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Chief urges full-time fire inspector to address backlog of 800+ inspections; committee sends position to council
Summary
The committee voted unanimously to recommend adding a full-time fire inspector for 2025 after the fire chief described a backlog of more than 800 properties needing inspection, cited statute 101.14 and warned the city could lose state funding if inspection requirements are not met.
Administrator Wendy asked the committee to recommend a full-time fire inspector for the 2025 budget and said the position would be included in the pay/fee schedule informed by the McGrath wage and compensation study. Chief Rufe then detailed operational problems with part-time inspectors and the resulting backlog, saying, "there's there's an estimated 800 plus properties that need to be inspected." He described inspections as time-consuming — 60–90 minutes on-site plus 30–60 minutes of administrative work — and said part-time inspectors' competing obligations have left the department unable to respond in a timely manner.
Chief Rufe and the administrator framed the request as a compliance and public-safety issue: the chief cited state statute 101.14 requiring municipalities to perform fire inspections and warned the city could be put on probation or lose state funds if it fails to meet inspection obligations. Committee members expressed support for adding capacity, and a motion to forward the full-time inspector position to the Common Council passed on a roll call of Alders Trueheart, Wharton Wyler and Cleveland (3–0). The administrator said the position would be incorporated into the 2025 budget and brought to full council for approval.
