City of Auburn moves toward fire safety inspections with fee schedule

The city of Auburn is getting closer to increasing its fire safety inspection program as the city council discussed the results of a fee study at its Jan. 23 meeting. Auburn City Fire Department Chief Dave Spencer presented the findings of the fee study, which looked to "validate the costs that are incurred while doing inspections." In an interview with the Auburn Journal, Spencer said the city had not been conducting many inspections beyond what the law required. "There were a lot of jurisdictions that were understaffed and didn't have the capacity," Spencer said. "The state mandated a certain number of things that had to be done. We didn't have a formal inspection program." MGT consulting, which worked on the city's behalf for the study, identified the actual cost of the user fee service for the city by examining staff time required and breaking it down inspection by inspection. "When we do a service, either mandated or for business, there is a cost. Our objective is to calculate a true cost," Spencer said. "If we don't recover fees, that money comes out of the general fund." Spencer said the department's core mission is education, prevention and emergency responses. "The goal is to keep our community safe," he said. "There is just as big a threat to our business community (than to our Wildland Urban Interface lands) because of the age and infrastructure." Spencer said the department will address business inspections annually, but the first step toward implementing the program is setting the fee. The city council did not take action but is scheduled to take action on the projected fees for inspections at its Feb. 27 meeting. Spencer said once the fees are adopted, he would work on updating part of the city's municipal code on inspections to reflect the new fees and would then work on designing a way of implementing the program, which includes communicating with local businesses so they aren't caught off guard. Council members directed Spencer to work with the business community before they implement the inspections. Spencer already has letters drafted for the businesses which announce the inspections several months ahead of time and make suggestions to check ahead of the inspections to ensure compliance. Additionally, the fire department is recommending adding a new service: residential parcel inspections. If implemented, the department would conduct preventive inspections of all residential parcels within the city every three years on a rotating basis. "At the end of the day, I think we are all in agreement the only way we can maintain our community is safe from wildfire is to make sure we are actually touching every parcel within the city," Spencer said. To implement the new residential inspection system, Spencer said he will work closely with the community through town hall meetings in late February or March. After collecting community input, Spencer said he intends to write a new municipal code to implement the residential inspection program. Spencer said his staff has identified all of the residential parcels and divided them into thirds, which he estimated is "manageable" to inspect one-third a year. The fee for the residential inspection, if adopted in the fee schedule, would be $211. Spencer said he hopes to get feedback from the community and council regarding options for the parcel inspection programs and potentially ways to incentivize success.