Lacey Fire District proposes paid business-inspection program; council directs staff to craft resolution

Lacey Fire Chief Jennifer Schmidt and Deputy Chief Michael Sarafsky presented a Community Risk Reduction (CRR) program to the Lacey City Council on June 3, asking the city to support a fee-based business inspection program and to consider a resolution that would allow the fire district to bill for inspections.

The CRR presentation framed inspections, fire investigation and public education as proactive, preventative work the district believes requires dedicated staff rather than being done intermittently by engine crews. "Our crew members still loved going out doing inspections ... but we found more and more that our crews were stressed with call volumes," Chief Schmidt said, arguing that a staffed inspection program would reduce interruptions and improve service consistency.

Deputy Chief Sarafsky described the district's analysis and proposed fee schedule. He said the district targeted 100% inspection coverage based on a risk-tiered approach and workforce analysis, then set a tiered fee schedule to match complexity. The packet shown to council lists example fees ranging from $49 for buildings of 1,000 square feet or less (inspected every two years) to a base rate of $147 and $882 annual inspection for extremely large buildings (80,000 square feet or greater); hazardous-materials sites could require semiannual inspections under the proposal.

Council members asked how enforcement would work and whether inspections would be mandatory. Chief Schmidt said the authority to inspect comes from the International Fire Code and that the fire district would act as the authority having jurisdiction or its designee. She described a community-first enforcement strategy: advance outreach, scheduling inspections at times that do not disrupt businesses, and emphasizing written inspection reports that could be useful for insurance purposes. "Our strategy is gonna be to initiate a conversation with our business community early on and say, 'hi, we wanna meet with you,'" she said.

Council members pressed on fee fairness for small versus very large facilities, and on how noncompliance would be handled. Sarafsky said the district benchmarked fee structures in other Washington jurisdictions and aimed to right-size charges to building complexity and inspector workload. Chief Schmidt said finding would be a last resort and that the district expected education and demonstrated value—lower insurance ratings and written reports—to drive compliance, but that invoicing and collections processes could be used as a final remedy.

Outcome: Council did not vote on a fee ordinance or approve immediate charging authority at the meeting. Instead, the council consensus was to direct staff to develop a resolution that would allow the fire district to charge per the proposed fee schedule and to bring that resolution back for council consideration. Mayor Bridal stated: "I would recommend that we direct staff to work up a resolution so we can have a consider it a future council meeting." Council members signaled broad support for advancing the resolution and education outreach prior to any fee implementation.

Why it matters: The proposed program would shift business safety inspections from intermittent duties performed by response crews to a staffed, funded program. Proponents argue this would improve inspection quality, and could lower insurance costs if the jurisdiction’s fire protection ratings improve. Criticisms and questions at the meeting focused on fee equity for different-size businesses, the practicalities of billing and enforcement, and the need for early outreach to the business community and the Chamber of Commerce.

What happens next: Staff will draft a resolution authorizing the fire district to bill under a fee schedule and will coordinate community outreach and interagency details before returning to council for formal consideration. No fees will be charged until the council takes formal action approving the resolution and any implementing ordinance or interlocal amendment.