02-10-14 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Search

COUNCIL MINUTES January 27, 2014 DRAFT 3 to continue discussion. The CFD will continue to operate at the highest level of professionalism and 90 to serve its citizens. 91 92 Council Member Roeser moved to approve Resolution No. 14 -12 as presented. Council Member 93 Rafferty seconded the motion. 94 95 Mayor Reinert remarked that he has been concerned with some directions of the CFD and he hasn’t 96 seen that t he steering committee process works to respond to his concerns. He noted that the Ci ty of 97 Lino Lakes pays seventy percent of the cost of the CFD and there is a need for a change in 98 governance. In light of that, a proposal was developed (veto power) that he believes was fair to all 99 member cities. That proposal was developed after discus sions at several steering committee 100 meetings. The proposal was that one member of each city must approve an action. That proposal 101 did not pass through all of the member cities when it was considered. Since the JPA is very limited 102 on when withdrawal i s allowed, an extension of one month was allowed. Therefore in January 103 another proposal was form ed that would include veto authority but put a limit on that power. The 104 steering committee members, including two elected officials from each member city, c ame to a good 105 faith agreement on that proposal but then he was quite frustrated when the proposal did not pass 106 through the other city council s and in fact didn’t receive the vote of three of the four steering 107 committee representatives. He feels that the C ity of Lino Lakes has wanted all along to work this out. 108 He has given consideration to what a withdrawal will look like: 109 - Lino Lakes starts a new fire departmen t and has two years to do so; 110 - The Lino Lakes fire department will be a good one; 111 - The action to withdraw could be rescinded within six months; 112 - The city would plan on building a new fire station on the south side of the city; 113 - The city will receive two -thirds of the CFD equipment and that should be close to enough 114 equipment to run the department; 115 - T he city would be responsible for 100 percent of the cost of its two fire stations; 116 - The city will end up with better coverage with the south side station added. 117 118 Mayor Reinert added that the motion to withdraw is in no way a reflection on the work of the CFD 119 f irefighters. 120 121 Council Member Roeser thanked Chief Jerry Streich for his comments about the fire department staff 122 and he agrees. The council doesn’t know exactly what new services for the city will look like but 123 there will be expert assistance to deter mine the best course. He knows that the area represented by the 124 JPA has changed in th e 28 years the CFD has existed and he is concerned about a situation where this 125 city isn’t treated fairly. Decisions for the current and the future are upon the area a nd it isn’t fair to 126 have a city paying seventy percent of the costs without veto power. He too hopes that the situation 127 can be r esolved with the JPA. 128 129 Council Member Kusterman said he can assure the citizens of Lino Lakes that he has given this 130 decision much consideration. He’s met with the Fire Chief, City Administrator and Mayor. For him 131 this is a question of how the citizens will be best served. Is it best done by people not representing 132 Lino Lakes on the steering committee? It is impe rative that the city’s voice is heard. 133 134