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Council reviews proposed ordinance to require Brycer compliance engine for fire protection reporting
Summary
Canton staff proposed an ordinance to codify mandatory use of the Brycer compliance engine to track fire protection system inspections and reduce false alarms; council will consider the ordinance at a future meeting.
Canton staff presented a proposal Oct. 2 to codify use of the Brycer compliance engine — a third‑party software platform for reporting fire protection system inspections — into the city code under Chapter 42 (Public Safety). The council did not take action but was briefed on the proposed ordinance and asked questions about cost and benefits.
Marcia Kula, who presented the proposal, said the platform helps track inspections and reduces administrative workload. She noted the platform was free to the jurisdiction at initial rollout and that the primary fee is a modest report submission charge paid by fire-protection service providers; the current participant fee cited was $18 per report submission. Kula said Canton achieved a 99.5% score on the platform in a recent review and that system-wide compliance was about 97.8% during a multi-year beta test. She added that jurisdictions including Alpharetta and Smyrna have adopted similar ordinances.
Council members asked whether the city would be charged to use the software (Kula said the city had no plan to pay for the platform itself) and whether the platform creates administrative savings through fewer false alarms and faster reporting. Kula cited national statistics that approximately 40% of fire protection systems miss their annual inspections and said the platform reduces time spent chasing paperwork; she also cited a finding that 32.5% of inefficient or non‑inspected systems create false alarms. The presenter said increased compliance reduces false alarms and is expected to deliver administrative efficiencies.
Kula said the ordinance's intent is to compel service providers who otherwise refuse to report into the compliance engine to make submissions so the city can collect reliable metrics for life-safety oversight. The council asked follow-up questions about enforcement and whether the city’s intent was to issue citations; staff said the goal is compliance and better data rather than broad enforcement through tickets. The council will consider the formal ordinance at a future meeting.
