Agenda Packets - 2019/05/06 - Laserfiche WebLink

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April 26, 2019 Page 6 Chief Scott shared this at the March 27, 2019, meeting, and is one of the many reasons that Chief Scott became concerned with Mr. Zikmund's proposal to change the use of state aid (Egregiously inaccurate statement. Provide basis for statement - what is the proposed change in use? MSFCA 's representatives at the meeting - Chief Scott and Chief McCoy (Austin) offered, suggested, questioned, or inferred a different use of pension aids. It was this dialogue which triggered the email to Chief Scott seeking clarification on what the official MSFCA position was. Mr. Zikmund's proposal was to form a legislator led working group on addressing the record level of surplus in volunteer plans which the White Paper details) without vetting it through the established working groups (only working group currently operation is State Auditors Group which historically does not address issues unless they impact all plans. The plans in PERA are not regulated by Auditor. Part of the purpose of meeting was to determine if Auditor would be open to working with PERA plan entities) and state fire service agencies. The MSFCA, along with our fire service partners, have been actively engaged on statewide initiatives to help local departments - including cities- on fire service issues. (Council may have interest in what those are - current and future) Fire protection districts, for example, was introduced (Passed in the Senate last year with a levy cap, no senate hearing this year. House hearing held this year. LMC Governmental Relations Director Gary Carlson stated at the annual Metro City Managers Meeting; "Hearing as brutal, with several legislators opposed".) as a measure to help two or more units of government in creating a more effective and efficient fire service model. For communities like yours that have restrictive levy caps2, for example, a fire protection district would allow for greater flexibility in meeting the long-term public safety needs of a community while still maintaining local control. This is one of many (Ibid - council may want to request more information) examples in which the MSFCA along with our fire service partners are working collaboratively to help the entire Minnesota fire service. As the data suggests (See page 4 commentary re incomplete data. The Fire Marshal/Training Board data does not contain duty shift availability (day/night). However, anecdotal evidence abounds regarding daytime available volunteers numbers decreasing dramatically. Thus, when factoring in the significant decline (SBM FD went from 34 to 1) of day available from 1994 to 2005) an argument can be made that there has been an actual increase in the number of night/weekend available volunteers based on the complete data. Further analysis would be needed to validate that), the past practices and models of the fire service are not working, specifically with regard to recruitment and retention. This deserves greater discussion with fire service leadership and a broader investment into fire protection across the state with the hope of achieving a better ranking than 45th (Council may be interested in what measures and subsequent funding needed to achieve this goal and the cost/benefit of that endeavor) inn per -capita spending in one of the most essential public services.