Agenda - Council - 08/13/2013 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Ramsey, hlowthen, St. Francis, Oak Grove, and Bethel, Minnesota Feasibility Study for Shared or Cooperative Fire and Emergency Services cost as much as $1.5 million and must be replaced periodically. Facilities, which can cost upwards of several million dollars to construct, are necessary to house the apparatus and provide housing and training for personnel. Although not replaced as often as apparatus, emergency services facilities cannot be expected to last forever. With the exception of Bethel, all of the agencies have effectively planned for future apparatus replacement needs. Limited planning has taken place regarding fixed facilities. Should future collaborative efforts be undertaken, the cost of future capital replacement will be a critical consideration. Aside from personnel, capital assets can be a department's most critical expense; without proper upkeep and replacement planning, facilities and apparatus can fall into disrepair and fail at a critical time. ESCI conducted a non-architectural/non-engineering review of existing facilities to evaluate suitability for current uses and viability for future service delivery. In addition, the project team reviewed existing apparatus for general condition and serviceability. The review is included in the Capital Assets section of this report. Today's emergency services agencies are a mix of career (paid full-time), part-time, paid -on -call, and volunteer personnel. Which of these an agency utilizes (one or more) is dependent upon several factors, including availability of paid -on -call or volunteer personnel, service demand, population density, socioeconomics, demographics, and financial resources of the community. For a career fire department, the distinction between administrative and support personnel and operations personnel is relatively dear. In combination and volunteer departments, however, this separation is not as simple. Most combination and volunteer departments have personnel that perform both administrative/support and operational roles while career departments have personnel that are primarily focused on managing and supportingthe programs of the organization. Only Ramsey Fire Department uses career personnel to meet the administrative and support needs of the department. Each of the other departments accomplishes these functions with part-time or paid -on - call personnel. In all of the participating agencies, administrative personnel also serve as primary emergency responders. Emergency response staffing is accomplished largely by the use of paid -on -call, part-time personnel throughout the study area. Only Ramsey employs career personnel which are limited to administrative roles. All operational responders are non -career members. page 2 r6mcrgmry 5crnccs Consulnng