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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-05-29 Council Minutes CITY OF CORCORAN AND CITY OF MEDINA SPECIAL JOINT COUNCIL MEETING MAY 29, 2003 H:\City Hall Information\CITY GOVERNMENT\Council, Commissions & Committees\Council Information\Council Minutes\Previous Years\2003 - Need to PDF\5.29.03 Special Medina Minutes.doc 1 The City Council met in special session at 6:35 p.m. on May 29, 2003 in the Council Chambers at the Corcoran City Hall. Present were Corcoran Councilors Bucher, Guenthner, Lymangood and Thomas; Medina Councilors Randy Brinkman, Jim Lane, Carolyn Smith and Bruce Workman. Also present were City Administrators Vergin and Adams, and Medina Police Chief Belland. Absent were Corcoran Councilor Gageby, Medina Mayor Zietlow and Corcoran Police Chief Schutte. Others present included Brandon Guest, Hamel Fire Chief and Kevin McGinty, Richfield Fire Chief. Mayor Guenthner called the Corcoran City Council meeting to order. Acting Mayor Lane called the Medina City Council meeting to order. Introductions of those present were made. Identified that the purpose of the meeting was to address fire service matters and receive a presentation from Chief McGinty on consolidating and merging fire services and to address joint infrastructure services. Chief McGinty provided an overview of the process that the cities o f New Hope and Crystal went through in order to consolidate their fire departments. A task force was established that set goals to provide better service for less costs. Consolidating would reduce duplication of training and equipment. One of the larger hurdles that they had to address was the large variables in the pensions that are provided to the members. Other issues they faced included 911 dispatching, tradition of family members joining, misinformation being distributed, accusations of hidden agendas, and loss of local control and identity. The public saw the merger as seamless. There were no interruptions or snags in providing service during the process. Positive outcomes were reached. During their first two years they saw no increase to the budget, in the third year their budget increased by less than 3%. Response times were improved. Capital equipment replacement plans were created. They hired their own financial personnel, keeping separate from the cities. They were able to reduce the number of emergency apparatus; they went from 8 engines to 4. Specialty equipment is shared over a larger tax base, reducing costs to residents. Other options available for consideration would be automatic mutual aid where another department would respond first to a call when it is located within a certain area, joint training programs, joint purchasing of specialty equipment, joint fire prevention education programs, shared staff, and/or create a fire coop. Performance measures should be established, setting goals for what level of service you expect. These would include response times, training requirements, Special Joint Meeting Roll Call Corcoran Called to Order Medina Called to Order Introductions Purpose of Meeting Fire Chief McGinty CITY OF CORCORAN AND CITY OF MEDINA SPECIAL JOINT COUNCIL MEETING MAY 29, 2003 H:\City Hall Information\CITY GOVERNMENT\Council, Commissions & Committees\Council Information\Council Minutes\Previous Years\2003 - Need to PDF\5.29.03 Special Medina Minutes.doc 2 types of emergencies to be responded to, such as ability to respond to hazmat situations. General discussion pursued after Chief McGinty’s presentation. Should the communities create an advisory board and who should be included? Review communities comprehensive plans to determine where a fire district would make sense / what would be logical. Directed city staff to communicate on the matters and place this topic on their respective council’s next upcoming regular meeting agenda for further discussion. Discussed the Sewer Task Force and the next steps in moving forward. It appears that Loretto is going to be able to obtain additional capacity by going south into Independence, therefore they would not be working with Medina and Corcoran on the Highway 55 and County Road 19 service area. The group received information that if the area being proposed to be served is at least 1000 acres the Met Council would then contribute to the development of the sewer. If the area is less than 1000 acres, then it is not considered a “regional project”, and the Met Council does not participate. The question was asked by Corcoran to Medina – Is there a desire by Medina to serve Corcoran? Councilor Workman indicated that if it does not cut into their capacity they are willing to look at it. The Medina Council concluded that they need to discuss this matter amongst themselves first. Administrator Vergin was directed to have Corcoran’s SW district needs combined onto one map, identifying total existing commercial and residential development along with future commercial and residential needs as identified in the comp plan. MOTION by Thomas, seconded by Lymangood and carried unanimously to adjourn the Corcoran City Council, 8:40 p.m. _____________________________ Susan Vergin, City Administrator Sewer Task Force Infrastructure in SW District Adjournment