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follow-up inspections at facilities necessitate a good deal of inspector hours. <br />Even when the initial inspections are completed in all the facilities within our <br />community, inspection hours will not decrease due to the new building growth <br />within our community. It is my goal to have a fire inspection completed in all <br />facilities every two years. When initial inspections are completed at all <br />facilities in our community, this goal will become attainable. I have had other <br />fire inspector qualified firefighters attempt to conduct inspections in their <br />"spare time." This is a very difficult task for the part time inspectors with busy <br />schedules at home, fire department training commitments, and juggling work <br />schedules. <br /> <br />The idea of a fire inspector/administrative assistant position for the <br />department is very attractive and attainable at this time. Currently our fire <br />department has three assistant fire chiefs and three captain positions. These <br />positions are filled by the paid-on-call firefighters within our department. The <br />assistant chiefs are elected by the membership based on minimum training <br />requirements set forth by the fire chief. The addition of a full time fire <br />inspector/administrative assistant to our organizational structure would <br />require no organizational changes. The overall structure of the officers within <br />our fire department has been discussed by our organization and is a project for <br />the future that goes hand-in-hand with the addition of future fire stations. <br /> <br />The fire inspector/administrative assistant position would provide a daytime <br />point of contact within our department in the absence of the fire chief. The fire <br />inspector/administrative assistant position would assist the fire chief in areas <br />such as public fire safety education, fire and emergency scenes as needed, <br />development of annual firefighter training program, assessing concerns of the <br />citizens within our community, and serving as the city's deputy emergency <br />management director. <br /> <br />As the council is aware, as of January 1, 2000, I have assumed the position of <br />safety coordinator for the City of Elk River. Along with this position has come <br />a new full-time position within the fire department. I believe one of the major <br />factors in the hiring of a full time fire inspector/administrative assistant, <br />references my taking control of the safety program as safety coordinator. Our <br />City of Elk River safety program is extremely important (compliance with <br />federal, state, and OSHA regulations), and it is vital that all employees have <br />that understanding. The council is aware that I have been conducting 6-8 <br />hours per week of inspections throughout our community, along with the part- <br />time fire inspectors. With the added role of safety coordinator, I will not have <br />the available time to continue fire inspections. When the full time fire <br />inspector/administrative assistant person is hired, our fire inspection bureau <br />will still require the use of part-time fire inspectors for our program. <br />Therefore, we will still be using part-time inspectors along with our full-time <br /> <br /> <br />