ted Martin said they had come up with a solution that eliminated having to break the drywall, etc. The existing single-gain, two-outlet plug is removed, and a four-outlet unit is wired into the two-outlet box. Some of the commenters pointed out that they have been using power strips for years without any fires, and others pointed out the statistics relating to fires caused by the use of power strips.
While responding to a question asked by Alderman Clay Cooper, City Administrator Cathy Stepp said that she asked her team to do research on similar municipalities, to look at how they are enforcing this line of code in the IFC, and to see if other municipalities have made such a change of decreasing protections along that line. They did not find any.
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