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Commissioner Halkiotis noted that since the beginning of the program, the County has <br />collected $23,670 for those inspections within the Hillsborough town limits and $ 26,281 for County <br />inspections. When he voted for this originally, he voted for it knowing that it would come back to the <br />Board of Commissioners at a later date for reevaluation. He feels that the 10% administrative fee that <br />the Town of Hillsborough charges for intown inspection is too much and the 20% for the ETJ area is <br />too high. He wants people treated fairly. The size of the facility must be taken into consideration <br />when charging this fee. He feels it would be in the Town's best interest to do their own fire <br />inspections and to set a fair fee. The County does not have the staff to do all the other County <br />inspections which are required. <br />Chair Carey noted that the fee structure was set on a trial basis. The County now has <br />some experience and something on which to base a review of these fees. He agrees that the Town <br />should have the latitude to set these fees for those facilities within the Town's jurisdiction. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis said that with the amount that was collected for the inspections <br />within Hillsborough, they could pay for a firefighter. <br />Mayor Horace Johnson agreed that they now have some experience on which to base <br />these fees for fire inspections. He asked that the County continue doing these fire inspections until <br />the Town has an opportunity to hire someone and provide the necessary training. He asked that the <br />managers work on a plan which will move them toward this goal with an effective date of July 1, 1997. <br />John Link said that the managers will use the assumption that the service will pay for <br />itself, unless otherwise directed by the Board, and develop a fee schedule that will generate that <br />amount of revenue and one that is fair. The managers will report back to their respective Board <br />within 30 days. <br />Town Commissioner Remus Smith said that he is not concerned about the fees. <br />However, he feels strongly that the Town needs another year before they can assume this <br />responsibility. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis noted that in many cases when making the fire inspection, other <br />issues will be identified which will require calling in County staff to assess the situation or recommend <br />corrective action. The County may be involved with safety issues or public welfare issues because <br />these are County functions. <br />Chair Carey would like for the fee schedule to be uniform. He has a problem with <br />having two different fee schedules. <br />Mayor Johnson indicated he is willing to leave the fees in place for another year until <br />they can hire someone and get them adequately trained. <br />The program was commended by Mayor Johnson and Chair Carey as the right thing to <br />do because business owners want to provide a safe environment for their customers. <br />It was decided that the two managers would work on a plan and a timetable for <br />implementation and present this plan to each governing board the first regular meeting in May. The <br />fees will be part of that plan. The two boards will then meet later in May to confirm the plan. <br />Commissioner Willhoit feels that although state law indicates that the inspections in the <br />ETJ of Hillsborough must be done by the Town of Hillsborough, that those businesses have no <br />recourse with the governing board that they elect.