Heidelberg Township board of supervisors meeting on Oct. 15 began with a review and discussion from Brian Carl, with Weisenberg Township, on the proposed fire code ordinance.

Carl began the discussion, saying that it took Weisenberg Township a couple years to dissect the fire inspection codes. They modeled their codes four years ago after Upper Macungie’s.

“We have been doing fire inspections now for about three years,” he said. “On the land development side, it gives you a little bit more strength than you get with some developments up here as far as some of the fire department-related items, whether it’s driveway widths or fire lanes, items like that, if you ever run into issues with developers.”

He said on the yearly inspection side, which is probably what the township will use it the most for, you can pick and choose what businesses the township wants to do, but you do have to be consistent.

“So for us, home occupation businesses do not get inspected. So if it’s a hairdresser or an accountant working out of their house, they’re not subject to inspection,” Carl said. “But we do all the churches, the schools, day cares and businesses. We adopted a fee schedule, and we actually farm our inspections out to Upper Macungie because they have an established staff there, and they’ve been doing it for quite a few years.”

He said Weisenberg pays Upper Macungie an hourly rate to do inspections. Businesses are charged a flat rate based on square footage. A smaller business like in the strip malls would probably be about $100 to $125 a year. Carl said code inspectors check that the Knox Box is in place, all information is up to date and all fire-code-related items are working.

He said that if a building was built 20 years ago, the code in effect at that time applies unless the building has undergone major changes or renovations.

“A lot of it’s going to be exit signs, emergency lights, electrical panels are clear, the occupancy didn’t change without the township knowing about it. So that you’re going into a business and thinking it’s a gas station here and it’s a convenience store or whatever, something else,” Carl said. “They’re checking for hazards, so if there’s a propane filling station at a hardware store or fuel on site, fireworks or whatever, so that stuff is captured.”

He said the code adoption phase is flexible.

Weisenberg has about 70 businesses to inspect. Warehouses, he said, are the least offenders because they’re all owned by bigger companies, and their insurance companies make them go through the inspections and stuff.

During the discussion, Germansville Fire Chief Jay Scheffler asked Carl if Weisenberg was agricultural exempt.

Carl said yes and that agricultural businesses don’t get inspected nor do vineyards. Just stand alone commercial structures.

“It is pretty flexible as long as you are consistent,” he said. “For us, all the churches, Weisenberg Elementary School, Circle of Seasons, the day cares and then any stand-alone business, whether it is a repair shop, strip mall, the historical society, the public works garage, the community center, anything that is kind of stand-alone will get done.”

He said churches and schools do get charged by the square foot, also. There is no exception.

Chairman Jonathan Jakum asked inspections could be done every other year or every five years so the small businesses aren’t getting hammered with $150 bucks a year.

“I am not sure to be honest with you,” Carl said. “We do every year. I think everyone does it every year. I have never heard of anyone doing it every two years or every five years.”

He said the first year Weisenberg sent inspectors out, it was a free year for all businesses. The township eat the cost. It was an educational year.

“It’s never about ‘hey we are here to crack down and tell you what you got to do,’” Carl said. “It’s more like ‘what is good for the business and what’s good for the patrons.’”

During the discussion, Carl was also asked about the historical society buildings at Ontelaunee Park that were built in the 1700s.

“Our historical society buildings get inspected,” he said. “In our situation, we actually do a fire preplan, too, so if there are hazards on the property, that gets documented and updated into our active 911 system so we have all updated contact information for the site, the Knox Box keys have been updated and we have a basic sketch of where there is a propane tank or where flammable liquids are stored.”

Under unfinished business, board members approved Resolution 2026-23 for the revised Local Share Account Grant-Statewide application and the designation of authority to execute documents for the fire department’s engine replacement, with a grant request of up to $1,000,000. Board members also approved Resolution 2026-26 for the Local Share Account Grant-Lehigh and Northampton counties application and the designation of authority to execute documents for the fire department’s engine replacement, with a grant request of $250,000.

Under new business, board members approved Eastern Salt Company for the township’s joint road salt bid at $87.90 per ton.

During monthly reports, Scheffler announced the fire company has partnered with Heidelberg Union Church for its Trunk or Treat event taking place 3:30-5:30 p.m. Oct. 31 at the fire company, 6011 Memorial Road, Germansville.