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3.12 City of Albertville Fire Protection Agreement Request for City Council Action DEPARTMENT INFORMATION ORIGINATING DEPARTMENT REQUESTOR: MEETING DATE: Administration City Administrator/Finance Director Flaherty November 28, 2022 PRESENTER(s) REVIEWED BY: ITEM #: Consent City Attorney Kendall 3.12 – Albertville Fire Contract STRATEGIC VISION MEETS: THE CITY OF OTSEGO: Is a strong organization that is committed to leading the community through innovative communication. Has proactively expanded infrastructure to responsibly provide core services. X 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 a Fire Protection Agreement. ARE YOU SEEKING APPROVAL OF A CONTRACT? IS A PUBLIC HEARING REQUIRED? Yes No BACKGROUND/JUSTIFICATION: The City of Otsego contracts with the City of Albertville for fire protection and emergency medical services within their designated coverage area within the City. In addition, the City of Albertville provides for mutual aid services to the Fire Departments from Elk River and Rogers across the entire City. The current Contract for services with the City of Albertville will expire on December 31, 2022. The proposed contract would continue to provide fire protection and emergency medical services and would commence on January 1, 2023, and shall remain in effect unless and until terminated. Within the proposed contract, there are a few notable changes, which will be summarized as follows: - Fire Inspections: This is a service level increase compared to the current contract and will provide fire code inspection for existing commercial/industrial buildings on a rotating schedule based on risk. These inspections provide an opportunity to identify hazards, educate property owners and prevent more serious fire calls. This service will be billed at an hourly rate of $50.00 per hour. - Payment: The proposed contract outlines that Otsego shall pay Albertville a fire service fee due in two equal installments rather than four equal installments outlined in the current contract. The remainder of the contract is consistent with the current contract. The proposed contract was drafted by the Albertville City Attorney and has been reviewed by City staff as well as City Attorney Kendall with recommendation of approval. SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS ATTACHED: • Fire Protection Agreement POSSIBLE MOTION PLEASE WORD MOTION AS YOU WOULD LIKE IT TO APPEAR IN THE MINUTES: Motion to approve the Fire Protection Agreement between the City of Otsego and the City of Albertville. BUDGET INFORMATION FUNDING: BUDGETED: General Fund – Fire Protection Department 101-42200-390 Yes FIRE PROTECTION AGREEMENT WITH THE CITY OF OTSEGO This agreement is made and entered into by and between the City of Albertville (Albertville), a municipal corporation located in the County of Wright, State of Minnesota, and the City of Otsego (Otsego), a municipal corporation located in the County of Wright, State of Minnesota. WHEREAS, Otsego desires the fire protection and emergency medical services response of the Fire Department of Albertville, in case of emergencies occurring in Otsego, and WHEREAS, Albertville maintains a Fire Department with emergency response capability, which the Fire Department is available to provide fire protection and emergency medical services response to properties located in Otsego, and THEREFORE, it is agreed by and between said parties as follows: 1. Albertville, through its Fire Department, shall provide fire protection and emergency medical response services, attached as Exhibit A to this Agreement, to those properties in Otsego identified on the Fire Service Area (FSA) map, attached as Exhibit B to this Agreement. Such fire protection and emergency medical services response shall be provided unless otherwise terminated pursuant to the terms of this Agreement. A. Otsego may adjust the FSA effective January 1st of any year by providing Albertville with an amended exhibit B no later than September 1st of the preceding year. 2. Otsego shall pay Albertville a Fire Service Fee (“Fire Service Fee”) annually according to the formula set forth in this paragraph in exchange for the provision of fire protection and emergency medical services response as described in Exhibit A. Albertville shall invoice, and Otsego shall pay, the amount due for each year, in two equal installments, due on or before every January 31st and July 31st.The Fire Service Fee shall be calculated by multiplying the adjusted Fire Department budget, as set by the Albertville City Council, for the year fire service is to be provided (consisting of the Fire Department budget less state fire aids received) times the value of the Taxable Tax Capacity within the FSA that is located in Otsego divided by the total Taxable Tax Capacity of the entire FSA, where the Taxable Tax Capacity is the Taxable Tax Capacity used to calculate the real property taxes due in the year fire service is provided. For example, if the Fire Department budget is $380,000, the Taxable Tax Capacity of the FSA in Otsego is $3,000,000, and the total Taxable Tax Capacity of the entire FSA is $10,000,000, then Otsego’s annual payment to Albertville for that year under this Agreement would be $114,000, calculated as $380,000 times ($3,000,000/$10,000,000). Albertville shall issue a statement to Otsego by August of each year detailing the following year’s estimated Fire Service Fee amount due. In the event that Otsego disputes Albertville’s calculations or the basis for the calculations, the parties shall, within thirty (30) days after such objections are delivered to Albertville, meet and negotiate in good faith a resolution to the objections. 3. Albertville shall take all reasonable steps to ensure that it has at all times adequate firefighting and medical personnel and equipment available and ready to provide protection to Otsego’s citizens and property as provided for in this Agreement. 4. Albertville shall at all times, keep in place liability insurance coverage to protect Otsego’s interests and to fulfill Albertville’s obligations under this Agreement in at least the amount of the maximum tort liability limits set forth in Minn. Stat. 466.04. 5. Albertville shall fully indemnify, hold harmless and defend Otsego from all claims arising out of the negligence of Albertville, its employees, officers or agents in performing its duties under this Agreement, provided such indemnification shall not exceed the maximum tort liability limits set forth in Minn. Stat. 466.04. 6. Albertville’s obligation to provide fire protection and emergency medical services response shall be subject to the following: a. If road and weather conditions at the time of the call are such that the fire/medical run cannot be made with reasonable safety to personnel and equipment, in the opinion of the Fire Chief or his Deputy in charge, no obligation arises under this agreement on the part of Albertville to answer such call and no person or party shall have recourse against Albertville or Otsego for reasonable refusal to answer such call. b. In the event that a sufficient amount of the firefighting/medical equipment and the number of firefighters, or both, are committed at the time of the fire call, in sole judgment of the Fire Chief or his Deputy, to fighting pre-existing fires or attending a pre-existing emergency, so as to render the available equipment and manpower inadequate to answer a fire or medical call from Otsego, no obligation shall arise under this agreement to answer such call, provided that Albertville makes all reasonable efforts to answer the fire or medical call in Otsego, including requests for mutual aid. c. In the event a fire or other emergency call by Otsego is answered by Albertville, but before the fire in question is extinguished or the emergency is fully abated, the firefighting equipment, emergency equipment, or firefighters, or any combination thereof, are needed to fight another fire or respond to another emergency elsewhere in the FSA, the Chief or his Deputy without liability therefore to any person or to Otsego under this agreement, may in his reasonable judgment, redeploy the firefighting equipment, firefighters and emergency response equipment as they deem necessary given the competing emergency situations. If a decision is made to leave a pre-existing fire in Otsego, Albertville shall utilize all resources reasonably at its disposal to provide alternative services to extinguish the fire in Otsego, including requests for mutual aid. The reasonable judgment of the Fire Chief or his Deputy shall be final, and no person or party shall have recourse against Albertville or Otsego for any damages or losses resulting from such action or decision. d. The parties acknowledge that Albertville has entered into mutual aid contracts with other Fire Departments in other municipalities, and that in the event of concurrent fire calls or other concurrent emergencies within the FSA, Albertville will call for mutual aid to serve one or all such emergencies as deemed necessary by the Fire Chief or his Deputy. e. Third parties shall have no recourse under this Agreement against either party to the Agreement. f. Because the Albertville has heretofore entered into mutual assistance firefighting agreements with other municipalities possessing firefighting equipment and firefighters, which equipment and firefighters could be called by the Chief or his Deputy to a fire or other emergency in Otsego, Otsego agrees to pay such additional cost as may be incurred thereby if, in the sole reasonable judgment of the Chief or his Deputy, such additional firefighting equipment/emergency response equipment and firefighters are needed to respond to an emergency in Otsego and are in fact called to such emergency by the Chief or his Deputy. Otsego shall be provided an itemized list and explanation for any additional costs incurred under this section and billed to Otsego. g. Otsego shall adopt an emergency services response fee ordinance that imposes a fee upon vehicle-related emergency responses occurring within the FSA that are responded to by Albertville. Such ordinance shall adopt the same fee schedule as Albertville’s Ordinance Establishing Charges for Emergency Response Services for vehicle-related emergency responses. All such fees collected by Otsego shall be remitted to Albertville. 7. This Agreement shall commence on January 1st, 2023 and shall remain in effect unless, and until, terminated as provided below: A. By Agreement i. 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. B. By Either Party i. Either party may terminate this Agreement by serving a 365-day written notice of termination to the other party. This Agreement shall terminate on the December 31st following the 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. C. By Albertville i. If Otsego fails to pay for services as provided in this Agreement hereof, Albertville may terminate this Agreement upon 60 days’ written termination notice. ii. If Otsego fails to reimburse Albertville for mutual aid costs as provided in this Agreement hereof or fails to collect and forward to Albertville penalties for false alarms as provided in this Agreement hereof, Albertville may give 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, Albertville may terminate this Agreement upon 180 days written termination notice. D. Effect of Termination i. In the event this Agreement is terminated, Otsego shall still be responsible for paying in full any amount owed to Albertville for Services provided under this Agreement up to the date of termination. Notice to either party shall be made to the Office of the City Clerk. 8. Albertville shall provide Otsego an incident report for every structure fire occurring in the FSA, in a format that is agreeable to both the Fire Department and Otsego. 9. Albertville shall require the Otsego City Administrator to review the Minnesota Department of Revenue Apportionment Agreement of Fire Service Area Form annually with any Fire Departments providing fire protection to the Otsego, and apportion the population and estimated market value (EMV) of the property in the jointly covered area (Minn. Stat. § 69.021, subd. 7, para. (c)). This review shall be completed prior to July 1st of each calendar year. If any changes to the apportionment percentages are necessary, these changes shall be signed by all individual Fire Departments and submitted to the MN Department of Revenue prior to August 1st of that same calendar year, to allow the changes to take effect the next calendar year. This change will then be reflected in each individual Fire Department’s Minnesota Department of Revenue Form FA-1, Fire Equipment Certification. 10. All parties acknowledge that excessive false alarms constitute a public nuisance. Otsego agrees to enact a false alarm ordinance substantially similar to that in force in Albertville and to enforce such false alarm ordinance and to collect and forward to Albertville penalties and fees collected from properties within the FSA for excessive false alarms. 11. Albertville shall enforce its false alarm ordinance. 12. Albertville owns all fire/rescue equipment used by the Fire Department and shall have the sole discretion to determine when and how to dispose of such equipment, provided, however, that the proceeds from the sale of such equipment shall be credited to Albertville’s Fire Department fund. 13. Albertville owns the fire hall and shall have the sole discretion to determine when and how to dispose of it, provided, however, that the proceeds from the sale of the fire hall shall be credited to Albertville’s Fire Department fund. 14. Commencing on January 1st, 2023, Albertville shall undertake required Fire Inspections within t h e A l b e r t v ille FSA of Otsego. a. Process and Indemnification i. Otsego shall provide to Albertville a list of sites that require biennial fire inspections. ii. Albertville shall provide to Otsego, at the time of billing, documentation and reports (in written or electronic format) regarding each inspection setting forth the address of the site inspected, the time spent on the inspection, observations made at the site, and the result of the inspection. iii. Albertville shall defend, hold harmless and fully indemnify Otsego from any and all claims or causes of action of whatever nature resulting from or arising from the fire inspections undertaken pursuant to this Agreement. However, nothing in this Agreement shall waive any immunities or liability caps applicable to Albertville under Minnesota statutory or case law, including Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 466. b. Reimbursement for Fire Inspection Services i. Otsego shall pay to Albertville, upon receipt of properly detailed billing, $50.00 per hour only for time spent on fire inspection within Otsego. No additional costs such as mileage will be paid above the $50.00 per hour above stated. 6 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have hereunto set their hands and seals this ________ day of _________________________, 2022. CITY OF ALBERTVILLE CITY OF OTSEGO By: ___________________________ By: _________________________ Jillian Hendrickson, Mayor Jessica Stockamp, Mayor ATTEST: ___________________________ _________________________ Kris Luedke, City Clerk Audra Etzel, City Clerk 7 EXHIBIT A: SERVICES Albertville’s Fire Department agrees to provide Otsego the foll owing services, subject to the terms and conditions of the Agreement:  Structural Firefighting, specifically: o Exterior Structural Firefighting o Interior Structural Firefighting  Grass/Wildland Firefighting  Other Firefighting, specifically: o Vehicle & Equipment Firefighting  Technical Rescue, specifically: o Vehicle & Equipment Extrication o General Search and Rescue o Surface Ice and Water Rescue  Other, specifically: o Investigation of Fire and Carbon Monoxide Alarms  Hazardous Materials Response, specifically: o Haz-Mat Awareness Level o Haz-Mat Operations Level  Emergency Medical Services, specifically: o Emergency Medical Responder Level to Medical Emergencies as requested by Allina Health EMS Dispatch and/or Wright County Dispatch o Emergency Medical Responder Level to Personal Injury Accidents as requested by Allina Health EMS Dispatch and/or Wright County Dispatch  Disaster Response, specifically: o Initial response for rescue, life-safety and incident stabilization (not including emergency management related functions) 8 EXHIBIT B Fire Service Area (FSA)