Townships, Luverne sign fire protection contracts

Seven Rock County townships have signed contracts with the city of Luverne for emergency services through the Luverne Fire Department, and Luverne City Council members approved them at their April 23 meeting.
The contracts cover the townships of Luverne, Magnolia, Kanaranzi, Clinton, Mound, Vienna, and Springwater and outline emergency services provided by the Luverne Fire Department for the next five years.
The new contract, effective March 1, 2019, sets the per section fee for 2019 to $550 per section for a total of $61,308.50.
Some townships have more sections contracted for services than others, depending on their access to dependable rural fire departments.
For example, Springwater Township, which also pays for fire protection from Hardwick Jasper, Beaver Creek and Garretson, has only four of its sections contracted with Luverne, so it pays $2,200.
Luverne Township pays for more than 26 sections for a total of $14,421 while Vienna Township has 15 sections and pays $8,250 per year.
In the contracts, the townships agree to purchase and the city agrees to provide the services such as:
•structural firefighting.
•emergency medical services at fires and rescue scenes.
•grass and forest firefighting.
•general medicals (with first responder and emergency medical technician level of response).
•general firefighting (including vehicles and carbon monoxide calls).
•rescue, including vehicle and equipment extrication, search and rescue, confined space rescue, and water rescue.
•hazardous materials response.
•disaster response.
The city will maintain insurance for its services and will include the townships as additional insured for the term of the contract.
In addition to agreeing to pay for the fire and rescue services, the contract states the townships will present a budget and levy proposal to their electors at each annual meeting to seek levy funds as needed to pay for the services.
Some townships in the past have balked at raising their levies for fire protection, but access to reliable fire protection often translates to lower property insurance premiums for taxpayers.
Under the new contracts townships have no responsibilities, beyond paying the agreed fee, for equipment or personnel, and that’s an important distinction from previous rural fire contracts.
In addition to paying for fire services, townships used to pay their share of new equipment purchased unique to rural firefighting, and township officials haven’t always agreed about what type of equipment should be purchased at which prices.
The new contracts simply spell out fees for services, and those payments reflect overall costs of providing emergency services, including equipment replacement.
The new contract was updated using the League of Minnesota City's sample contract language and sets the per section fees for the next 5 years with an inflation factor of two percent each year.
The 2019 per-section fee of $550 amounts to $61,308.50, which is lower than the 2018 total of $62,164.19.
By March 1, 2023, the per-section fee will be $595, to be paid quarterly for total payment of $66,362.55 from the seven townships.
“There was some give and take on both sides, but we’re relieved to have a five-year contract,” Luverne Mayor Pat Baustian said. “We’ve never had that before.”