Commercial inspections may be contracted out

Instead of receiving inspections from the fire department, businesses and other commercial real estate in Newton may be inspected by the same contractor for rental properties, fire chief Jarrod Wellik proposed Monday night to council members.

The Newton Fire Department has been largely responsible for business inspections within the community. With the retirement of Newton Fire Marshal Mike Knoll in April 2019, those duties fell upon existing administrative staff, primarily Wellik.

Of note, the city opted not to fill its fire marshal position after Knoll left.

Since then, Wellik claimed the fire station has been pulling together a “skeleton form” of the existing commercial property inspection program, which includes liquor licenses. About 120 businesses are inspected by the chief each year; 44 of which sell alcohol and require a legal and up-to-date license.

Inspections mainly ensure commercial properties are in compliance with national codes and safety standards. Department administrators have held businesses accountable while transitioning to the fire marshal’s duties, but it has also been difficult.

“We’ve maintained those operations but we’ve kind of drawn a little bit on some of the other inspection processes,” Wellik said. “And it’s very important that we complete those inspection processes. That’s what keeps these buildings safe.”

As the fire department was deciding what it wanted to do with this commercial inspection program, Wellik added, it became apparent administrators could improve the function of the program itself — a commercial property inspection 2.0 program. Allowing a contracted inspector to do the work was an option.

“Instead of hiring somebody within to do it … let’s try to get a contracted service to come in and help us to complete these tasks,” Wellik said.

Last year, City of Newton transitioned its rental inspection program, which was also handled by the fire marshal, from fire department administrators to a contractor from Iowa Inspections, LLC. Today, Jason VanAusdall services all rental housing units in Newton.

Although a contractor is used, the city is still involved with the rental inspection process. City Planner Brian Dunkelberger is the main point of contact for the administrative side and makes sure all properties are registered with City of Newton.

Transitioning to a contractor for commercial properties may alleviate burden from the fire department. Wellik told council members that he would like to partner with program with Iowa Inspections and maintain that relationship.

“There are still buildings that the fire department would like to get into or have somebody get into on our behalf and be able to make sure we have accurate and updated documents that go along with that,” Wellik said.

“… It will end up creating a program that will kind of marry the inspection programs together to give it almost a common face in the city.”

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com