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6.K. - Page 2 of 5 ANALYSIS The Redwood City Fire Department uses the fiscal year calendar for the annual cycle of inspections in order to line up with the annual budget any fees as approved by the City's Fee Schedule that are collected during the Fire and Life Safety Inspection process. In compliance with the California Health and Safety Code Section 13146, 75% of all property types required by state mandate to be inspected annually were inspected in FY 2019/20. The Department was on track to complete all required inspections before the end of the fiscal year (June 30, 2020), however, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, all inspections were stopped in March of 2020. The Department resumed inspections in July of 2020, starting with the remaining previous fiscal year's fourth quarter mandated inspections that were not completed. Attachment A to this staff report shows the FY 2019/20 inspection results for state mandated inspections. The state mandates that the listed occupancy types receive an initial annual inspection. It does not mandate that any violations noted be corrected within the annual cycle. However, we have a relatively high rate of correction of all violations on all of the State mandated inspections (R2 — Multifamily Residential, E — Educational, R1 — Hotels/Motels, 13 - Institutional Jails, and High -Rises) considering the large amount of occupancies that are mandated to be inspected. Staff follow up with all properties that did not correct all violations within FY 2019/20 to ensure violations are corrected. Starting FY 2019/20 the Fire Department re -instituted inspecting non -mandated occupancies such as businesses, mercantile, commercial, assembly, and industrial occupancies that are in excess of 3,000 additional inspections on a more regular cycle. Additionally the Fire Department also conducts Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) defensible space inspections of properties in the hills of Redwood City on an annual basis. In response to concerns received regarding the inspection fee for small businesses operating in a small commercial office space such as an individual suite or shared suite within a commercial building, complex, or business park, staff reassessed the time required to inspect such businesses. Staff recommended a 50% reduction in the hourly Life and Safety Inspection fee charged for small businesses located within a larger complex on July 13 2020, and the City Council approved the reduced fee. FISCAL IMPACT The fiscal impact for FY 2019/20 is approximately a 25% reduction in the projected revenue for fire inspection fees as approximately 25% of planned inspections could not be completed due to the COVID- 19 pandemic. In addition, with the recent amendment to the City's master fee schedule that created a 50% reduction in the fee for the inspection of small businesses that are located within larger business parks, we are projecting a 5% reduction in the projected revenue for fire and life safety inspections for Fiscal Year 2020/21. Page 2 of 3 City of Redwood City 1017 Middlefield Road, Redwood City, CA. 94063 Tel: 650-780-7000 www.redwoodcity.ore 108