Mishawaka City Council approves 2014 budget

MISHAWAKA, Ind. --Mishawaka City Council members unanimously approved the 2014 budget. One big change in that deal, the city's building department will take over fire inspections from the department.

“The follow up inspections which we are talking about here is a very simple process. We have our building inspectors that are cross-trained to do that so it’s just much more efficient for us,” says Mayor of Mishawaka Dave Wood.

Mayor Wood says they plan to hire a full time inspector. They will have the same training for fire inspections, and it will allow the city's firefighters and fire marshal to focus on saving property and lives.

“We added a full-time employee to the building department so that was part of the budget for next year, so coming next year we will be able to hire that new building inspector,” said Mayor Wood.

It will also help the city inspect more buildings, making sure schools and businesses are safe and up to code.

“Our fire inspectors are working four day weeks, our building inspectors work five day weeks here in the building department, so off the bat we are talking about 52 days of inspections that we can be doing,” says Mayor Wood.