Long Lake city council teamed up with local fir services experts to host its third “fire forum” event on May 29.
The Long Lake-Orono fire dispute hasn’t slowed down, and further mediation between the two cities will continue on June 17, with a trial set for January. The road to this point has been long, and recent developments have only complicated the situation.
Residents of southwestern Orono will have fire and rescue services available to them on July 1 through the Orono Fire Department.
A temporary storage facility to house Orono Fire Department (OFD) engines and equipment will reportedly be completed by then. OFD firefighters won’t work out of the facility, called Navarre Garage, but will be “out and about” on fire engines from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. to answer calls.
Beginning July 1, the OFD will be the only department paged to the two Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) zones in the region. Responding to calls like house fires and car accidents may be troublesome, as an estimated 6 OFD firefighters will be available at any given time. The Orono Fire Needs Assessment determined a minimum of 15 firefighters are needed to respond to structure fires, and a minimum of 13 are needed for a vehicle crash.
While the former LLFD has shrunk with a portion of its force moving to OFD, they still have two boats and a dock to answer calls on Lake Minnetonka. The OFD does not currently have a boat or dock to operate off of.
Long Lake Assistant Fire Chief Cody Farley assures residents in these zones that the Long Lake Fire Department (LLFD) will help OFD on mutual aid, meaning LLFD firefighters can respond if the OFD asks for help.
While Orono’s decision to remove the Navarre zones from LLFD’s service area was allowed, Orono has created legal problems with other actions.
Orono breached the existing contract with Long Lake when its city council voted to establish its own fire department in June 2023 and hired LLFD Chief James Van Eyll as Orono’s first fire chief, and recruited LLFD firefighters. Orono has also purchased a ladder truck it learned about through the LLFD.
These actions and more breached the contract that was signed in 2002. Since then, Long Lake has been and is contractually obligated to serve, among other communities, Orono. Assuming LLFD operates with “good cause” by responding to calls on time, training its firefighters adequately, and does not consistently overrun its budget, Orono may only terminate its existing contract if there is mutual agreement between the cities.
The city of Medina was allowed to terminate its contract whenever it pleased, but this language was explicit in the 2002 contract.
Long Lake took legal action against Orono last June, eventually being granted a temporary injunction in July from Hennepin County District Judge Laurie J. Miller, who stated that “Orono has competed with Long Lake for scarce firefighting resources in a rush to set up its own fire department early, while the parties’ contractual relationship remains ongoing.”
Despite the injunction, Orono didn’t halt its efforts and recruited more LLFD firefighters throughout the winter. Orono was held in contempt of court in November, only to hire two more LLFD firefighters the next month. Orono was held in contempt of court a second time in March for much the same reason: hiring from LLFD despite the ongoing contract and for making plans to add-on to LLFD’s Station 2.
The Orono city council, with the exception of Alisa Benson, recently voted to hire two more paid on-call (POC) firefighters, to upgrade existing radio equipment, and to construct a temporary fire “station” adjacent to the Navarre Water Plant.
Orono appealed Miller’s injunction and both orders for contempt in April, though those appeals were dismissed on May 31. The court stated that appealing the orders for contempt was premature as Miller has not yet made a ruling on the attorney’s fees. Because of the substantial public policy issues surrounding this lawsuit, Orono’s counsel said they wanted to file the appeals to bring these issues in front of the court as soon as possible.
Orono’s counsel wanted all three court orders to be reviewed on a single appeal rather than having multiple appeals on similar issues, so they stipulated the dismissal of the injunction appeal. They will appeal all three orders after final judgment is made.
Potential Next Steps
Orono is still seeking to provide its own fire services with its own department. Long Lake is open to amending terms of the current contract, as well as operating under a Joint Power Agreement, much the way the Excelsior Fire District (EFD) does.
The EFD operates out of two fire stations and shares equipment and personnel among several cities. The format helps ensure a fire department is sufficiently staffed, as well as affordable for its citizens.
As presented by Long Lake councilmember Mike Feldmann, the OFD will be far more expensive on a per call basis than the neighboring Long Lake, Maple Plain, and Excelsior fire departments/districts. Those departments spend around $1,500 per call.
Based on an operating budget of $918,805, Orono would have spent $2,517 per call to serve its 8,000 residents in 2023. To cover the 2,600 residents living in the Navarre zones later this year, Orono could spend nearly $12,000 per call.
Most departments around the country are consolidating resources and forming larger fire districts. This is what the Loretto and Hamel Fire Departments did last year when they formed the West Suburban Fire District. The district serves 12,000 residents for $1,408 per call.
Maple Plain is also looking into merging fire services with the city of Independence, per Maple Plain’s city council meeting on May 28.
Long Lake may explore similar opportunities for itself, potentially with Wayzata. The cities have already filed for a Service Planning Grant that will help fund joint duty crews and a consultant to find partnership alternatives.
Should Orono be interested in maintaining a relationship with the LLFD, the cities could alter funding. The three cities in the contract - Orono, Long Lake and Medina - pay for a proportion of the fire department’s relative to property value (70 percent) and call hours (30 percent). Under this formula, Orono makes up 85 percent of the total funding for fire services, while Long Lake and Medina contribute 10 percent and 5 percent, respectively.
A new formula could be devised in which property value and call hours will each make up one third of funding with population as the other third. Orono would be responsible for 81 percent of the department’s funding, with Long Lake and Medina paying 13 percent and 6 percent, respectively.
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