01-11-2021 Council Work Session Packet

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DRAFT Comprehensive Fire Service Study MEDINA, MINNESOTA Matrix Consulting Group Page 53 5 Existing Fire Protection System This chapter presents the project team’s analysis for the City of Medina to retain the contractual services for fire protection. 1 Key Issues The current process of providing fire protection services to the residents of the City of Medina is through contracts with various fire departments. This leaves the City in a somewhat precarious position due to various events that could occur that are outside their control, as noted below: • The dissolution of a non-profit contract fire department. • A board of directors or city council for a contract fire department deciding not to renew a contract with the City of Medina or to terminate the current contract. • No local control of the management or delivery of the fire services For the City of Medina to continue using the contract form of providing fire protection services, there needs to be changes made to protect the City from being with out a fire protection service. 2 Fire Department Dissolution A vulnerability to the City of Medina and the provision fire protection to the residents is the dissolution of a contract fire department. Two of the four fire departments are non- profit organizations that rely on volunteer members to provide the service outlined in the contract. The other two fire departments are municipal departments that provide services through contracts with the City of Medina. 1. Personnel The current fire departments have expressed concerns over the recruitment and retention of volunteer members for their respective organizations. This issue is not a local or regional issue, it is a national issue within the fire service. For example: • In Pennsylvania, there were approximately 300,000 volunteer firefighters in the 1970s and in the early 2000s there were approximately 60,000 volunteer firefighters. In 2018 that number of volunteer firefighters dropped to an estimated 38,000.