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Attachment 1 City of Roseville Fire Department 2701 Lexington Ave.Roseville, MN 55113 Phone: 651.792.7340 Fax: 651.792.7300 www.facebook.com/RosevilleMNFireDepartment www.CityOfRoseville.com/Fire City Manager Trudgeon and Council, The need for a Housing Officer/Fire Inspector position within the Fire Department is at a critical level. The continued management and success of the Multi-Family Housing Licensing program hinges on providing appropriate staffing and resources for the ever-increasing demands of this program. Due to significant increases in development and multi-family housing and a corresponding increase in emergency call volume the fire department is struggling to perform the day-to-day inspections and maintenance of a licensing program as robust as this. Due to having fire inspectors on duty and attempting to perform inspections while on-shift we are continuously missing scheduled inspections, causing scheduling issues which is problematic for us, the management company, and the tenants. We are struggling to meet the needs of a robust licensing program with more than 170 buildings and nearly 6,000 units. I do not believe we are fully meeting the merits of the program; a point I made when presenting to the City Council earlier in 2023. Problem properties are hampering our service level and can become incredibly resource heavy when we encounter them. As mentioned, increased buildings and units in the City as well as an increasing emergency call volume has significantly challenged our ability to have a committed person be the face of the program and a direct contact to managers and tenants. Having multiple on-duty fire inspectors with their rotating schedule can be problematic for managers to connect directly with them; a Monday-Friday fire inspector would bridge that communication gap and connectivity between managers and the inspector. Not to mention provide consistency with inter- department work we perform routinely with community development. This position is on the tax levy, however, it does generate revenue for the City with the work performed. If this position were to be approved in the 2025 budget, the Fire Department would look to increase per unit fees from $15 to at least $20, and building fees from $102 to $150. In total nearly $40,000 of new revenue generation from just the multi-family licensing perspective. In addition, with a committed Monday-Friday Fire Inspector, we would look to add revenue through increasing some of our business insurance life safety inspections that we often have to turn down due to availability. There would also likely be the reduction of multiple shift based Firefighter/Fire Inspector role (approximately $8,000 in savings from each position). The Housing Officer/Fire Inspector may also play a pivotal role as the City begins to take on Hotel Licensing. The Fire Department has been inspecting all of the hotels in Roseville since 2017, but having one consistent representative be the inspector and the conduit for all things fire and life safety at the hotels will be an overall program management benefit for the City. This position is not a want or a nicety. I believe it is a necessity for the Fire Department to maintain some stabilization in our day-to-day operations and fire prevention programs. For the reasons mentioned above, our on-duty staffing is stretched too thin to consistently deliver a high level licensing product. This added position would be a significant bolster to our abilities to perform fire prevention activities and refocus our on-duty personnel to emergency response and community outreach. Respectfully, David Brosnahan Fire Chief Qbhf!254!pg!417