2. Staff Report Group Home IssuesScl1 r DIA
Staff Report
Date of Meeting: March 1, 2023
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Anne Hurlburt, Interim City Administrator
Re: 22640 Meadowbrook Ave. N.
Impacts on Public Safety Services
At a previous Council meeting, Deputy Zach Boesel brought to the Council's attention the large
number of calls that the Sherriff's Department, along with the Scandia Fire Department and M
Health Fairview EMS, have been making to a single Scandia address: 22640 Meadowbrook
Ave. N. This address, an adult group home owned by Community Living Options, Inc. (a for -
profit company) seemed to be consuming a disproportionate share of Scandia's public safety and
first responder resources compared to all other Scandia residential properties, including other
similar group residential facilities.
Impact on Public Safety Services, 22640 Meadowbrook Ave. N.
Staff worked together to compile data to document the issue. The following table shows the
number of calls for service to the 22640 Meadowbrook address in 2022:
2022 Public Safety Calls, 22640 Meadowbrook Ave. N.
# Calls
This
Address
Total
Calls City
Percent
Police (Washington County Sherriff)
48
2,823
l .70%
Fire (All Types)
18
328
5.49%
(Rescue/ Medical only)
(18)
(202)
(8.91 %)
Ambulance (M Health Fairview EMS)
38
305
12.46%
Total, All Services
103
3,455
3.01%
Calls to this address were 3% of all 2022 calls to police, fire and EMS in 2022.
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Staff believe that the call data actuallly underestimates the demands from this property. Because
of the way call reports are coded, a response to the street in front of the home, or a call to a
location elsewhere in the
neighborhood involving a 2022 Calls, All Services
resident of the home, cannot
be calculated from the data _ 3.01%
without a one -by -one review
of each call report. The Fire
Chief estimates that reports
not coded to the address
might add 10 to 15% to the
number of calls.
This pie chart on the right
shows the breakdown of
calls among the police, fire
and ambulance services to
22640 Meadowbrook in
2022. The largest number of
calls were for police
services. But because most
of the calls fall into the
rescue/medical categories,
there is a larger overall
impact on the fire and
ambulance services.
The two charts below show
96.99%
This Address ■ Elsewhere
2022 Calls, 22640 Meadowbrook
36.54%
the percentage of all Fire 17.31%
Department calls in 2022 to
this address. 5.49% of all ■ Police • Fire a Ambulance
calls were to 22640
Meadowbrook, while 8.91% of all rescue/medical calls were to this address.
94.51%
Fire (All Types)
• This Address • Elsewhere
5.49%
Fire ( Rescue/ Medical only)
91. D9%
• This Address • Elsewhere
46.15%
_8.91%
91
Based on the number of police and fire calls, we can estimate the portion of Scandia's 2022
police and fire budgets were consumed by 22640 Meadowbrook Ave. N., as shown on the
following table and pie chart:
2022 Share of Police and Fire Budgets Share, This
22640 Meadowbrook Ave N. Percent 2022 Total Budget Address
Police 1.70% $ 150,900 $ 2,566
Fire 5.49% $ 281,191 $ 15,431
Total
Scandia's dedicated police
resources are the equivalent
of one full-time deputy
sheriff, per our contract with
Washington County.
Excessive calls to a single
location mean the deputy is
taken off patrol of the rest of
the city. Resources must be
diverted from other parts of
the county served by the
Sherriff s Department and
for other emergency calls.
4.17% $ 432,091 $ 17,997
2022 Budgets, Police and Fire
4.17%
95.83%
• This Address + Rest of Scandia
Every time the Fire Department is called out, it results in the paging of 10 to 15 people, for a
minimum of one hour of paid -on -call service, plus equipment. If there are simultaneous calls,
resources are not available for needs elsewhere in the community and response times are
lengthened. Resources of neighboring communities will also be affected if mutual aid
agreements are activated.
Scandia does not budget or pay directly for ambulance services. This address is served by M
Health Fairview EMS. Fees for service are incurred only when the ambulance transports
someone to the hospital. The fees from the billed calls support the entire cost of EMS service.
In 2022, only about 8% of all 2022 calls to 22640 Meadowbrook Ave. N. were billed. The cost
for the remaining calls were borne by the billings in M Health Fairview's entire service territory,
which includes neighboring communities in Washington and Chisago Counties.
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2022 Ambulance Calls, 22640 Meadowbrook Ave. N.
# Calls
This
Address Percent
Billed 3 7.89%
Not Billed 35 92.11%
Total 38 100.00%
Other Group Homes
Community Living Options owns another similar group home in Scandia, at 21523 Oland Ave.
N. That address did not show the same excessive number of calls in 2022. However, the
number of Fire Department calls to that address took a sharp jump at the end of the year, when
there were 5 calls in less than a 30-day period. The Sherriffs Department responded to 15 calls
at the Oland Avenue address in 2022.
The same owner has a group home in Hugo, which was presenting similar issues to the
Meadowbrook location. It was temporarily closed in late 2022, at around the time that the City
of Hugo approached the owner seeking a solution to the problems. We understand that at least
one resident of the Hugo home was relocated to the Oland Avenue address, which may be the
source of the sudden increase in calls.
Recommendations
Staff recommends that we contact Community Living Options, present them with this
information, and ask that they provide the city with their plans to address the excessive demands
for public safety services.
We believe that the owner of this for -profit business should be able to reduce the excessive
service demands by properly staffing their group homes and delivering the appropriate services
and support to their residents.
The city could, by ordinance, enact a fee system to bill property owners with excessive calls for
service. This would take some time to develop, as we would not want to discourage residents
from calling for emergency services when necessary.
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March 2, 2023
Jeff Felz
Community Living Options
26022 Main St.
Zimmerman, MN 55398
RE: Group Home at 22640 Meadowbrook Ave N., Scandia MN
Dear Mr. Felz:
The Scandia City Council has received a report from staff concerning the significant impacts on
public safety services from your group home at 22640 Meadowbrook. The report is enclosed.
The Council was concerned to see the data from 2022. We also heard that the record for the
beginning of 2023 is showing the same pattern, with an incident including assaults on first
responders just last week. Calls also appear to increasing at another home owned by your
company at 21523 Oland Ave. N.
The Council want to hear from you about how you plan to properly staff your group homes and
support the residents with the appropriate level of services and supervision to reduce the number
of police, fire and ambulance calls. We are concerned about the health and safety of the residents
as well as the impact on the community.
We look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Christine Maefsky
Mayor
cc: Scandia City Council
Interim City Administrator Anne Hurlburt
City Attorney Eric Larson
Fire Chief Mike Hinz
Deputy Zach Boesel
Kevin Kane, MHealth Fairview EMS
Enc: Report to City Council for March 1, 2023 Meeting
Clty of Scandia
14727 209'" St. N. PO Box 128. Scandia. Minnesota 55073
Phone (b�, 1 ) 43 3-2274 Fax (651 ) 433-5 1 12 http:,�\v \N v\,.ci.scandia,mn,us