LINO LAKES, Minn. – (June 4, 2015) -After nearly a year of petitions and lawsuits, it appears that legal challenges faced by the Lino Lakes fire service have reached an end. This week, the Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed the decision made in the district court, which said that the city wasn’t wrong when they rejected a citizen petition calling for a public vote before Lino Lakes would withdraw from the Centennial Fire District.
Lino Lakes City Administrator, Jeff Karlson, stated, “We’re pleased with the decision. It went down exactly the way our legal council explained it to us- that the council acted responsibly in rejecting the petition. It was an administrative decision, not a legislative act.”
The issue boiled down to which actions of the city council are challengeable by the residents under their city charter. With this issue in the past, Lino Lakes can dedicate their focus to getting the department ready for operations.
Karlson confirmed, “We’re simply going to carry on as we have… We’re building a fire station right now. We recruited firefighters, both full-time police staff and paid on call firefighters. We’re going to have at least 42 by December.”
The city plans to have their fire services ready go by January 1.
