Business owners urge council to make inspections program simple

The council workshop to devise an alternative commercial inspections program last month gave city staff a new foundation in which to build the revised code, but the Newton business owners who attended the meeting are cautious about what will be introduced and if it will be simple enough to follow.

Unlike past workshops, the Newton mayor allowed a moment for commercial property owners to provide input to council members. Many of which suggested the inspections are redundant and that the costs associated with them are unfair compared to the overhead costs of owning a business and insuring it.

Scott Farver, owner of Farver True Value, reminded council that business owners have insurance companies that hire contracted inspectors to visit properties.

“I have sprinkler systems in there (and) they inspect them,” he said. “I have to have them inspected … My insurance company requires me to do that.”

If the council is adamant about handling the commercial inspection program with a contracted inspector rather than the fire chief and fire marshal, Farver urged officials to think about the costs to business owners. He alleged they are being charged hundreds of dollars for five-minute inspections of vacant properties.

“You’ve got to take that into account,” he said. “Think about the fees…I think the fire marshal has to view each space. It’s in his best interest. The people that work for him gotta understand what they’re going to walk into if there is a fire. Wouldn’t it be in his best interest to walk in our space and know what it looks like?”

Dana VanGilder, owner of Newton KOA Campground, emphasized the city’s inspections need to focus on safety and fire hazards. Business owners have to pay a lot of money to get their properties inspected by entities outside the city, too. VanGilder claimed it costs her $750 a year to have inspectors test sprinklers.

“Full disclosure, when we first bought the campground, our insurance was — for just that campground — like $12,000 a year. And about the same for our other. This year, our insurance bill was $85,000,” she said. “…Our insurance companies tell us what we can and cannot do with our properties for safety.”

Furthermore, VanGilder also complained of compliancy issues with old buildings. It is unreasonable to add a handrail to noncompliant stairs where people have to duck their heads under to go down the steps, she said; property owners cannot be expected to lift a property from its foundation to fix an issue like that.

Julia Prendergast, owner of Fine Things Reclaimed, said she has talked to a lot of business owners, and they are all in agreement that they want fire and safety inspections on their properties. With that in mind, Prendergast said finding a code that local businesses approve of will give them some more room to breathe.

“We have to admit in the last couple of years the insurance, the storms, the water tax fees, the taxes, plus all of these fees — it’s making it really hard to do business in Newton,” Prendergast said. “I know there will be two businesses that will be out of business this time next year because of some of these issues.”

It should feel easy to do business in Newton, she added.

“Right now, this makes it seem difficult.”

Bob Williams, of Newton, told council members “the more government gets into business, the more things get all mucked up.” By having outside inspectors looking at rental properties and business properties, Williams said it brings a lot of headaches and “really doesn’t make anything safer.”

Williams agreed with council’s consensus to have annual inspections for hotels and establishments with liquor licenses. He also advocated for the fire marshal to lead the inspections program, rather than the contracted inspector in place now. This, too, seemed to be a consensus among council members.

“Our fire marshall is the best man to do that,” Williams said. “He’s trained in all the safety and understands what we need.”

Barney Bushore, of Newton, also emphasized the need to turn over the reigns to the fire marshal, but he worried about council enforcing annual inspections for properties over a certain square footage. He said that should be left up to the fire marshal to decide, as other factors should be considered.

To have an outside contractor handling inspections felt like “a personal insult” to Bushore, who touted his many decades of serving the community.

“I have helped build this community for the past 50 years,” he said. “…And to be treated like that, it’s not going to work. Not for me.”

The city council was receptive to the comments, with many agreeing that vacant buildings be left out of the commercial inspection program even before the public provided input. Yearly inspections for all businesses were also considered too much for one person to handle. The fire marshal would quickly be overwhelmed.

Excessively large structures may also be a challenge, in which case a certified building official may be needed for certain inspections. Either the fire marshal/fire chief will determine, at their discretion, if that official is needed, or the code will state what is required for a certified building official to be present.

Council members also agreed they could test the new program for a year and then decide if there are any contingencies that need to be added to the code.

While no action was taken at the workshop, the input from council and property owners gave a starting point to introduce the new program at a subsequent meeting. But the more the council discussed the details of what that code might look like, the more restless and agitated the business owners became.

Let’s not make it difficult.

Make it simple!