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

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Ramsey, Nowthen, St. Francis, Oak Grove, and Bethel, Minnesota Feasibility Study for Shared or Cooperative Fire and Emergency Services command. Depending on the form of the agreement(s) establishing the organization, members may remain with the original agency, transfer to one of the other agencies, or transfer to an entirely new organization. Unlike functional consolidation, an operational consolidation brings the actual operations of the separate organizations together into a single department that provides services to one or more communities but does not create a new legal entity. The organizational structure, command, and operational model will depend upon the structure and format of the agreements established between the agencies. Like functional consolidations, operational consolidations are sometimes considered an intermediate step leading to a full merger. The main advantage of the strategy offers governing bodies the ability to negotiate and monitor desirable outcomes for the management of a particular service. This gives a higher level of comfort in going forward with the decision to unify fire service across a geographical region. In Minnesota there are several types of IGAs, including Joint Exercise of Powers, Intergovernmental Service Agreements, and Intergovernmental Service Transfers. Within the Joint Exercise of Powers Act there are two primary options for sharing services: Shared Powers Agreements and Service Contracts. In Shared Powers Agreements, governments jointly share responsibility for providing a service such as fire protection. Service Contracts, however, allow one city to 'contract' with another government for services. The intergovernmental Service Agreement is the mast common form of cooperative arrangement in Minnesota. It is an agreement, formal or informal, written or oral, between two or more governments about the delivery of a service or services. These agreements may take many forms. Intergovernmental Service Transfers are a permanent transfer of total responsibility for the provision of a service from one government unit to another.. Legal Unification Under certain circumstances in law, fire departments can join into a single entity. This formal approach unites not only the programs but also the organizations themselves. State laws addressing political subdivisions usually detail a process for legal unification. Typically, state laws draw a distinction between words like annexation, merger, and consolidation when speaking of legal unification. Organizationally, however, the outcome of any such legal process results in one unified organization. The primary differences between the legal strategies relate to governance and taxation issues. In many states, some process of inclusion exists that essentially involves the annexation page 82 ..Emcrgcnry Scr+iccs Consuinnz