Johnston, Grimes renew emergency services partnership
Johnston and Grimes have renewed a longstanding fire and emergency services partnership and created a board with representatives from both cities that will advise elected officials and a joint fire chief.
The cities' departments will operate under the name Johnston-Grimes Metropolitan Fire Department.
The cooperative agreement has been in place since 2007. The cities split the costs to operate a joint fire station at 10225 N.W. 62nd Ave. near the border of the two towns, which responds to calls in both communities.
"It helps better coordinate our joint effort," Johnston City Administrator Jim Sanders said.
Each city maintains its own emergency services budget and its own fire department headquarters. Johnston's main fire station is at 6373 Merle Hay Road and its fiscal year 2017 budget is $2.3 million, which covers 15 full-time equivalent positions. Grimes' main station is at 200 S. James St. It has a $1.6 million budget and 11 full-time equivalent positions.
Under the new agreement, the cities will continue to evenly split the costs of the joint fire station. However, a new funding formula was created to determine how the cities will split the salary of the fire chief position after analyzing the number of calls, populations and square-miles served in each city. Johnston will cover about 65 percent fire chief position, while Grimes will cover 35 percent.
The newly formed advisory board will help determine how the cities will split other expenditures such as future hires and major equipment purchases.
"The idea of having the board is to have a group that has representation from both cities," Sanders said.
The combined department is currently operating without a fire chief after the resignation of former chief Jim Krohse on April 21. Krohse was placed on administrative leave April 4 for unspecified reasons.
The cities have posted a job description, and applications are due by the end of the month, Sanders said. The listed salary is $90,443 to $131,143.