03-25-2024 Council Meeting Packet

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Lino Lakes, Minnesota – Fire Department Analysis Page 21 Option 5 – New city department and contract for services with Centerville and Circle Pines This option is actually the reverse of the City’s past fire service experience, where Lino Lakes started out using contracted services from Centerville and Circle Pines to provide fire coverage to the newly formed city. This option would mean that Lino Lakes would be the service provider, and Centerville and Circle Pines would pay an annual, contracted fee for their fire services. This option would provide Lino Lakes with total control of the fire department and all the elements of operation and administration. LLFD would need to provide a prescribed level of service, and document these service measures on a pre-determined basis. This option is very straightforward, but would involve the support and partnership with the other two cities to proceed. Option 6 – Create a Public Safety Department combining Police and Fire functions This option shares similarities with Option 2, in that it involves bringing the functions of a Fire Department into the governance structure of Lino Lakes. This option differs from the earlier one in that it combines fire and law enforcement functions into an integrated Public Safety Department. The concept of combined Public Safety Departments became popular in the 1970s. The idea at the time was to professionalize paid-on-call fire operations at a time when full-time, paid fire professionals were limited to large cities. Today, many communities in the metropolitan area have a professional chief, a limited paid support staff (fire marshal, inspector, or office support), and paid on-call fire fighters. Several reasons exist to explore a combined police and fire department model: • Eliminate silos between public safety departments • Improve communication • Enhance coordination • Explore cross-training and possible work-load sharing • Improve services It is important to note that the City is evaluating a combined command structure in administration, and not a completely blended fire and police service. While each is an essential emergency service, law enforcement and fire fighting are two distinct disciplines; complete integration of the functions, where staff is trained and expected to perform both sets of duties, is a rare occurrence. Each department also provides services apart from just police protection or fire suppression – education, inspection, prevention, emergency medical assistance, and recruitment. Cities that use a combined model include Woodbury, New Brighton and Mankato. Minnetonka, Richfield, Burnsville and Golden Valley all adopted a combined model, but have subsequently returned to the traditional model of separate police and fire departments. One of the main reasons cited by communities going back to the traditional model is sense of a loss of identity by one or both of the services; this may not be in the case in Lino Lakes, as the fire service would be a new organization, and would not yet have an established identity. There are integration and cultural issues that need attention as the Deputy Directors, as they are often titled, feel they are running the day-to-day operations of the police division or fire division without the top title or salary. 27