Our Last Hope
We have found someone who will be honest with us. Will we listen?
This week
Special City Council Meeting
On Monday, the Council held a special session with Mike Scott, our candidate for an interim role to oversee the creation of our fire department and help us identify a full-time fire chief. Mr. Scott comes with an impressive resume and plan, and his honesty and objectivity is sorely needed at this point. He started off by going over his experience and resume before providing us with some of the concerns he has.
His first concern is the short time-frame. We only have 15 months before we go live. Recruiting, hiring, retaining, and training a fire department to get them up to speed is a tall order. As Mr. Scott pointed out: to hire 20 part-time firefighters, we're going to need at least 40 applicants, and then we should plan on losing some of those that we hire just due to the demands of the job. In an Albertville City Council meeting I attended earlier this year where they were discussing our staffing plan, the Albertville Fire Chief stated that it's around 5 applicants to 1 actual hire. Are there 100 people who are willing to throw their name in the hat and try to be a firefighter in Otsego - especially within a 5 mile radius of the single station we have? The chances of that are somewhere between slim and none. That's why Albertville had to write it into the contract to ensure we didn't steal their resources over the next year: it's obviously a competitive market, and we were already poaching their people.
Next, Mr. Scott went over another issue he has already noticed: we need to train these firefighters and staff on our policies and way of doing things... policies that do not exist, yet. And it takes at least a year to establish those policies and refine them for a professional department - you can't just steal the policies of another department and expect it to work. We haven't bought equipment, and the firefighters will need to train on that equipment with our policies and procedures. Since none of that exists, yet - getting it ready within the time-frame we have is going to be a challenge. It's easy to buy trucks and build a station. That's the fun part. But it's only a fraction of what needs to happen to create a department from scratch. Slapping our logo on the side of a truck and calling ourselves an "Emergency Services" department doesn't make it so. Creating a fire department is an expensive, time-consuming, specialized, and unique endeavor. It's something that is a rare occurrence these days, and it's certainly not something that can just be done on autopilot. It's also a scenario that really doesn't appeal to a lot of applicants. They won't want to join a department that doesn't have its act together.
There were also several issues brought up with our existing staffing plan. Mr. Scott is concerned that the hours listed are not accurate. He also pointed out that there's currently no listing for administrative staff. I've pointed this out multiple times before and I'm convinced that the administrative portion was intentionally left out in order to make the staffing plan appear less expensive than it actually will be. We've already seen how the costs of this fire department have continually escalated beyond what was promised, and I have no doubt that trend would have continued to a point where a future Council would be left with no choice but to consolidate our department with another.
The costs of our department were already approaching that of Minneapolis in terms of per capita fire service. With many of the true costs hidden and left out of the plan, there's just no way our new fire department would end up being anything less than the most expensive fire department in the State of Minnesota. We're going to have to find some way to bring all these costs down in order to make it more reasonable while at the same time keeping our residents safe. I have been sounding this alarm bell for years, and the situation we are in now is a direct result of a Council that intentionally ignored the warning signs and chose to be blind to the facts. My colleagues cannot claim ignorance, because I was not silent about the problems we are now faced with. I highlighted the costs (and even my estimates turned out to be conservative). I went over the safety issues and how we cannot operate out of one station. I pointed out multiple times that the contracts were the better alternative. I vigorously defended the citizens' right to petition against this and watched in horror and disgust as my colleagues all gleefully made the decision to take away that right.
It's quite ironic: Mr. Scott was originally interviewed in 2023 during our first attempt to find a chief. He wasn't really looking for a full-time chief role at the time, and I suspect that we weren't looking for someone to be truly honest with us about the situation we are in. Now, he has an opportunity to act in that interim role and help us find a chief, and we are in no position to ignore the truth any longer. I can only shake my head at the fact that we would have had a much better outcome at a much cheaper cost but for the fact that this Council has chosen the most expensive option at every turn.
Building a fire department from scratch is something cities just don't do these days - no city our size has done it recently, if ever. Cities much smaller than us have built stations for others to manage and then taken over those assets and parted ways amicably with their neighbors over time. We could have done that - it was recommended in the study to do just that. Instead, we have chosen to demean our fire service providers, attempt to blackmail them into giving us service for free, and now we have an overpriced station, a whole lot of debt, and no actual plan.
I appreciated the honesty that Mr. Scott provided during the meeting. It was exactly what the Council needed to hear. I was also brutally honest. He asked a question of us, and I was the only one to answer; he asked if we were willing to hear different ideas. I told him - and those in attendance - that I'm conflicted: on the one hand, I want this whole thing to fall apart because that would mean we would have to go back to the contracts. However, at this point I know that it would take people losing their homes and possibly a loss of life before my colleagues would be willing to admit that reality and reverse course. Plus, we already have the shell of a station now - it's getting built and stopping it becomes more and more difficult each passing hour. What can we do with the situation we are in, now? I told him that I wish he had come with a time machine, because the Council has made some really bad decisions, backed us all into a corner that it's impossible to get out of, and now we're going to have to spend more money to fix it. Ultimately, my answer to his question was: yes, I am willing to hear what other options we have, especially if that comes with more information - like the implementation study. I happily voted yes to accepting Mr. Scott as our interim fire administrator and engaging Citygate for an implementation study.
The wording of the agreement with Mr. Scott had a slight change in the job title and it was highlighted. I asked if he did not want to be referred to as our interim fire chief and he nodded. He pointed out that we don't have a fire department, and he won't be searching for his replacement, so it makes no sense to call him a fire chief.
Planning Commission Meeting
The Planning Commission also met on Monday for their regular meeting. There were three items on the main agenda with all of them being public hearings. The first item had a few comments from the residents in attendance, speaking on concerns about the Kittredge Crossings development. The development has now had three different developers, including one that was approved last year. The Commission noted some concerns about the transition from single villas to the town homes. Ultimately, the Commission approved the plan with a recommendation to the Council. The application will be on the Council's agenda for Monday.
The next item that was discussed was the Stillwild development. After a brief discussion, this was also approved. The Council will also hear this application on Monday.
Finally, the Commission reviewed an application for a business development off of Queens Avenue. The Commission approved this, with the item coming to the Council in October.
Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting
On Tuesday, the Parks and Recreation Commission met at the new Carrick's Landing river access to officially cut the ribbon for the new section. There were some residents in attendance as well. The new portion of the park has the end point for the kayak rentals as well as a walkway and concrete steps. There's also a large picnic shelter that overlooks the river.
Next Week
City Council Meeting
On Monday at 7 pm, the City Council will meet at Prairie Center for its regular meeting. Several items are on the agenda, including the adoption of the preliminary property tax levy for next year. The Council will be considering a 19.3% increase in property taxes. As I pointed out in previous newsletters, 100% of the increase this year is as a direct result of the fire department.
Surrounding cities are all in the single digit increases, with some of their preliminary levies being approved already:
Albertville approved a 7.17% increase
Monticello is considering an 8.6% increase
Elk River approved a 7.4% increase
Dayton started at 17% and approved a 8.97% increase
Saint Michael approved a 6.75% increase
Ramsey will be considering a 6.5% increase
Maple Grove approved a 6.35% increase
Even Wright County is only considering a 5.57% increase next week. Now, all of these increases are still high - they exceed the growth rate in these cities. However, none of them are even close to the 19.3% property tax increase that Otsego residents are about to be slammed with. And, keep in mind, that 19.3% is down from 22% because the majority has expressed a desire to raid other funds to try and cover up the actual costs of the fire department. The proposal for the levy includes $220,152 in use of existing fund balances to try to hide the impact. This violates the first rule of municipal budgeting: don't use temporary funds to offset permanent increases. That money won't be there next year, and then we're going to be in an even bigger mess than we already are.
Those who supported the unnecessary, expensive, and unneeded fire department should be proud of the 22% increase and should be eager to try and justify it to the residents. That includes justifying the new expenditures for having a fire department which have now increased the total to $6,281,094.02.
The main agenda for the meeting is as follows:
Consent Agenda:
Approve Claims List.
Approve Prior City Council Meeting Minutes.
Approve Pay Application #9 for the Fire & Emergency Services Facility Project.
Approve Pay Application #4 for the Cold Storage Facility Project.
Approve Pay Application #4 (Final) for the Otsego Creek Rehabilitation Project.
Adopt a Proclamation – Recognition of Physician Assistant Week.
Adopt Resolution 2025-42 Accepting Public Improvements – O2B Kids Daycare.
Adopt Resolution 2025-43 Accepting a Donation of Emergency Warning Sirens.
Approve Amendment No. 2 to an Antenna Site Use Agreement – Verizon Wireless.
Accept Liability Insurance Renewal and Elect to Not Waive Monetary Limits.
Adopt Resolution 2025-44 Declaring City Property as Surplus Property and Authorizing Sale.
Accept Quote and Authorize Dale Lehrke Soccer Field Irrigation Repairs.
Accept Quotes and Authorize City Campus Fencing & Gates and Cold Storage Pallet Racking.
Adopt Resolution 2025-45 Accepting Bids and Awarding Contract – Lift Station No. 4 Improvements.
Approve Pay Application #4 for the Carrick’s Landing Park Project.
Approve a Job Description and Authorize Recruitment – Lead Mechanic Position.
Kittredge Crossings – PUD Concept Plan (JP Brooks Builders).
StillWild – Zoning Map Amendment, Conditional Use Permit & Preliminary Plat (Smith).
Preliminary Property Tax Levy: Adjust Debt Service Property Tax and Adopt Preliminary Tax Levy