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Item No: 8E MOT T1�T7'lC i t9V Meeting Date: December 9 2013 V1ViJJ �/iL.�Y Type of Business: Consent City of Mounds UiewStaff Report To: Honorable Mayor and City Council From: James Ericson, City Administrator Item Title/Subject: Resolution 8183 Approving Amendments to the SBM Fire Contract and Fire Protection Services Joint Powers Agreement Introduction: The Spring Lake Park Fire Department Inc. (SBM) has provided fire response and emergency services to the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) specific to their Anoka County Reliever Airport (Jane's Field) since 1952. Similar to the services provided to the three member cities, this has been done on a contractual basis. From 1952 to 1995, MAC paid a monthly stipend to SBM which in turn was used to reduce the overall operating budget. From 1996 to 2012 MAC proposed payment in the form of a fire engine which they specified and purchased and then deeded over to the Joint Powers entity. This in effect reduced the cities' capital budget. The engine (Engine 5) remains in service today, is the reserve engine, and has a useful life in that role for at least another decade. Discussion: Due to several land, recreation and developmental issues, and given that their location is wholly surrounded by the City of Blaine, MAC advocated for a new model when future contract negotiations began back in 2011. MAC was seeking a more global solution that encompassed the land, recreation and development issues with Blaine along with the fire protection services. Upon conclusion of the negotiations, which were formally agreed to via a memorandum of understanding in January 2012; the fire component of the agreement was settled at $24,000 a year plus service fees if any emergency lasted longer than a stated duration of time. The agreement/contract duration is 10 years; thus runs through 2021, expiring December 31, 2021. This represents approximately a 10% increase over the past contract plus the security of the new provision which allows additional billing for significant events such as large wildland fires. As in the past, this revenue will be used to reduce the overall operating budget of the fire department. The Fire Contract with the cities specifically excluded coverage and response to the Airport as the Fire Department held a separate contract. The new agreement is between MAC and the City of Blaine which requires and compels Blaine to assure and fund the fire protection as part of their global agreement. Thus, the exclusion needs to be removed. Additional Contract Changes Needed Since original adoption of the fire contract in 1994, it has been amended only once: a change in 1996 to reduce the number of trained volunteer fire fighters from 80 to 60. This was done to reflect the trend and current practice at the time. Similarly, we need to change the contract to eliminate the word "volunteer" as we do have 60 trained fire fighters, but not all are volunteers, with the addition of full time staff and city responders.