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1 <br />1 <br />17 <br />COUNCIL WORK SESSION AUGUST 4, 1993 <br />the next appointment process. <br />Joint Powers Agreement for Ambulance Service <br />Mr. Schumacher noted that a group from Forest Lake, Wyoming, and <br />Scandia are supporting the District Memorial Ambulance Service <br />and have asked that this city participate in a Joint Powers <br />Agreement. Fire Chief, Milo Bennett has given his opinion on the <br />matter noting that this issue has become very emotional because <br />of working relationships. <br />Lino Lakes has three (3) options in this matter. The first is to <br />enter into a Joint Powers Agreement and continue the ambulance <br />service as it has been in the past. The second option is to join <br />Healthspan's bid to purchase District Memorial Hospital and <br />thereby become a part of Healthspan's ambulance service. The <br />third option is to simply go to the Healthspan Ambulance Service. <br />It was noted that District Memorial Hospital does collect a tax <br />from Lino Lakes to support its services. There would be no such <br />tax with Healthspan. <br />Fire Chief Bennett explained that Centennial Fire Department <br />works well with Healthspan because they serve the Circle Pines <br />area. He also noted that the Fire Department depends totally on <br />Healthspan to provide educational courses. He noted some of the <br />controversy Healthspan has been involved in and how this might <br />affect Lino Lakes if the City were to become a part of <br />Healthspan. <br />Fire Chief Bennett noted that one concern expressed by District <br />Memorial Ambulance Service is that the City would lose control. <br />He noted that most of the control of such services belongs to the <br />State or Federal government and he asked what would the City want <br />to control? <br />Another issue raised by the persons supporting District Memorial <br />Ambulance Service is response time. Fire Chief Bennett explained <br />that Lino Lakes enjoys a very fast response time when the unit is <br />in the City. However, there are times when the unit is either <br />stationed at I35E and Highway 97 or on a call in the northern <br />portion of the service area. He also noted that District <br />Memorial Ambulance Service enjoys a lot of standby time. He <br />noted the more standby time there is, the more costs the tax <br />payers will have to cover. <br />After further discussion on the matter, Fire Chief Bennett <br />recommended that Lino Lakes not enter into the Joint Powers <br />Agreement and suggested that this City join Healthspan. Council <br />Member Neal said he has discussed the matter with John Lannon and <br />PAGE 4 <br />