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7. 3 March 1 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 1.70% 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. 1 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% 91 Fire ( Rescue/ Medical only) 91.D9'% • This Address • Elsewhere 46.15% _8.91% 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. 3 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. 4 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 City of Scandia 14727 209'" St. N. PO Box 128. Scandia. Minnesota 55073 Phone (6�,1) 433-2274 Fax (1151) 433-5112 http:,�\v\Nv\,.ci.scandia,mn,us