By Tim Rowden
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri)
Copyright 2006 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Jefferson County fire districts have regained the statutory authority to conduct fire safety inspections related to home construction.
The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously struck down as unconstitutional a 2005 law that had barred fire protection districts in the county from adopting fire protection codes related to housing construction and had placed the authority to conduct inspections solely with the county building inspector’s office.
The court ruled that the statute represented an unconstitutional “special law” in that it applied only to Jefferson County. The ruling overturned a decision by Cole County Senior Judge Byron Kinder upholding the law.
Rep. Jeff Roorda, D-Barnhart, said he and other Jefferson County lawmakers had fought against the so-called “special interests” legislation when the House of Representatives debated the measure last year.
“This is a landmark decision for public safety and consumer rights,” Roorda said of the Supreme Court’s ruling. “It guarantees that safety will once again come before profit in Jefferson County.”
Housing contractors expressed concern in the past about various codes and differing fee structures charged by the county’s various fire protection districts.
Matt Mayer, president of the Jefferson County Fire Protection Districts Association and chief of the Rock Community Fire Protection District, said the association planned to vote next week on a unified code and fee structure to address that problem.
“It’s very good news for the people of Jefferson County because the experts in the field of fire inspections will be back in the field doing fire inspections,” Mayer said.