12-21-2011 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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t jilt or //E lie u�if2�r,� i. 51 l I,ilfle Canae'la Road. LII(Ie Canada, MN 55117-1500 (651) 7(3(i -4029 / FAX: (651) 766-4048 www.ct.1ilt 1c- Canad0. nn. us MEMORANDUM MAYOR 13111 Itlesener COCINCIL nick Montour .John Reis Michael M,.(irtv Molly doss AI)MIN(S77■A'10■ Joel R. 1 Janson TO: Mayor Mesener & Members of the City Council FROM: .locl Manson, City Administrator DATE: August 4, 2011 RE: Fire Re- inspection Sec Schedule One of our Goals for 201 1 was to develop a ice schedule for fire reinspections as a way to recover costs from properties that do not cooperate in resolving lire code violations in a timely manner. (20 1 1 Action Plan Attached) The basis for this goal was our lire Marshal was spending an inordinate amount of time following up on coda violations where repeated reinspections were occurring. According to his estimate, each rcinspcetion took about one hour of time. Based on contracted rates, this equates to a cost of $31.44 per hour. Our Fire Marshal, Jim Lee, also compiled some information about what other cities do for lire inspection fees (copy attached). To date, the City has resisted implementing a general business license fee duc to concerns of additional burdens to businesses and the time to bill and collect the fees decreases the potential gain. We have also attached is Jim's analysis of Inc inspections since 2009. You will note that the number of reinspections has dropped dramatically. While implementing a reinspection lee will not likely be a revenue factor from 0 budgetary standpoint, it will be a potential deterrent to inappropriate behavior. 'Therefore, stall recommends we implement 0 fee schedule for each lire reinspection over one for each business use inspected. This would mean that the initial inspection and ono reinspection would occur at. no charge. Our suggested fee is $100 per rcinspcetion to cover the Fire Marshal's time as well as staff time to deal with billing and collecting the fee. In the event the l'ce is not paid, this can be assessed to the property owner. It is important to note that the violator may be a tenant versus the property owner. In that event, the property owner would still be responsible for a tenant's non - compliance. lithe Council feels a '`business license" fee should be implemented based on the inlbrmation attached, you should provide staff with than direction. 2