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Ramsey, Nowthen, St. Francis, Oak Grove, and Bethel, Minnesota Feasibility Study for Shared or Cooperative Fire and Emergency Services Executive Summary Emergency Services Consulting International (ESCI) was engaged by the cities of Ramsey, Nowthen, St. Francis, Oak Grove, and Bethel, Minnesota, herein after referred to as the participating agencies, to evaluate the feasibility of shared and cooperative services between the cities' fire departments. This report serves as the culmination of the project and begins with a general overview of the participating agencies. This overview includes information relative to history, formation, and general description of the service areas, governance and lines of authority, foundational policy documents, organizational design, and budget and finance. Each participating agency is a direct operating department of its respective municipality. Each reports to a city council and/or mayor and participates in annual municipal budget processes. The primary difference between the governance and lines of authority of the five study agencies is relative to city size but otherwise few differences exist. Foundational policy documents are those books, handbooks, and manuals that allow the organization to exist and govern its operations both from an administrative and operational perspective. ESCI reviewed the organizations documents and found that they are generally well developed. While each agency maintains Standard Operating Guidelines (SOG), they are somewhat variable in content. Regardless of moving forward with cooperative efforts, all five agencies would benefit from developing and implementing a standardized set of pclicy documents that cover specific topics including administrative policies, general rules, and operational guidance. Most fire departments and emergency services agencies are structured in a typical "top -down" hierarchy where the fire chief reports to a board of directors (or city administrator/manager or city council) and the remainder of the fire department is under his/her direction, usually consisting of several assistant or deputy chiefs, line officers, and operational firefighters. As seen in many organizations this size, programs and responsibilities are overseen by those `wearing more than one hat'. Future shared services may produce programs of sufficient size to warrant separate program managers as well as administrative and support positions. Without adequate funding, no emergency services organization can fulfill its mission. The personnel, whether career or volunteer, are compensated in some fashion either through salary and benefits or through intangible pension programs. Apparatus are expensive pieces of specialized equipment that can ier, r,,,,_jl „K page 1