During the recent Clear Lake City Council meeting, Matt Lunser with the Clear Lake Fire Dept. (CLFD) approached council with a business idea. Currently, Lunser is certified to train fellow firefighters in Emergency Medical Responder (EMR) training. EMR is the lowest level of emergency medical response, with higher levels including Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and paramedics. EMR training is sufficient for the fire department.

The benefits of having a staff member certified to provide the training are plentiful. Without a certified trainer on staff, the department would have to outsource the training to programs that are significantly more expensive, difficult to schedule, and not tailored specifically to fire fighters (instead geared towards training ambulance workers).

In the past, nearby departments have sent some firefighters to also benefit from the training. Lunser said the department has never charged for this, but therein lied the business opportunity. Lunser suggested expanding the program, where it could be offered to local departments for a fee. He even discussed the possibility of offering CPR classes to the public.

He asked council to approve the program, and asked for line items to be added to the fire department budget including program income and expenditures.

City clerk, Lori Ollendieck, suggested creating an entirely separate entity within the fire department to manage the education program.

Lunser suggested that verbiage be set up so that the excess funds coming into the department through the program would stay within the department rather than being up for grabs for other city departments or projects, in the not-unlikely case that a future board would not be aware of the original intent of the income stream.

Sheriff’s Report

Commander Ben Zawacki of the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office gave the annual report for 2024. He noted 656 calls for service in the city, down from 720 in 2023. 

Zawacki shared the exciting news that the back-up dispatch center was up and running. Due to a technical problem, the dispatch center went down for a very short time once. The Sheriff’s Department wanted to make sure that would never be an issue again, so they created a back-up dispatch center. It is not yet being staffed 24 hours per day, but the department is working towards that goal. 

Policy Committee

Fire Chief Ron Koren asked whether the department would be allowed to attend the annual fire banquet and have their meals covered by the city. Council member Steffany Janish responded that the policy committee has created a policy that would allow the chief’s meal to be covered. The chief asked if the meals of former chiefs would also be covered, and Janish and Council Member Sabrina Miller, who both sit on the policy committee, stated that adding that shouldn’t be an issue. The policy will appear before the council soon for approval.

Janish noted that they hope to start advertising for public participation in the policy committee.

Lift Station #2

City Engineer Keith Yapp offered a brief update on the Lift Station #2 issue. The rough total for the replacement of the lift station will come to about $635,000. City staff recently completed a site tour and worked with the neighboring landowner (who happened to be the mayor). A survey will be completed next week, and the project should be ready to bid in June, with construction beginning in July. Since control panels can take a long time to be ordered, it was estimated the lift station would be operational in January of next year. 

Readers should be reminded that at the last regular meeting, the council learned the city would be able to pay for the replacement in cash from the sewer and water funds, and they will not need to increase taxes or take a loan to complete the necessary work. 

Telephone and Internet

At the last regular meeting, the city clerk had been working to transition the city’s phone and internet service to Midco. Unfortunately, it appears this will not be possible for the time being. The original contract was found, and it has the city tied in to these services until 2027 at a rate of $390 per month.