The Safety and Licensing Committee met 09/13/2023. One of the items they took up were revisions to Chapter 6 of the Municipal Code which pertained to the Fire Department. The Fire Department wanted to adopt the 2021 edition of the International Fire Code because currently it was operating under the 2018 version. It also wanted to update the fee schedule for plan reviews and permits.
Alderperson Katie Van Zeeland (District 5) made one amendment to the fee schedule changes. The proposed changes included raising the annual fee for open burning/outdoor fireplace/cooking fires from $30 to $40, but Alderperson Van Zeeland amended it to keep the annual fee at $30. The amendment was approved by a vote of 3 to 2, and then the amended item was approved unanimously by the committee.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download.
Fire Chief Jeremy Hansen told the committee the Fire Department wanted to move to the 2021 edition of the International Fire Code from the 2018 edition. One of the bigger changes in that updated version was the codification of energy storage systems for the energy produced through solar and wind power. Appleton did not have a lot of those right now, so they wanted to be proactive so that future storage systems were installed correctly.
They also wanted to update the city’s ordinance so that it was streamlined and only referenced the International Fire Code instead of having individual ordinance within the city code that were older versions of the International Fire Code or potentially conflicted with the International Fire Code.
Another change of note in the city code was that builders would now be able to provide electronic versions of plans for plan review, rather than paper versions. He said that contractors preferred that.
They also wanted to update the fee schedule for reviews and permits. It had been several years since the fees had been increased, and Chief Hansen said that they hoped in the future to review them ever year or two, so that they could have smaller incremental increases rather than big leaps.
Speaking of the fees pertaining to testing fire protection systems, he noted that it could take many hours to test those systems in new developments, and he mentioned, as an example, that over 100 hours of staff time was spent going through the Zuelke Building making sure the smoke detectors and fire suppression system worked.
He said that it was difficult to do an apple-to-apple comparison of Appleton’s fee to other cities’ fees because Appleton conducts internal plan reviews for developers which other cities don’t. So, although Appleton’s fees might be slightly higher than those of other municipalities, Appleton had a turnaround time of two weeks for plan reviews as compared to 45-60 days that developers in other cities experienced because they had to go through the state for the reviews.
The committee mostly had questions about the fee increases.
Alderperson Nate Wolff (District 12) asked about the fine for a first to fourth false alarm which went from $50 to $200. He wanted to make sure that did not apply to a child that made a mistake and called the fire department incorrectly. Chief Hansen said that the false alarm fines were not geared toward children pulling alarms but rather toward businesses with known problems with their fire detection systems who choose not to fix them.
Alderperson Van Zeeland asked about understaffed nursing facilities/old folks homes that called in emergencies to get help from the Fire Department in lifting residents. Chief Hansen said that would be a separate fee from a false alarm fee. They did not actually have a Lift Assist fee, but they had toyed with it, but after discussion with staff and the mayor they decided not to go down that road right now. Understaffed nursing homes calling the fire department for assistance in lifting patients was not a major problem in Appleton. Green Bay, on the other hand, had a nursing home that was calling them 60-70 times a year for that. Once Green Bay implemented a fee that dropped down to two calls a year.
Alderperson Van Zeeland did not like the $10 increase (from $30 to $40) to the annual backyard firepit fee. She said, “I think my concern with that is with the price of food and going out and things, we have people who are cooking at home, and we want them to be safe. And my concern is if we raise it, do we have people who just decide we’re not going to go get a permit? You know, does that start to affect safety at some point? So that would be my only sticking point with the fee schedule.”
Alderperson Chris Croatt (District 14) asked what the process was for dealing with property owners who were non-compliant. Chief Hansen said that if they were burning without a permit, they would be told to put the fire out and get a permit. If they were burning slightly outside the backyard fire parameters, they would be told to get inside the parameters. It sounded like if someone was engaging in gross negligence that there was the potential for more severe consequences, but those were not spelled out by Chief Hansen.
Alderperson Van Zeeland made a motion to amend the fee schedule to remove the $10 increase for the annual backyard burn permit, keeping the fee at only $30 a year. This amendment passed by a vote of 3-2 with Alderpersons Van Zeeland, Croatt, and Alex Schultz (District 9) voting in factor, and Alderpersons William Siebers (District 1) and Wolff voting against.
The amended fee schedule and ordinance changes were then approved unanimously by the committee.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1112094&GUID=63C9E9EA-0CAA-4ABB-85A7-62825F70A621
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