CCP 12-14-1998 - Laserfiche WebLink

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DRAFT ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL - NOVEMBER 30, 1998 10 , way the City of Arden Hills can pull out of the arrangement and receive any assets back which e may be due to the City. Mr. Fritsinger pointed out there was only one asset, a half-share of the ladder truck for which there was currently an agreement with the City of Shoreview. The agreement explains how the truck was to be paid for and, if one of the cities were to back out of the agreement, the truck would be offered to the other party to purchase. Councilmember Larson stated that in previous meetings he had voiced his concern about the term of the agreement. Part of the reason he was asking these questions is, if the City was embarking on a 20-year agreement, it should be clear what the City was agreeing to, Councilmember Larson stated he was still concerned about the term of the agreement. The previous term had been 10 years and, during the joint meetings when he brought up this concern, the answer from Shoreview was that they have no interest in taking an interim look at the agreement. He expressed his appreciation to the City Attorney and Staff for adding some language which requires the City Council to take some affirmative action to approve participation in the agreement for another five years. Councilmember Larson indicated he still feels that 20 years was too long of a term. He stated he supports the idea of a Fire Board, however, the length of the agreement was not good public policy, For these reasons, he will not support the agreement as presented. Councilmember Aplikowski asked how long the City has had a Fire Protection Agreement with the Fire Department. The LNFD representative stated that the community had been served e since the founding of the Fire Department in 1943, Councilmember Aplikowski asked if North Oaks has taken the same position as Shoreview that they are not interested in a regular review of the agreement. Mr, Fritsinger stated, during the August meeting, both cities had indicated they approve of the agreement as presented and they do not have any concerns. The LJVFD representative stated that, with regard to the review process, the Fire Board was the on-going review. The Board consists of representatives from the cities and the Fire Department and this was an on-going communication process between the City Councils, the City's representatives and the Fire Department. Over the last ten years the there have not been as many meetings as there should have been and the Fire Department was attempting to make this process better. With regard to the long-term contract, the Fire Department was made up of people who are volunteering to fight fires. The benefit offered was the 20-year pension which was put in place in order to recruit more volunteers. The Fire Department had recently been able to recruit ten new people, five of which are day people. This number of day-time volunteers was virtually unheard of and was due to the 20-year pension. There would be a concern that, if the contract were only five years long and were to terminate in five years, the volunteers would be left with no pension. e Mayor Probst asked if the action for these resolutions would require a simple majority vote. Mr, Fritsinger stated this was correct. ------