At the April 24 city council meeting Building Inspector Jacob Coburn requested aldermen to create an ordinance to establish minimum fire safety requirements for all short and long-term rentals in Eureka Springs.
The request comes after Coburn returned from a seminar in Little Rock on safety inspections and code enforcement. In his statement, Coburn mentioned that Eureka Springs faced three major fires in the past, and provided aldermen with pictures of fire hazards and out of compliance construction he has found.
Several of the photos showed wiring improperly insulated and near other hazards such as gas lines or water heaters, and stuffed into hazardous conditions. He also showed a picture of plumbing in a residential home that, while corrected, originally had sewage leaking below the structure, and a photo of a support beam holding four upper decks that did not fully sit on concrete footing.
Coburn said he has more than 2500 photos of similar incidents and that renters were fearful of retaliation should they raise concerns. He said homes in town do not have proper fire drafting or protection, and the ordinance he was asking council to make would establish a basic required inspection list that property owners would need to follow. He said the list is minimum and reasonable.
Examples of proper fire safety in buildings Coburn mentioned included firewalls, connected fire alarms and carbon monoxide sensors, extinguishers, and sprinkler systems. Aldermen voiced support for the ordinance and the list of minimum requirements, although concern was raised by Autumn Slane about the cost of sprinkler systems to the average property owner.
Coburn explained that while the requirements of each construction and building are different, there are preventive measures on the list that property owners could use to avoid the high cost of a sprinkler system. He also said that new technologies are in development to make those systems cheaper.
Coburn iterated that fire proofing does not exist in many properties in town and that it was time to work with property owners to fix that. Alderman Terry McClung suggested a workshop to allow property owners to weigh in on the ordinance requirements and Coburn said he’d also invite state inspectors to speak during the workshop.
Other Items
- A request by the hospital for the city to waive bidding on a new Operating System was deferred. The new OS would allow the hospital to continue accepting Medicare and Medicaid but aldermen did not understand why the hospital needed to come to council when such decisions have been handled by the hospital commission in the past.
- Resolution 837 to establish a Public Hearing to vacate a portion of Inman street between Cushing and Cliff Sts. passed unanimously.
- 2337 passed three readings with emergency clause invoked. The ordinance amends municipal code regarding “Jake brakes” was to use the general term engine brakes. The Municipal League informed the city that the original phrase is copyrighted and thus needed to be changed.
- 2338 and 2339 to allow Charissa Litherland and Christine Santimore to work part-time for the city passed three readings with emergency clause invoked. Both are commissioners, on Parks and HDC respectively, and the Municipal League informed the city their employment would need to be approved by city ordinance.