Agenda - Council Work Session - 05/01/2012

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II. Introduction Process began in October 2011 with the cities of Nowthen, St Francis and Ramsey initiating discussions. At first meeting it was decided to open discussions to a more regional group to include Oak Grove and Bethel. Meetings began as monthly until February at which time the frequency was expanded to 2 times per month. Resolutions were passed by each community in October verbalizing goals: • Provide basic city services in an efficient manner • Working cooperatively across community borders • Establish Joint Fire Study Group to look at the feasibility of a Shared Fire Service Group. • Group would formally report back to all communities by April 1, 2012 with a recommendation to the feasibility of the study. Study Group was made up of the following from each community: • Administrator • Elected Official • Fire Chief • Member of respective fire dept. Interviews of 5 established fire districts were made acquiring details how each were formed and governed. Other details included the handling of capital (buildings and equipment), major maintenance to buildings, merging of personnel, makeup of Governance Boards, how large purchases were handled (vehicles, other capital) and who owned such assets, level of services provided, who provides professional services (Finance, HR, etc.) Also researched was the availability of grant opportunities for the feasibility studies through the State Fire Marshal's Office. Group elected Mayor Jerry Tveit of St Francis as the group chair with Ramsey Councilmember Sarah Strommen being elected as Vice Chair. Guest speakers were invited to address the group. Nyle Zikmund of SBM (Spring Lake Park, Blaine, Moundsview) and Scott Crandall of West Metro (New Hope and Crystal) both made detailed presentations of their respective organizations. A combined press release was created and released from all 5 communities. (See attachments) Demographics of each community were generated and shared including: population, land mass, valuation, Fire Dept. details, budget details. Cost Share models were generated and details from each community were provided to run these models using current budget numbers. An effort was made to refine each community's budget numbers so that the cost share models would be comparing each community with like information. Issues such as 2