06-23-09 WorksessionJ
CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
Richfield, Minnesota
Special Worksession
June 23, 2009
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by Mayor Goettel at 8:20 p.m.
ROLL CALL
Members Present: Debbie Goettel, Mayor; Sue Sandahl; Pat Elliott; Fred Wroge; and Tom
Fitzhenry.
Staff Present: Steven Devich, City Manager; Brad Sveum, Fire Services Di"rector; and
Nancy Gibbs, City Clerk.
Item # I DISCUSSION REGARDING FIREFIGHTER STAFFING (MEMO NO. 111)
Fire Services Director Sveum presented Council Memo No. 111.
Council Member Wroge asked about vacation coverage and overtime.
Fire Services Director Sveum explained how vacation coverage would be handled with the
different options that were presented to the Council.
City Manager Devich explained that with the Local Government Aid (LGA) cuts the Council
needs to make a decision whether to cut services like Public Safety and Fire or raise taxes. If the
City loses all of its LGA, the Council will have to make a decision regarding raising taxes.
Fire Services Director Sveum discussed all the different options the Council has.
Council Member Fitzhenry asked why aren't we sending Police squad cars to some of the
calls, maybe we should look at Police to work with Fire.
Council Member Sandahl stated she does not want to see the City lose two firefighters; this
might be an opportunity to look at other resources such as franchise fees.
Council Member Elliott suggested paid on-call EMS might be an option rather than paid on-call
firefighters.
Mayor Goettel suggested a hybrid part-time firefighter -this way the City would not have to
pay for training.
Mayor Goettel also stated the City needs to wean itself off of LGA because if we raise taxes it
hurts residents.
City Manager Devich stated he is looking very hard not to have a double digit tax increase.
Special Worksession Minutes -2- June 23, 2009
Council Member Sandahl asked about the response time for Hennepin County compared to
Richfield.
Fire Services Director Sveum stated that 90% of the time Hennepin County's response time is
9 minutes and Richfield's response time is 7minutes.
City Manager Devich stated we have better service in Richfield compared to most other cities
and if you want to keep the same model of service, you will have to look at increasing property taxes.
After much discussion the Council directed Fire Services Director Sveum to look at models
offered and return to the Council with a recommendation.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned by unanimous consent at 9:25 p.m
Date Approved:
July 14, 2009
Nancy Gibbs
City Clerk
City Manager