Minutes - Council Work Session - 06/10/2014

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Fire Chief Kapler indicated this information will be added to the City's website if and when necessary. 2.01: Continue Discussion of Shared Fire Services Fire Chief Kapler reviewed the staff report, noting the developments of the Joint Fire Service Study Group. Depending on Council direction, a case will be brought to a regular Council meeting for action. Mayor Strommen announced this is a large issue for other cities. Addressing the issue of pay, retirement funds, and benefits for cities other than Ramsey is needed. This also affects the firefighters for Ramsey. City Administrator Ulrich clarified that accounting help was requested to make sure that no one is undermining the other, and to lend credibility to the project. Mayor Strommen noted it is good for administration to ask itself if there is a better or more sustainable way to provide fire services. It is a big decision. She said the study group and feasibility study have both gathered good information. The next step is to ask people who are "in the know" about these functions to help staff know if this is a good decision. Fire Chief Kapler explained there is no Joint Powers of Agreement yet, and this meeting will start the process of drawing one up. There will be multiple chances to look a JPA Agreement over before it becomes final. The JPA that would be drawn up will be considered by all cities involved. It could be declined at any point. Councilmember Kuzma asked whether the City of Ramsey will carry 67% of the cost of the study. City Administrator Ulrich answered in the affirmative and added that is what is in the current proposal. Discussion took place regarding operational effectiveness and whether there may be other methods that would lend themselves to better measure effectiveness. Councilmember LeTourneau asked if there may be ways to put a dollar amount to operations to make it easier to know if a certain method is cost effective. Fire Chief Kapler explained the government of Ramsey is the largest employer in the group of cities in this discussion. Some employees here are firefighters in other communities. With shared services, some of those firefighters may be able to lend their services as needed. He also pointed out that there is no redundancy in operations; the placement of buildings and equipment has been planned well. He said there have been a few instances where the City of Ramsey has used Nowthen's contracted services in the northern third of Ramsey. For the most part, he said, firefighters from all nearby cities are present in larger issues. City Council Work Session / June 10, 2014 Page 2 of 4