The city of St. Joseph will be contracting out some of its rental unit inspections following action this week by the city commission.

At their regular meeting, city commissioners heard from Community Development Director Kristen Gundersen, who said the city started its rental inspections program in the 1970s. It conducts biennial safety inspections of dwellings that are rented out for more than a month at a time, or apartments. The city currently has about 1,700 of them, and Gundersen said the fire department used to handle those inspections. When the department of public safety was created in 2012, the inspections fell on it, and with the last full-time firefighter now having retired, it’s been on PSOs who serve as police officers and firefighters.

Gundersen said these inspection duties can be a burden for the officers who often have to respond to emergencies. The idea of hiring a contractor came out of recent union discussions with the department of public safety.

“They would be willing to give up their $1,000 stipend not to do this program anymore,” Gundersen said. “With that said, the inspection department looked into doing a third-party contractor, very similar to plumbing, electrical, and mechanical contractors.”

Gundersen said the public safety officers have been doing inspections on buildings with four or fewer units, while the city inspections department takes larger properties. By hiring a contracted inspector to take over the PSO inspection duties, the city could save on vehicle costs, benefits, and lost police productivity.

“It’ll create more time slots available. It’ll create probably more uniform inspections taking place over time and from year to year and between individual properties. The person will have a background or will be trained to do the inspections, and that’s what they would be doing working for us.”

Commissioners signed off on the idea of turning those duties over to a contractor who will be paid 80% of the inspection fees. They also approved a new fee schedule setting those fees at $75 for the first unit and $40 for each additional unit.

The city inspections department will continue handling the inspection of large apartment buildings. The goal is to have a contractor to do the smaller ones hired and working in July.