Agenda - Council - 04/24/2007 - Laserfiche WebLink

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and a lot of the Fire Marshal's time can be spent dealing with one business until the situation is resolved. Mr. Kapler stated with Personnel Committee approval, and subsequent City Council approval, three paid -on -call firefighters who meet firefighter performance standards and who have received the Fire Inspector I certification from the State of Minnesota, will be eligible for a 12 month assignment as paid -on -call firefighter /fire inspectors. The pool of three paid -on -call fire inspectors would be allowed to work a total of up to 10 hours weekly at a proposed wage of $19.00/hr. Each paid -on -call fire inspector would be required to complete at least 20 inspections to be removed from probation, pending the recommendation of the Fire Chief. Councilmember Olson inquired about training for the fire inspectors. Fire Marshal Streich replied the City currently has four firefighters that are State certified as fire inspectors. Councilmember Olson asked if continuing education will be required to keep the State certification. Fire Marshal Streich responded in the affirmative. Councilmember Dehen questioned if annual fire inspections are necessary. Fire Marshal Streich replied he believes they are; some of the inspections are done biannually. Councilmember Dehen asked if the inspections include a check on the fire extinguishing equipment to determine that is it functioning properly. Fire Marshal Streich replied yes. He explained once businesses are up to code there is not a lot required during the inspection. However, in businesses that are constantly changing their operation, and where there are things like liquids and hazardous materials, there are many things to inspect that could cause problems. He explained the fire code requires that fire extinguishers are properly inspected and tested. The business owners are required to provide information that shows the extinguishers are inspected at least annually by a certified technician according to the State requirement. Councilmember Dehen noted the maximum exposure with this proposal would be approximately $10,000 per year. He asked how this was built into the budget. Fire Chief Kapler explained the Personnel Services portion of the Fire Budget pays for on -call wages; this portion of the budget is an estimate. The 2007 budget includes $188,532 for regular part-time wages which includes paid -on -call. The actual costs for this budget have been as follows: 2003 - $139,000; 2004 - $170,000; 20005 - $201,000; and 2006 - $189,000. Mr. Kapler stated it should be noted that this will assist in getting maintenance things taken care of before they turn into incidents. Councilmember Dehen verified with Fire Chief Kapler that the $10,000 annual exposure would be included in the $188,000 budgeted for part-time wages in 2007. Personnel Committee / April 10, 2007 Page 2 of 3