10-10-2022 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING September 26, 2022 6:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 10 of 13 CITY ADMINISTRATOR/ENGINEER REPORT Edwards noted the City is proceeding well on the water main replacement project on County Road 19. FIRE DEPARTMENT REPORT 19. Fire Department Negotiation Offer to Long Lake Johnson shared history of the situation noting Orono put Long Lake on notice in April 2021. Mayor Walsh noted a letter was sent to Long Lake three years ago. Johnson explained the 100+ year relationship with Long Lake Fire and noted for the last 20 years Orono has been in contract with them. Currently the City pays about 84.93% of the budget, Long Lake makes up roughly 10% of that, and they also have Medina and Minnetonka Beach. During conversations, Long Lake requested Orono to give a cancellation of the fire contract in writing which was provided. They have also provided a written request to end the relationship with Fire Station #1, there is a 50/50 ownership, and the station is in Orono. Mayor Walsh clarified the contract is ending at the end of 2025, it is not being cancelled. Johnson stated as a citizen and 85% payer of the budget, Orono was asking for administrative control and for the Fire Chief to report to Orono as the majority holder. Negotiations began with the City of Long Lake and the number one goal was to keep the fire department together. This is not a hostile takeover of a fire department that Orono is not proud of, nor do they want to change it, this is just the responsible transition. The department has grown and Orono takes a more active role. In the negotiation, the two cities do not have a lot of trust in each other, which goes back to the 1990’s. Johnson thinks the best thing for both cities is to have a single ownership, maintain the relationship by providing Long Lake services, and that will be part of the offer. Long Lake does not want the Chief to report directly to Orono and Johnson believes the negotiation team talked that out and he does not have any concerns about the quality of service going to Long Lake regardless of who is in the position of leadership at the department. Equipment has also been part of the discussion and Johnson noted Orono has done a really good job with their budget. He thinks Orono can bring that to the table long-term with budgeting which would be better for all cities involved. He spoke about a JPA requested by Long Lake and the risks associated versus having the Fire Chief report to Orono. Long Lake asked Johnson to find out on record if Councilmember Printup is okay with the idea of it going to a Fire Board. Printup thinks they have made it pretty clear over the past few weeks in the discussions. They have City of Orono Staff and employees and they take care of their employees. The sense of local control, they just spoke about roads and the future, and it was mentioned that the model of fire service will change. There was a good article in one of the municipal magazines about legal duties of Fire Chiefs. This exercise is putting a spotlight (even on a State level) of codifying it; right now cities are not legally required to have a Fire Chief. Printup does not think they are at the point of a JPA or a Fire Board, although that may be 20-30 years down the line. Orono has their employees and if things tilt and Orono has a fire department, even if it is called Long Lake Fire Department, it will be an Orono employee. Printup does not understand with the JPA idea, one of the early conversations had with Long Lake was “whose name was going to be on the building?” In a JPA he does not think it would be Long Lake Fire Department and he believes this Council said it will always be called Long Lake Fire Department. He noted this is the responsibility to Orono residents and Printup thinks, as Finance Director Olson said earlier, the City can provide that