The council accepted $9,600 from the state Department of Transportation on Monday to fund the inspections.

Kuhns is one of three people on the Kenai Peninsula certified to inspect commercial vehicles by the Department of Transportation. The other two inspectors work at the vehicle weigh station in Sterling.

While some truckers protested when the program started in 1998, these days, some drivers praise the program for making the roads and their vehicles safer, Kuhns said.

Since the program started, Kuhns has conducted 185 of the most complete inspections and hundreds of less rigorous inspections. Forty-four percent of those vehicles were placed out of service due to serious safety violation.

But Kuhns said since the program started, he has found fewer major problems with the trucks each year.