Hays County fire marshal seeks two additional full-time positions, administrative support to handle inspection backlog

Hays County Fire Marshal Steve Sette presented an annual update and requested additional staff to reduce a growing backlog of permits, inspections and plan reviews.

Sette told the court the office has three full-time staff (the fire marshal and two deputy marshals) covering roughly 680 square miles and a county population near 300,000. Using NFPA 1730 community risk-reduction benchmarks, Sette's workload analysis showed current available hours would not cover projected inspection, plan review and investigation needs; the analysis estimated a bottom-end needed capacity of roughly 3,558 hours and a top-end of 7,201 hours, while current capacity equaled about 5,400 staff hours annually.

Sette said staffing gaps have limited annual business inspections, enforcement of unpermitted development, the Firewise wildfire-mitigation program and timely plan reviews for new construction. He proposed adding a plan reviewer/inspector position and administrative support to clear backlog and meet the standards. The department's permit and inspection revenue was cited as roughly $100,000 year-to-date; Sette said moving to five FTEs would better meet the NFPA standard and improve public-safety compliance.

Commissioners thanked Sette for the data and urged exploration of efficiencies such as prequalified third-party plan reviewers. County budget staff said two deputy fire-marshal positions in the recommended budget had been moved into the general fund, and additional budget consideration will continue in the department budget hearings.

Ending: Commissioners directed staff to include the fire marshal's request in the ongoing budget process for final consideration during adoption of the FY2026 budget.