BOS Adopts New Fire Inspection Ordinance

Since 2007, Stafford’s ordinances have stipulated that the fire marshal should inspect all buildings yearly. That includes apartment buildings, businesses, and factories. And at the Wednesday, April 2, 2025, Board of Selectmen meeting, Fire Marshal Mark Morrison made no bones about it; his office cannot keep up with that demand. With that in mind, he proposed Stafford change its ordinance to match state statute 29-305. According to Morrison, under state regulations, there are:

• 184 multiple-unit buildings to be inspected yearly (not including 79 new units from Phase II of Woodland Springs)

• 16 buildings to be inspected every two years 

• 114 buildings to be inspected every three years 

• 22 buildings to be inspected every four years 

Morrison noted that if the town were to adopt the new schedule, it would save the town’s businesses money, as they have to pay for the inspections. He also said he did not believe there would be a decrease in revenue as his department would still be doing the same number of inspections, just on different buildings.  

Even with this new schedule, Fire Marshal Morrison said his office would still have trouble keeping up with the inspections. Rob Proulx, an alternate on the Board of Finance, was in the audience and asked about the Deputy Fire Marshal’s hours and how many are devoted to inspections. Morrison said that the deputy can not go over 16 hours a week and that 100% of his time is spent on inspections.

There are more than 900 apartments in Stafford, according to the Fire Marshal, and each must be inspected individually. About 45% of inspections result in a re-inspection, and in large apartment buildings, it takes five or six trips to get the whole building done, primarily because tenants are not always at home. In his first meeting as a selectman, John Whetton asked how long each apartment inspection takes. Morrison estimated they took about five minutes each, plus an additional 15 minutes or so for the common areas of the building. And then there’s the paperwork. 

Whetton also alluded to changes in the department, which had been aimed at improving efficiency, and that no one wanted to see any tragic incidents like those in neighboring towns. While the selectmen were all aligned on the need to change the regulations, Rick Hartenstein and Whetton wanted to make one change. The new ordinance, as drafted, would have allowed changes to the inspection fees to be made with the Board of Selectmen's approval. Fee changes currently require approval at a Town Meeting, which also requires publishing legal notices and the associated costs. Whetton and Hartenstein felt it was essential to keep the people involved in any potential fee changes. So, they voted to send the amended ordinance to a Town Meeting without the change to how fees are approved.