2008-07-21 CC Minutes Cmt of WholeNbertville
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COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING
JULY 21, 2008
MINUTES
Albertville City Hall
6:00 PM
PRESENT FROM ALBERTVILLE: Mayor Ron Klecker, Council members Dan Wagner, Tom
Fay and John Vetsch; City Administrator Larry Kruse, and City Clerk Bridget Miller
ABSENT: Council member LeRoy Berning
FIRE INSPECTIONS PRESENTATION
City Administrator Kruse kicked off the meeting with some background and an overview of how
things progressed to this point. Kruse reminded the Council members that during a previous budget
workshop there was discussion about working with neighboring communities to form a Fire
District. Following the discussion, former Fire Chief Long and Firefighter Mills met to talk about a
Pilot Fire Inspection Program for the City of Albertville. Kruse turned it over to Fire Chief Mills to
go into further detail on the Pilot Fire Inspection Program.
Fire Chief Mills gave an overview of the Pilot Fire Inspection Program, which began a few years
ago. Mills went on to report that this program is ongoing with the businesses selected for the initial
round of inspections. Businesses were selected according to the occupancy type and the frequency
of calls that the Albertville Fire Department (AFD) has responded to at that particular business
within the year 2006. Following the creation of the Pilot Fire Inspection Program, was when the
Building Official was brought into the inspection(s) of the facilities.
Mills pointed out there are two (2) types of occupancies that were chosen, which inlcuded A-2 (bar,
restaurant) and R-2 (apartment buildings). There was also one (1) Mercantile Group M. Mills gave
a brief synopsis of the initial inspections of the various types of facilities and informed the members
of the follow-up inspections to insure the establishment completed the requirements.
Mills went on to report the experience and knowledge the Fire Department and Building Official
gained from the inspections. One of the lessons learned is that it is very time consuming and other
members of the AFD have lost interest in participating; therefore putting the responsibility on the
Fire Chief and Assistant Fire Chief.
To summarize, Mills reiterated what was in his memo, which was that these results clearly show
that no matter how old the building, there are still major life safety threats in the businesses of our
City. With the help of an ongoing Fire Inspection Program, it is believed that these threats and
violations can be mitigated in a timely and cost effective manner. Actively teaching and relaying
valuable Fire Prevention to the City's businesses will reduce the amount of fire loss in the future,
M:\City Council\Council Minutes\2008 Minutes\Committee Whole\M 07-21-08 COW Minutes Approved.doc
Agenda Item No. 6.
Meeting Date July 21, 2008
City of Albertville
Committee of the Whole Minutes
July 21, 2008
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and hopefully save the City money in the long term. The City has a good start with the Fire
Inspection Program and needs to keep it going in order to make the City "Fire Safe".
Council had a few questions and concerns, one being the lock boxes that a number of the
establishments were lacking. Fire Chief Mills brought up the fact that a number of the buildings
were built before lock boxes were required, which is why they are found missing.
Mayor Klecker and City Administrator Kruse thanked the Albertville Fire Department for taking on
this Pilot Fire Inspection Program task on. It is appreciated the work that has been put into making
sure the business establishments and various apartment complexes are inspected for potential "fire
safety" related issues.
ADJOURNMENT
The Committee of the Whole adjourned from the Monday, July 21, 2008 Committee of the Whole
meeting at approximately 6:52 p.m.
Ron Klecker, Mayor
Bridget Miller, City Clerk
M:\City Council\Council Minutes\2008 Minutes\Committee Whole\M 07-21-08 COW Minutes Approved.doc
Agenda Item No. 6.
Meeting Date July 21, 2008