Negotiations between the City of Monroe and the Rural Fire District culminated in the two entities cutting ties at the turn of the year, but that does not mean that 2021 has been without disagreements between the two.
The City voted Jan. 4 not to allow a change of zoning for the District’s new building, but discussions surrounding the RFD have taken place in the Common Council for years.
• Dec. 31 2019: The end of 2019 saw the end to a one-year extension to the City’s five-year fire protection contract with the towns of Monroe and Clarno, but negotiations between the two entities were far from over. On the last day of the extension, the Rural Fire District accepted an additional 6-month extension to the contract. It would now go through June 30, 2020.
• March 27, 2020: The RFD presented the City of Monroe with a counterproposal suggesting that the readiness fee remain at $43,200 and the response fee gradually increase to about 2%.
• April 6, 2020: Monroe Mayor Louis Armstrong emailed an RFD representative saying that the City was not in favor of their previous counteroffer.
• April 16, 2020: Todd Hasse of the RFD notified the City that the RFD had decided not to renew any further contracts with the City of Monroe.
• June 1, 2020: With 30 days left to find an agreement, the City offered the RFD an additional six-month extension to the existing contract. They would now be covered through Dec. 31, 2020.
• July 6, 2020: With some alders still determined to find a long-term solution the City and RFD both could agree on, the Common Council met with members of the RFD and offered a one-year contract with an increase cost of 10% based on the current contract price of $42,200 per township. The City’s rationale was that the year-long contract would allow the City to “further examine the Fire Department Budget and will allow time for City to hire its new City Administrator to finalize a long-term deal with the RFD,” City minutes noted. The City voted unanimously Sept. 8 to hire David Lothspeich as City Administrator; he began in November.
• Aug. 17, 2020: Collin Nack of the RFD emailed a counterproposal to City Attorney Dan Bartholf. The 15-year contract suggested Monroe take ownership of the RFD’s three trucks. It included a yearly fee of $79,862 with a 1.6% increase for the first five years and a stable price for the remaining ten.
• After denying the RFD’s counterproposal Sept. 16, the Council approved Sept. 21 a final offer to the RFD. It was a five-year contract based on the current charge of $84,400 plus a 5% increase each year. The year-one cost would have been $88,620, a $2,110 increase per township.
• Oct. 15, 2020: Tracy Signer of the RFD notified the City that the RFD would not be renewing a contract. He indicated that the townships had decided to “move forward in another direction.”
• Jan. 1, 2021: The RFD and City are officially no longer operating as one fire department. The RFD begins responding to calls from the new location at 840 West 8th Street.
• Jan. 4, 2021: The Monroe Common Council denied the RFD change of zoning petition from Suburban Mixed Use to Institutional. Alders Kelly Hermanson, rob Driver, Michael Boyce and Richard Thoman voted against the change while alders Donna Douglas, Joshua Binger, Tammy Fetterolf and Mickey Beam voted in favor. Alder Brooke Bauman was absent. Mayor Louis Armstrong broke to tie and voted against the change.
• Jan. 18, 2021: A letter signed by City of Monroe building inspector Ryan Lindsey notified the RFD that, with the denial of zoning change, operation as a fire station is not permitted at the current location. The note states that “As the RFD relocated to 840 W. 8th Street on an emergency basis and as it is the City’s priority to obtain compliance rather than to collect fines, the City will not invoice fines for the first 90 days. In the spirit of intergovernmental cooperation, if the RFD moves out of this property within 90 days (April 15, 2021), the City will void the citations and the fines associated with them.”