Oak Park, IL New Elevator Certification Process

We started getting calls and emails from our Oak Park, IL customers asking questions about their elevator's annual inspection.  The customers stated that Oak Park is requiring them to get this information.  After the 4^th request for information, thinking this was unusual, I talked to the Oak Park elevator inspector, Thompson Elevator Inspection, and they said that Oak Park, IL was moving towards a system where the building owner would have to upload their inspections.   We bumped into our first instance where we needed to help our customer last week. Oak Park’s Permits & Development Department was nice enough to give us some information to share.

From Oak Park’s Permits and Development Department:

You will need to register each elevator and pay the inspection and upload the passing inspection. Every elevator will have a separate registration. Once completed and the inspection reports are reviewed, a certificate will be generated and emailed to you. It will remain available on the portal also. Please see steps below for the process:

The Village has implemented a new elevator licensing system.  All Oak Park properties with an elevator are being required to register each elevator for this first year of implementation by April 30, 2024. To facilitate a smooth renewal process, please review the following steps:
 
1.    Go to the Village's web portal at www.oak-park.us/villageview.
2.    If you have an existing registered email account, click ‘Sign In’ and go to step 6 below.
3.    To register a new account, click ‘Register’ and follow the prompts.
4.    Once you have finished entering registration information – STOP.
5.    Go to your email and use the link to validate your registration.
6.    Under ‘Licensing,’ click ‘Elevator Certificate’ and complete the registration and payment process.
7.    Repeat step 6 for each additional elevator.

Thank you for your cooperation. For more information, please contact the Permits & Development Division at 708 358 5430 or permits@oak-park.us or visit https://www.oak-park.us/village-services/permits-processing-division

 This is the document the Village is looking for - "Left in Machine Room"

This is a very new process for us as elevator contractors because we will be leaned on to help out the buildings we maintain.  Previously the Village and Elevator Inspector handled most of the certification process.

Challenges – It will be up to the building to know when the elevator inspector is at the building.  The elevator inspector does not let the building know when they are at a building, they rely on the elevator company to let the building know.  The building will have to get the elevator inspection form from the machine room or have the elevator company send them picture, the elevator inspector does not give the elevator contractor a copy of the annual inspection, it is to remain in the elevator machine room.  When the building has a passing inspection, they will need to upload it into the portal. 

What happens if we do not submit our inspections? – We had a building pass their inspections and testing in March and they got a sticker put in their building.  We, the elevator company, got word very quickly about this and sorted it out with the Village of Oak Park and they got their certificate.  Oak Park was great about responding and assisting the building to complete their process to get their permit. 

We all have a lot to learn about the process and the elevator contractor is going to be the conduit for the information to the building owner.  The building owner will most likely need a lot of assistance at first to complete their tasks required to get a certificate.

If you have any questions or would like additional information feel free to contact me at CraigZ@colleyelevator.com or 630-766-7230 ext. 107.

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