Paul Goettl
At the April Lutsen town meeting, long-time chief of the Lutsen Fire Department and EMS Fred Schmidt said he intended to step down as fire chief. Schmidt said he would be willing to continue as EMS chief and suggested that Assistant Fire Chief Paul Goettl be appointed to the fire chief role. The restructuring raised questions over how the positions of fire chief and EMS chief should be reimbursed. Schmidt and Goettl each received $150 monthly in their respective positions. The board questioned whether the town should pay a fire chief, EMS chief, and an assistant chief. Since there were questions, the matter was tabled, with the board asking Schmidt to develop job descriptions for the EMS and fire chief jobs.
Schmidt and Goettl returned to the May 19, 2009 Lutsen town meeting with the job descriptions requested and Goettl announced that Schmidt had retired at the last fire department meeting. Schmidt said Goettl was now the Lutsen Fire Chief. A unanimous motion was passed by the town board in support of the fire department decision. Supervisor Diane Parker said to Schmidt, “Thank you for all your hard work. You did a wonderful job.”
New Fire Chief Paul Goettl nodded and said, “Thank you, Fred.”
Goettl and Schmidt then asked how the board wanted to handle the stipend provided the fire and EMS administrators. Supervisor Joe Buttweiler noted that the job formerly held by one person had been split and wondered if compensation should also be divided. Schmidt said in the past, his time was split between the fire department and EMS business, leaving a lot of EMS duties to others. He said he would now spend more time concentrating on EMS matters. Goettl noted that both jobs were becoming increasingly administrative. “It’s all becoming paperwork. It’s busy time, keeping track of training and administration,” said Goettl.
Parker said, “We’ve had this as one job. In these hard economic times, do we want to add another job?”
Buttweiler asked, “Do we still need to compensate an assistant fire chief? Can we get by with a fire chief and an EMS director?”
Goettl said there currently is not an assistant fire chief. He added, “I hope to have one at the next meeting. Whoever we get…whatever duties he or she takes on may depend on what the pay is.”
“I’m not trying to skimp anyone, I’m just trying to look at the budget,” said Buttweiler. He pointed to the job descriptions. “I guess we just needed to make sure these positions are justified. Having the job descriptions justifies paying someone.”
Buttweiler made the motion to compensate EMS Chief Fred Schmidt $150 per month. Supervisor Marland Hansen seconded and the motion carried unanimously. No change was made to the fire chief ‘s compensation, so Fire Chief Goettl will receive $150 per month. There was no further discussion regarding compensation for an assistant fire chief.
New Fire Chief Goettl reported that firefighter John Groth is working on a grant to the Department of Homeland Security/FEMA for a new tanker truck and an educational component. He said the department has some equipment it would like to sell—an air compressor, used to fill breathing tanks and a chain saw. Goettl said the chainsaw has been replaced with a lighter, easier to use, chainsaw. He said it would be a “nice gesture” to offer the items to firefighters before advertising to the general public. The board asked Goettl to find out the estimated value of the items, since that determines how the sale must be handled. Goettl will bring that information back to the board next month.
County Engineer Shae Kosmalski was at the meeting with the latest draft of the fiscal agreement for the $350,000 Iron Range Resources (IRR) grant for a pedestrian bridge and enhancements of the Ski Hill Road. Kosmalski said she believed the township’s concerns about acting as fiscal agent for the grant had been answered with a process that allows her to approve invoices and authorize payment by the county in a timely manner. The county will then present a voucher to the township, which can in turn submit a payment request to IRR. Once the town receives the IRR funds, it can then turn the money over to the county.
There was lengthy discussion of the somewhat convoluted process. Kosmalski stressed that the intention was to avoid special meetings for the township. “We have 35 days to make payments. If it comes to it, my funding can be used,” she said.
Supervisor Parker said that was very important. “For the township to hold a special meeting would mean a cost of approximately $420. We want to avoid that.”
In other business:
» Treasurer John Groth gave a financial report. He said as of April
30, the township business checking account balance was
$49,578.99. Savings account balances were $48,174.29 for the
building fund and $66,492.46 for the fire truck fund.
» Groth also reported on the Minnesota Township Association’s
attorney’s advice on reimbursement for town officials for travel. After discussion it was determined that the best way to handle
travel reimbursement would be to reimburse for actual cost for
lodging and for food expenses, up to $45 per day.
» Having received only one bid for lawn mowing services, the
town accepted that bid, from Caribou Cabin Service. The rate is the same as what was paid by the township last year–$104 for
the fire hall; $86 for the ball field; and $198 for the Lutsen Town
Park per time.
» Clerk Amity Goettl informed the board that Caribou Highlands
had expressed its appreciation to all of the firefighters who responded to the December 29, 2008 fire at the resort by giving every firefighter a $50 gift certificate toward dinner at Moguls
Café. The board agreed this was a very generous thing to do for
the volunteer firefighters.
» The board and County Commissioner Bruce Martinson discussed
the Lutsen request to move reconstruction of Highway 61 through Lutsen ahead on the construction schedule. The town board was disappointed to receive a letter from District Engineer Michael Robinson stating that although the Minnesota Department of Transportation supports reconstructing the section of highway between County Road 34 and County Road 4, the state does not have the funding needed to match federal road funds for the project. Robinson said for that reason, “we cannot commit to providing the required 20% match between fiscal years 2010 and 2020 for the project at this time.”
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