Item 3.13 Firefighting Services4011
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Otsego
MINNESOTA
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Request for
City Council Action
ORIGINATING DEPARTMENT
REQUESTOR:
MEETING DATE:
Administration
City Administrator/Finance Director Flaherty
December 14, 2020
PRESENTER(s)
REVIEWED BY:
ITEM #:
Consent
City Attorney Kendall
3.13
STRATEGIC VISION
MEETS:
THE CITY OF OTSEGO:
X
Is a strong organization that is committed to leading the community through innovative
communication.
Has proactively expanded infrastructure to responsibly provide core services.
Is committed to delivery of quality emergency service responsive to community needs and
expectations in a cost-effective manner.
Is a social community with diverse housing, service options, and employment opportunities.
Is a distinctive, connected community known for its beauty and natural surroundings.
AGENDA ITEM DETAILS
RECOMMENDATION:
City staff is recommending that the City Council approve the First Amendment to Contract for Firefighting
Services.
ARE YOU SEEKING APPROVAL OF A CONTRACT?
IS A PUBLIC HEARING REQUIRED?
Yes
No
BACKGROUND/J USTI FICATION:
The City of Otsego contracts with the City of Elk River for Firefighting Services within their designated
coverage area within the City. In addition, the City of Elk River provides for mutual aid services to the Fire
Departments from Albertville and Rogers across the entire City.
The current Contract for Firefighting Services with the City of Elk River will expire on December 31, 2020.
Due to a number of factors, most notably COVID-19 and staffing shortages, there was not the ability for
either City to devote the necessary efforts to fully renegotiate the contract.
All of these factors contributed to a mutual effort to approve an amendment to the existing contract which
will extend all the terms and conditions of the current contract to December 31, 2021.
The City Attorney has drafted the Amendment, which has been reviewed by the City of Elk River, whom is
agreeable to all the terms and conditions of the Amendment. Elk River Fire Chief Mark Dickinson will be
obtaining approval from the Elk River City Council at their December 21, 2020 meeting.
This Amendment was reviewed with the Administrative Subcommittee at the December 2020 meeting,
with recommendation for future consent agenda approval by the City Council.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
• First Amendment tmContract for Firefighting Services
* Contract for Firefighting Services (Current)
POSSIBLE MOTION
PLEASE WORD MOTION ASYOU WOULD LIKE ITT0APPEAR |NTHE MINUTES:
Motion to approve the First Amendment to Contract for Firefighting Services between the City of Otsego
and the City nfElk River.
BUDGET INFORMATION
FUNDING:
BUDGETED:
General Fund — Fire Protection Department
101-42200-390
Yes
FIRST AMENDMENT TO CONTRACT FOR FIREFIGHTING SERVICES
THIS AMENDMENT TO THE CONTRACT FOR FIREFIGHTING SERVICES
("Amendment") is executed this 14th day of December, 2020, by and between the CITY OF ELK
RIVER, a Minnesota municipal corporation, (`Elk River") and the CITY OF OTSEGO, a
Minnesota municipal corporation ("Otsego").
WHEREAS, Elk River and Otsego previously executed and entered into a Contract For
Firefighting Services effective January 1, 2016 ("Agreement") and this Agreement is scheduled to
expire on December 31, 2020;
WHEREAS, this Agreement has not been previously been amended since it became
effective on January 1, 2016, so this document represents the Frist Amendment to the Agreement;
WHEREAS, Elk River and Otsego desire to amend this existing Agreement by extending
the term of the Agreement for one additional year, and to keep all other terms and conditions of
this Agreement in full force and effect for this additional year;
NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the Agreement and other good and valuable
consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged, Elk River and
Otsego hereby agree as follows:
1. Article VI: Term. The Agreement shall be amended to extend the term of the
Agreement for an additional one year. This one year extension shall be effective on January 1,
2021 and shall expire on December 31, 2021.
2. No Other Amendments. Except as expressly amended by this Amendment, all
other terms of the Agreement shall remain the same and the Agreement shall remain in full force
and effect until the new expiration date of December 31, 2021.
Remainder ofpage intentionally left blank.
Signature page follows.
212841vl
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have executed this Amendment effective on the
date indicated above.
CITY OF ELK RIVER
Mayor:
Signature
Print Name
Date
City Clerk:
Signature
Print Name
CITY OF OTSEGO
Mayor:
Signature
Print Name
Date
City Clerk:
Signature
Print Name
Date
212841v1
2
CONTRACT FOR FIREFIGHTING SERVICES
This Contract for Firefighting Services ("Agreement") is made and entered into effective January 1, 2016,
by and between the CITY OF ELK RIVER, a Minnesota municipal corporation ("ELK RIVER") and the CITY
OF OTSEGO, a Minnesota municipal corporation ("OTSEGO").
IT IS HEREBY AGREED BY AND BETWEEN SAID PARTIES AS FOLLOWS:
ARTICLE 1: FIRE SERVICE
ELK RIVER agrees to furnish, through the Elk River Fire Department ("ERFD"), firefighting services
("SERVICES"), as outlined in EXHIBIT A attached hereto, to all properties in OTSEGO located within the
area set forth in EXHIBIT B attached hereto ("Fire Service Area").
ARTICLE 11: REPONSE AND RESOURCES
ERFD will make reasonable efforts to promptly respond to requests for service ("Fire Calls)") in the Fire
Service Area upon notification of such request through the FIRE DEPARTMENT's primary Public Safety
Answering Point ("PSAP"), subject to the following terms and conditions:
A. The ERFD Fire Chief of ("Chief"), and/or his/her designee, shall be in command of ERFD,
including its personnel, equipment, and resources, at all times, as outlined in the ERFD's policy
manual and/or the ELK RIVER Code of Ordinances. Furthermore, ELK RIVER owns the buildings
and equipment associated with ERFD, and the amounts paid by the OTSEGO for firefighting
services do not give rise to any ownership interest in, or responsibility toward, those items.
B: The safety of ERFD personnel and equipment are of the utmost importance when responding to
and operating at an incident. The Chief and/or his/her designee shall have the authority to
modify and/or cancel a response if road, weather and/or other hazardous condition(s) pose a
safety threat to ERFD's personnel and/or equipment.
C. ELK RIVER and/or ERFD shall not be liable to OTSEGO, , for loss or damage of any kind whatever
resulting from any failure to furnish or delay in furnishing personnel or equipment, or from any
failure to prevent, control or extinguish any fire or control or mitigate a situation, whether or
not such loss or damage is caused by the negligence of the officers, agents or employees of ELK
RIVER or the ERFD, except when such loss or damage is caused by gross negligence or criminal
acts by ELK RIVER and/or ERFD. OTSEGO shall indemnify and hold harmless the ELK RIVER
and/or the ERFD from any claims of loss or damage arising from ELK RIVER's undertaking to
furnish firefighting Services under this Agreement, except for loss or damage caused by the
gross negligence or criminal acts of ELK RIVER or ERFD.
D. In the event that ERFD is committed and unavailable at the time of dispatch to a call in OTSEGO,
ERFD will respond to the call as soon as reasonably possible in the sole discretion of the Chief
and/or his/her designee. The Chief and/or his/her designee have the sole authority to prioritize
Page 11
fire calls, to allocate equipment and resources, and to request mutual aid assistance at his/her
discretion and professional judgment.
ARTICLE III: PAYMENT
For 2016, OTSEGO agrees to pay ELK RIVER an annual fee of $60.56 per parcel of property located within
the Fire Service Area, as determined by the Wright County Auditor's Office.
The total cost for 2016 is $212,686.72 (3,512 parcels).
The annual fee shall be paid in two equal payments. The first payment shall be made within the month
of January and the second payment shall be made within the month of July.
The annual fee shall be adjusted on January 1st of each subsequent year that this Agreement is in effect,
as follows:
A. The Otsego may adjust the Fire Service Area boundary annually. Written notification of the
revised Fire Service Area as approved by the Otsego City Council must be provided to ELK RIVER
no later than September 1 of each year.
B. The number of parcels shall be adjusted to reflect the then current number of parcels located
within the Fire Service Area, as determined by the Wright County Auditor's Office; and
C. The total fee shall be determined by result of application of the following formula:
TOTAL FEE = (Approved Annual Fire Department Budget +15% Administrative Factor+
Annual Depreciation of Equipment) x % of the total number of Parcels in Fire
Service Area
D. The per -parcel fee over the term of this Agreement after application of the above formula shall
not exceed 3% over the fee for the immediately preceding year. The total fee due may increase
more than 3% based on the number of parcels in the Fire Service Area.
E. The parties shall meet and review the proposed fee increases each year prior to August V.
ARTICLE IV: MUTUAL AID
Because ERFD has heretofore entered into mutual assistance firefighting agreements with other fire
departments, municipalities, and agencies possessing equipment and/or personnel, which equipment
and/or personnel could be called by the Chief and/or his/her designee to a call in OTSEGO, OTSEGO
agrees to pay such additional cost as may be incurred thereby if in the sole judgment of the Chief and/or
his/her designee such additional equipment and/or personnel are needed for assistance in the OTSEGO
and are in fact called upon by the Chief and/or his/her designee.
Page 12
ARTICLE V: FALSE ALARMS
All parties acknowledge that excessive false alarms constitute a public nuisance. OTSEGO agrees to
enforce its false alarm policy and to collect and forward to ELK RIVER penalties and fees collected from
properties within the Fire Service Area for excessive false alarms.
ARTICLE VI: TERM
This Agreement shall commence on January 1, 2016, and shall expire on December 31, 2020, unless
terminated earlier as provided herein.
ARTICLE VII: MODIFICATION
This writing contains the entire agreement between the parties and no alterations, variations,
modifications or waivers of the provisions of this Agreement are valid unless reduced to writing and
signed by both ELK RIVER and OTSEGO except that OTSEGO may make changes to the Fire Service Area
as provided for in Article III without signature and approval by both parties.
This Agreement and the exhibits attached hereto contain the entire agreement of the parties with
respect to the subject matter of this Agreement, and supersede all prior negotiations, agreements and
understandings with respect thereto.
ARTICLE Vlll: TERMINATION
This Agreement may be terminated at any time during its term by mutual agreement of the parties.
Such mutual agreement to terminate shall be in writing and shall be effective when fully executed by
both parties.
Either party may terminate this Agreement by serving a 365-day written notice of termination to the
other party. This Agreement shall terminate 365 days from the date of written notice of termination,
unless the party serving the notice specifies a later date of termination or withdraws the notice of
termination in writing before it is effective.
If OTSEGO fails to pay for Services as provided in Article III hereof, ELK RIVER may terminate this
Agreement upon 60 days' written termination notice.
If OTSEGO fails to reimburse ELK RIVER for mutual aid costs as provided in Article IV hereof, or fails to
collect and forward to ELK RIVER penalties for false alarms as provided in Article V hereof, ELK RIVER
may terminate this Agreement after 30 days' notice to make payment or settle any dispute. In the event
that payment is not made, or any dispute is not resolved within the 30 day period, ELK RIVER may
terminate this Agreement upon 180 days written termination notice.
In the event that this Agreement is terminated, OTSEGO shall still be responsible for paying in full any
amount owed to ELK RIVER for Services provided under this Agreement up to the date of termination.
ELK RIVER shall return any portion of the annual fee already paid allocated for Services provided after
the date of termination. Notice to either party shall be made to the Office of the City Clerk.
Page 13
ARTICLE IX: SEVERAB|LOY
The provisions of this contract shall bedeemed severable. Ifany part of this contact is rendered void,
invalid, orotherwise unenforceable, such rendering shall not affect the validity and enforceability ofthe
remainder nfthis contract.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have executed this contract effective on the date indicated above.
CITY OF ELK RIVER
Print Name
Date
City Cle
Signature
na- Al �Cu-d'
Print Name
CITY OFQTSEGO
By i Mayor:
_V ' Al/^—K "M
Print Name
Date
Print Name
City Clerk:
Signature
Page [4
EXHIBIT A: SERVICES
The CITY OF ELK RIVER and the FIRE DEPARTMENT agrees to provide the CITY OF OTSEGO the following
Services, subject to the terms and conditions of the Agreement:
• Structural Firefighting, specifically:
o Exterior Structural Firefighting
o Interior Structural Firefighting
• Grass/Forest Firefighting
• Other Firefighting, specifically:
o Vehicle & Equipment Firefighting
• Technical Rescue, specifically:
o Vehicle & Equipment Extrication
o General Search and Rescue
o Surface Ice Rescue
o Rope Access/Confined Space Rescue (subject to team availability)
• Other, specifically:
o Investigation of Fire and Carbon Monoxide Alarms
• Hazardous Materials Response, specifically:
o First Responder, Awareness Level
o First Responder, Operations Level
• Emergency Medical Services, specifically:
o First Responder Level to Personal Injury Accidents (as requested per FIRE DEPARTMENT
policy) and to support Technical Rescue Operations
• Disaster Response, specifically:
o Initial response for rescue, life -safety and incident stabilization (not including
emergency management related functions)
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