As Meadville City Council continues to mull the possibility of instituting a residential registration and inspection program, one thing looks fairly clear. Not every residential unit in the city will be included in the plan.

Although the city is leaving the door open for inspection of owner-occupied residences to be introduced at some future point, the proposal now in the development stage does not include owner-occupied units, state-licensed care

facilities, college-owned dorms and units owned by Meadville Housing Authority. All other non-transient residential rental units, including fraternity houses, are expected to be part of the mix.

Gary Johnson, the city’s zoning administrator, and Chief Larndo (Tunie) Hedrick of Meadville Central Fire Department, who heads the city’s inspection program, are in the process of putting together a detailed proposal, including a timetable and plans for implementation, to be presented to council in coming weeks.

According to Hedrick, the non-owner-occupied residential facilities left off the list were left off for a variety of specific reasons.

For example, Allegheny College is currently inspected — and always has been inspected — under the National Fire Code. “They pay for that service,” Hedrick said, noting that the inspections take place annually. The department bills the college its basic inspection rate — $25 per hour with a $25 minimum. In January, for example, the department inspected 15 different on-campus areas; another round of inspections usually takes place during July.

“I don’t want you to think that when we say fire inspections that they just walk into a building and that’s all they’re looking at. It’s not. But that’s what we call the inspection,” Hedrick said.



All-purpose inspectors

As for the role firefighters play in the city’s current inspection program, “We’re a catch-all for inspections — we do them all,” he said. “We utilize all the codes — mechanical, electrical. We can enforce all codes — and we use all the codes.” On an annual basis, the department expects to generate approximately $6,500 in revenues from all its code inspections.

In on-campus residential buildings, where the inspectors visit each individual dorm room, “those fire inspections are inspecting the same as they would for rental inspections, but when they go on the residential rental inspections, there would be extra stuff that would be added, such as drainage,” Hedrick said.

Because Allegheny’s dorms, according to Hedrick, have already been inspected under the building code when they were built, inspectors don’t include a look at those items. “They aren’t making any changes and converting it into a rental,” he explained, noting that the residential inspection program is really geared toward private owners. “A lot of the rentals in the town were built as single-family dwellings and converted,” he said, pointedly noting that not all of those conversions included obtaining the proper permits.

“We’re not ordering Allegheny to do things that should have been done when (the dorms) were being built,” he continued. “That’s already been done. Their furnaces are installed properly. The heating units are installed properly. The electrical wiring is proper. Their means of egress is proper. Those aren’t issues that we would be getting into with (the college), unless they would allow them to become dilapidated — which they don’t. They have a maintenance crew that goes around and continually upgrades and fixes things.”

At this point, residential houses owned by the college and used for student housing are not subject to annual fire inspection by the city.

“I’ve talked to the college — and they look at those houses at least annually themselves,” Johnson said.

Nursing homes and similar structures were also inspected when they were built,” Hedrick explained. “They’re required to have annual fire safety inspections,” he said. “They get those. And when they do any upgrades, they’re required to get permits.”

The federal government requires units owned by Meadville Housing Authority to be inspected. “They have their own inspectors — and federal inspectors occasionally come in,” Hedrick explained, noting that Meadville Fire Department inspectors don’t get involved unless there’s a complaint.

Both municipal code and state law require institutional facilities such as nursing homes and hospitals to be inspected on a regular basis, Hedrick continued. “They’re also required to have monthly fire drills — and some of their employees are required to have fire safety training.” His department conducts both the drills and the training, he added.



Mary Spicer can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at mspicer@meadvilletribune.com.