The Danville City Council has rejected a proposal calling for the fire department to charge businesses a fee for inspections. The fee would have ranged from $35 to $100 a year – depending upon the size of the business.
Interim Fire Chief Don McMasters says the fee would have helped fund a full-time fire inspector position. Currently Chief McMasters says inspections are falling behind – continuing a trend started years ago by reductions in the number of fire personnel.
Chief McMasters says he wants to get the inspections back on track, but the city council rejected the proposed fee. Only five voted in favor with seven against. [Those voting in favor of the fee were Sherry Pickering, Bob Iverson, Sharon McMahon, Brenda Brown, and R. J. Davis. Those who voted ‘no’ are Dan Duncheon, Steve Nichols, Tom Stone, Aaron Troglia, Rick Strebing, Mike Puhr and Steve Foster.]
Mayor Rickey Williams Jr. said he does not support the fee but might support paying ‘hire-back’ funds to have a trained person do inspections.
Alderwoman Sharon McMahon said no business likes to pay more fees. ‘’We need to keep these businesses safe,’’ she added. McMahon also noted a recent hotel fire which was contained to one empty unit, but she said the smoke alarm failed to trigger the fire alarm, ‘’probably because it hasn’t been inspected on a regular basis.’’
The Fire Department is still going to have inspections on Mondays and Fridays, but Chief McMasters says they will not be able to get them all done in a year. And if violations are found and follow-up inspections are necessary, he says that will slow the process even more.
