Warrensburg council rejects ordinance to require Brycer inspection reporting after councilors raise fee and business‑cost concerns

On May 26, 2026, the Warrensburg City Council declined to approve, on first reading, an ordinance that would have authorized the city to use Brycer Advisory Group’s inspection‑reporting database and establish an administrative fee for submitted fire protection system inspection reports. Fire Chief Jennings introduced the proposal and described Brycer as a vendor software platform that centralizes third‑party inspection submissions, provides automated notifications, and helps the fire department track annual inspection compliance.

Jennings told council that Brycer’s platform is funded by submission fees charged by third‑party inspection vendors and that "there is no fee to the city for the inspection compliance." He said the packet showed a jurisdictional upload fee commonly of $27 per system and that the city-side administrative calculation was $18 per system in the example used, for a combined fee about $45; Jennings also provided an example where Brycer’s vendor fee was $16 in a portable‑extinguisher scenario and said the city would receive the administrative portion quarterly minus Brycer’s contracted percentage.

Council members pressed for details on who would pay and how fees would affect small businesses. Councilmember Ridenhour raised particular concern that annual extinguisher and sprinkler inspections could create cumulative costs for downtown restaurants and other multi‑system businesses. Councilmember Latare suggested the city consider waiving any administrative fee for systems that require no staff follow‑up; Jennings said the city could design its administrative charge to account for follow‑up workload but would need to work out operational criteria.

Jennings said the Brycer database would cover locations licensed by the city and that large distribution and manufacturing centers would be included; Jennings said the University of Central Missouri (UCM) and the school district were expected to be exempt because they manage their own inspection compliance. He told council the Brycer service meets PCI DSS level 1 standards and that data in the Brycer system would be owned by the city.

After discussion about exemptions, differential charges and administrative burden, Councilmember Ridenhour moved to approve the bill on first reading. The roll call vote was Yes: Mayor Bruce D. Uhler; No: Ridenhour, Osborne, Latare, Jones. The ordinance failed 1–4. Later in the meeting a separate resolution to add an administrative fee for the program into the city’s fee schedule was presented; that resolution was rejected 0–5.

Because councilors wanted more detail about fee administration, potential credits for consistently compliant businesses and clearer vendor fee options, they declined to move the Brycer agreement forward at this meeting. The council did not adopt any administrative fee for Brycer reporting; staff said they will follow up with Brycer to collect additional fee options and clarifications for future consideration.