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 Governance Options and Strategies While the emergency operations component of a fire department is an important element of the overall emergency services system, no organization can properly function without some form of governance and authority to act. This report section provides policymakers with information regarding several potential options for governance of the fire protection system serving the study area, including the Cities Ramsey, Nowthen, St. Francis, Oak Grove and Bethel.. Status Quo Any discussion of potential feasible governance options would be remiss if it did not consider continuation of the current model as it is today. In this study area, the current model of contracting of the City of Ramsey Fire Department services to both the Cities of Nowthen and St. Francis are a viable option for future governance. The current model includes the City of Nowthen as a contracting agency for service from the City of Ramsey, an agreement under which the Ramsey and Nowthen Fire Departments operate as one, under the administration and management of the Ramsey Fire Chief. In addition, the City of Ramsey provides contractual fire protection services to the City of St. Francis. In St. Francis, however, the city provides its own direct fire protection and contracts only for the services of the Ramsey Fire Chief to provide oversight and administrative support services. In the Cities of Oak Grove and Bethel, services are provided as stand-alone, independent fire departments. While a degree of interaction and collaboration with Ramsey, Nowthen, and St. Francis takes place, the fire departments remain as separate entities. The current relationships have evolved to where they are today and the result has been positive. The current model is a feasible option moving forward and should not be discounted. Service delivery and performance falls within acceptable limits and major problems are not found in the study area overall. However, the question is whether it can be done even better— the subject of the following analysis. Fire District throueh a Joint Powers Aereement The term 'Fire District' in the State of Minnesota can take on more than one meaning. For the purposes of this discussion, the term Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) is more appropriate in terms of governance. A Fire District per se, will be discussed in the next section. page 84 Eenergenry Services Consuiting,