By Sara StrongThe city of Luverne gave notice to Rock County last week that it was going to terminate its dispatching contract, which had been in existence for 34 years. The Rock County Board of Commissioners reacted Monday by terminating its 27-year partnership with the Pool and Fitness Center.Both contracts would come to an end in 2005.The county and city share many contracts and service arrangements, and each are watching out for their own budgets, while under state levy limits and getting less state aid.County Administrator Kyle Oldre said, "It doesn’t do anybody any good to do cost shifting between the local governments."However, the Board of Commissioners said it had to react as it did, because it expected more negotiations from the city before receiving notice of the dispatch contract termination. Commissioners said that the possibility of losing $155,847 next year in dispatch contract fees left them scraping for other places to cut — and the Pool and Fitness is an area that the county isn’t obligated to fund.Rock County was scheduled to pay $62,000 next year in the Pool and Fitness Center partnership.Oldre said it is difficult for the county to raise extra money with levy limits, reduced state funding and many expenses that are uncontrollable, such as out of home placements in Family Services or prisoner costs.The County is required to provide some degree of dispatch services. Now, it refers water, sewer and electrical calls to the city, and keeps records in the Sheriff’s Office. So dispatchers do more than answer 911 calls 24 hours a day.Commissioner Richard Bakken said, "Based on our joint meeting, Dec. 1, I thought the contracts were going to be reviewed and discussed. It doesn’t show much good faith on the part of the city, since I anticipated a time of negotiation."The Luverne City Council said it must terminate the contract in order to negotiate. Otherwise, the council said, it would be tied to the agreement until 2005, even if it wasn’t satisfied with the negotiation results.Rock County Board Chairman Ron Boyenga said he thought the dispatch contract termination was being used as a negotiation tool. In the past, the city and county have amended joint contracts after negotiations, without terminating agreements. Commissioner Bob Jarchow said, "All we can do is hope that it’s a negotiation ploy. If it goes past that, every citizen in Luverne and Rock County will lose."County Attorney Don Klosterbuer said, "It’s a horrible situation to try to guess what their intent is."Commissioner Ken Hoime said, "Granted, we want to get along with the city, but they’ve made their intent known and now we made ours known."Second thoughtsCommissioner Jane Wildung said she was uncomfortable with the level of distrust brewing between the government bodies. In the spirit of continued cooperation, she considered voting against terminating the Pool and Fitness Center agreement."This is really bothering me. It’s not the way I like to operate," Wildung said.She said she doesn’t want to terminate long-standing contracts for the purposes of negotiation, when they could be amended without bad feelings. "When the County Board says something, it means it," she said. "If this continues, are we going to come to some understanding between the groups?""I hope so," Klosterbuer said.He said he assumed that after the Dec. 1 joint board meeting, the city would negotiate with the county without terminating a contract before talks even began. Bakken said that although the county has to look out for it’s own budget, he didn’t want to get into a game of terminating joint contracts or agreements back and forth."We could go on until we turn this thing into a one-legged stool," Bakken said. "We don’t want to get to that point."Wildung said she looks forward to talking to councilmen in person rather than communicating through resolutions and meeting minutes.The city and county have scheduled a meeting for mid-January when they can discuss dispatching and other law enforcement issues.The city is also a partner in the Rock County Sheriff’s Department (separate from the dispatch contract), paying a contract fee of $446,852.Excerpts from the resolution the County Board unanimously passed, terminating the 1993 pool agreement:"The county believes that the various agreements and contracts between the city and county are best examined as a collective package so as to better understand and appreciate the net effect on the budgets of the city and the county and that approaching the negotiations on a piecemeal basis increases the likelihood of producing less desirable results and threatens the delivery of services."… Prior to commencing any negotiations, the city of Luverne has notified the county that it has terminated the joint powers agreement for dispatching services and rental agreement effective Dec. 31 2004."… The county believes that dispatch services are a vital and essential service and must continue to be provided even without funding contribution from the city of Luverne."… The county does not have other revenue sources to replace such lost revenue other than to increase the tax levy, if permitted by the state. "… The county must take reasonable and prudent steps to preserve its options to reduce spending for 2005 in the event the city makes an insufficient payment toward the cost of dispatching services. "… The county believes that the services provided to its citizens by the Rock County Community Swimming Pool and Fitness Center are valuable and significantly contribute to the health and well being of its citizens and improve the overall quality of life within Rock County, including the city of Luverne."… County dispatch services are essential as they directly relate to providing assistance in emergency situations affecting life and property and such services must be maintained and provided, even if it means reducing or eliminating other valuable services, including the pool."… The county has no choice but to take precautionary and protective action to try and preserve sufficient funds from its finite revenues for 2005 to provide all essential services. The unilateral decision by the city to terminate the joint powers agreement for dispatch services and rental agreement prior to even commencing negotiations with the county effectively eliminates a revenue source for the county."
