JAY – Selectmen voted to include $10,676 in the fiscal 2009 municipal budget for a building inspector position Monday night, town Environmental Code Enforcement Officer Shiloh Ring said Tuesday.

The position would be for eight hours a week, plus two hours for inspections.

The vote was 3-1 with Selectman Steve McCourt opposed to the motion.

The motion was initially made to fund a building inspector position, but when Vice Chairman Rick Simoneau repeated the motion, he added the words deputy code enforcement officer.

Simoneau was at work Tuesday and unavailable for comment.

State law requires towns with 2,000 or more residents to have a person to inspect each new building during construction to ensure that “all proper safeguards against the catching or spreading of fire are used, the chimneys and flues are made safe, and that proper cutoffs are placed between the timbers and walls and floorings where fire would be likely to spread.”

It also requires a building inspector to exercise similar authority regarding repairs to existing structures.

The need for a building inspector came to light last year after a state fire inspector asked to see the town’s building inspector, which Jay doesn’t have.