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July 23, 2024 St. Anthony Council Work Session - 2 Payment for Services – Staff is proposing a different approach to the contract price that was utilized until the previous partnership. This would be a sharing of the costs across the partner cities based on a blend of population percentage and calls for service percentage. One additional aspect was added to include a “true-up” of budgeted versus actual costs from the previous year. This is to mitigate any instances where one partner city has extraordinary costs incurred that are city-specific, as well as acknowledge to all partners when operations are under budget. Sharing of Liability Risk – In past contracts, Falcon Heights was fully indemnified as it was determined that the contracting agency had no influence over hiring or departmental policies over the police agency. The trend in recent years has been to recognize that police officers are entrusted to enforce the laws and ordinances set by the municipality, and as such a model of shared liability is both fair and practical. In the proposed contract in Section VI – Liability and Section VII – Insurance, Falcon Heights agree4s to maintain up to $4M in general liability insurance to provide to St. Anthony Village, and will be responsible for any claims up to that limit. For claims that exceed the cap, the liability would be upon St. Anthony. Both Falcon Heights and St. Anthony Village use LMCIT as their insurance provider, and historically the League’s largest claim settlements have been around the $4 million mark. Under this proposal, Falcon Heights would take on this liability for most claims but would be protected in the event claims exceeded the limits. In these instances, St. Anthony Village’s policy limits would become the secondary insurance. While general liability claims are the most expensive and concerning claims in regards to police liability, the vast majority of claims a police department experiences are automobile accidents and workers compensation claims. Under the proposed language, St. Anthony Village would maintain the sole liability for these claims. Falcon Heights would contribute to the cost of this insurance through our cost share as proposed in Section IV – Payment for Services. The League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust and the City Attorneys from both cities agree that the contract language is reasonable and appropriate to meet the objective of shared liability. Contract Term and Termination Timeline – An area of concern that has been raised by the community is the stability of a renewed partnership for the Police Department personnel. Staff is proposing maintaining a five-year contract term. The change staff is proposing is a longer termination timeline than under the previous partnership. Previously, services could be terminated in as little and five and one half months – written notification by July 15 and could be effective as soon as December 31, of that same year. Staff is proposing a term of no less than three years from written notice before the end of the contract term. This longer timeline allows for partners to have much more time to plan for and adapt to an exit of a partner city and ultimately allow for St. Anthony to work with the department to minimize the impact of that change. Joint Operations Committee – The contract language was adjusted to reflect the staff-level operations committee discussed at the May 28th meeting. The committee will consist of top administrators from each City and police command staff. The committee will meet at least once a year and as necessary for clarity in operations. This will be distinct from the governance role of the City Councils, which is to ensure that the St. Anthony Police Department itself and the partnership overall is meeting the expectations of St. Anthony Village and the partner cities. Next Steps – Staff from both St. Anthony and Falcon Heights will continue to work through refining all aspects, including the costs and contract price, an updated facility renovation/expansion concept to fit the department’s current and future needs. When ready Staff will schedule another Work Session for the Council to review and discuss the updated information and proposed plans.