The state Emergency Commission has approved a request by the state Insurance and Securities Department to transfer $1.5 million from the state Insurance Regulatory Trust Fund, for the inspection of state buildings and institutions.
The money will be used to contract with companies that do those inspections.
Deputy Insurance and Securities Commissioner John Arnold told the Emergency Commission the cities where the state owned buildings are located did those inspections – but after the state fire marshal’s office was transferred from Insurance to the office of Management and Budget, it was learned that the fire marshal had been caught up in a dispute between cities and the state – something that goes back a number of years.
"There's an Attorney General's opinion, from 1998, stating that state buildings and institutions do not need to pay for permitting to build new buildings, for zoning issues," Arnold said. "They don't pay those fees like private entities do."
Arnold said this came up because of the construction of the new state laboratory building on the state Capitol grounds, as well as new buildings going up on the NDSU campus in Fargo.
"I feel like the fire marshal was stuck in the middle, because the fire marshal delegates that authority to the local fire departments tro inspect those buildings," Arnold said. "From the cities' perspective, they're not getting those permitting fees — so 'why should we be going in there and doing that?'"
Arnold said he thinks the local fire chiefs are also caught in the middle.
"They absolutely want to have access to those buildings, because it's their guys who are the ones to respond if there's an event," Arnold said. "They want to know the layout, and how to respond."
Arnold said he thinks there is a good partnership between the state and local fire departments, that they will still be allowed that access, to reduce liability.
"We want an effective response, if the worse does happen," Arnold said.
Governor Kelly Armstrong chairs the Emergency Commission. Reporters asked him if he thinks some of this could be fallout from the property tax caps the Legislature passed.
"I think that would be a decent guess," Armstrong said. "We'll fix it going forward."