FELLSMERE — A battle is brewing – again – between Fellsmere and Indian River County, this time over the city’s use of a contract fire marshal to perform fire inspections on new construction and renovation projects.
At issue is a nearly four-year-old ordinance the city passed in 2009 over the objections of Indian River County Emergency Services Director John King.
The ordinance allows Fellsmere to hire an independent contractor – trained and certified in fire inspections – to perform inspections.
Fellsmere City Manager Jason Nunemaker says having the work done by a contractor makes the city more responsive to developers and builders and streamlines the city permit process.
“We’re happy with where we are,” Nunemaker told county commissioners late last month when the matter came before the board. Fellsmere is able to offer a “one-stop shop with permitting” and brings the service closest to the people who need it.
“We do not agree on this,” King told commissioners.
King takes issue with that claim on two fronts – first, the Emergency Services District was created, in part, to provide fire inspection services so as to have consistency and unification across the county; and second, the district had an inspector assigned to the Fellsmere zone who would be in or near the city at least twice a week before the 2009 ordinance was implemented.
Allowing Fellsmere to continue its practice of having its own fire marshal undermines that concept, King told commissioners.
King and new County Attorney Dylan Reingold made a case for working with Fellsmere on a solution without having to go to court.
However, in order to preserve its rights in court, the county would have to file a complaint before Oct. 1.
Although it looks on the surface as though the county has waited until the last minute to raise the issue, Reingold points to a memo between the Emergency Services District and then-County Attorney Alan Polackwich’s office in February, seeking an injunction against the city.
Reingold said he couldn’t speak to why the department didn’t challenge the city in 2009, 2010, 2011, or even 2012.
“The emergency folks, they could have done it before hand,” Reingold said, referring to the February injunction request.
Though the injunction was requested in February, nothing came of it aside from a letter written to the city in April, a follow-up letter a month or so later, and a response back from the city in July.
Why is the county Emergency Services District lodging a complaint against Fellsmere in 2013? It’s a question with no given answer.
For his part, King says he registered his concerns about the city’s ordinance at the time the city was taking the matter under consideration. His concerns have not changed.
There have been no known complaints against the city’s fire marshal and no fires or public safety issues resulting from the fire marshal’s work.
Economics could play a role – but neither King nor Nunemaker have pointed to it as a motivator.
Fire inspections for new construction, change of permitted use and other such needs are a “fee for service.” Those who need the inspection pay for it.
Figures provided by Independent Inspections Ltd. show six such inspections between 2010 and 2012. The most expensive inspection was for the Raceway gas station, which cost $1,577.
The other inspections ranged from $54 to $250.
“We don’t have a huge volume,” Nunemaker said of construction.
By comparison, the Indian River County Emergency Services District collected more than $237,000 in plan review, permit and fire inspection fees.
In fiscal year 2009-10, the county performed 2,358 inspections (total between annual inspections and non-annual).
In 2010-11, the county performed 2,239; 2011-12 saw 1,874, and the county projects 1,870 this fiscal year.
The average cost of a non-annual inspection (those needed for new construction, renovations and the like) was not provided.
Perhaps the motive for challenging Fellsmere’s ordinance is the precedent it sets.
Sebastian is considering making a similar move, according to Sebastian City Manager Al Minner.
“We’re in the very, very early preliminary stages,” he said.
He added the city is monitoring the situation between Fellsmere and the county, but won’t let the outcome be the sole factor in how it proceeds.
Sebastian, like Fellsmere, points to customer service as its motivation for withdrawing fee-for-service fire inspections from the county.
“We think we can be more responsive,” Minner said.
Vero Beach City Manager Jim O’Connor said his city has no plans to follow suit.
County Commissioner Wesley Davis voiced concern that municipalities were considering such action.
“There’s got to be something going on that all of a sudden we have two municipalities that want to do their own inspections,” he said.
King did not respond to that comment.
Commissioners did not appear to relish the idea of going to court with Fellsmere.
Commissioner Bob Solari pointed out that Fellsmere is providing the same service closer to its customers while the county is providing a “hierarchical central authority.”
This is the latest in a long line of skirmishes between the two governments – starting back when Fellsmere began annexing hundreds of acres of property for future development.
More recently, the city and county battled over city plans to provide natural gas to customers outside city limits.
“All I do know is, every time we’ve gone to court with Fellsmere, it hadn’t been very successful,” Davis said.
In 2009, the county and city fought over who pays to maintain fire hydrants within city limits. That went to court and was finally settled in 2012.
Both county commissioners and Nunemaker said they would like to reach an agreement without having to go to court.
Nunemaker is expected to address county concerns at Thursday’s City Council meeting.
