August 1, 2004

Dear Oto Township Resident,

This letter comes to you as a result of the Oto Township Trustees failure to provide fire protection to the residents in the unincorporated areas of Oto Township .  The City of Danbury who owns the Danbury Fire Department has been providing fire protection to the residents in the Eastern part of Oto Township .  Previously, fire protection between Cities and Townships has always been a verbal contract.  However, the State of Iowa passed Iowa Code Chapter 28E.32 in 2000 which states:

“A municipality that agrees to provide fire protection service or emergency medical service for another municipality shall do so in writing.”

This means that if the Danbury Fire Department or any fire department is going to provide fire protection to the residents in Oto Township , it must be done in the form of a fire protection agreement between the City of Danbury and the Oto Township Trustees.

The City tried to pursue an agreement back when the law was passed, but was unsuccessful.  The City is now demanding the contract with Oto Township for several reasons.  The primary reason is that the City was recently informed that unless there is a signed contract on file with the City’s insurer, that the fire departments insurance in null and void once if the fire department responds to a call in Oto Township .  What this means is that if there was to be an accident such as a firefighter being injured or a fire truck involved in an auto accident is that City’s insurer will come after both Oto Township and the property owner of whom the fire department is responding to.

The additional reason is that of the federal death benefits.  In the unfortunate event that a firefighter was fatally injured while performing fire suppression activities or any other emergency service in the township, the firefighter’s family would be denied all benefits from the Federal Government. This currently amounts to $367,000 that the firefighter’s family would be denied because your governing body has failed to govern themselves according to Iowa Law.

Additionally, the funding that Oto Township has been providing to the City of Danbury is considered to be inadequate.  The costs to effectively run a fire department have increased substantially while funding has not.  The City of Danbury is currently receiving $700.00 a year for fire protection of 10 square miles of Oto Township which amounts to $70.00 per section. This figure does not compare to surrounding township.  Morgan Township which is directly North of Danbury is paying $310.00 per section and Liston Township which includes the unincorporated areas surrounding Danbury is paying $210.00 per section and they are also paying $145.00 a section for Emergency Medical Services.  Below is table of the levy amounts for Oto Township and the surrounding townships.  The maximum levy is $0.6075 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.

This table clearly shows that the City of Danbury and surrounding townships are and have been subsidizing the costs for fire protection to the residents of Oto Township . The same could be said for the Oto Fire Department in that their department and surrounding townships are also subsidizing the Oto Township . The levy’s for this fiscal year have been set and can’t be changed. However, the City of Danbury will be asking for increased funding in the next fiscal year to bring Oto Township in line with surrounding townships.

Finally, if the Oto Township Trustees fail to sign a contract with the City of Danbury by August 16, 2004 , the City of Danbury will ask the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors to take over for the Oto Township Trustees. Iowa Code Section 331.385 states the following:

“A county may, by resolution, assume the exercise of the powers and duties of township trustees relating to fire protection service and emergency medical service for any township located in the unincorporated area of the county.”

This process has been going on since January and the time has come where something must be done. The City of Danbury and the Danbury Fire Department are doing what we legally have to do.  We ask you to contact your township trustees and urge them to sign a contract with the Danbury Fire Department by August 16^th to prevent any further action.  We have attached the letter that was sent to the Oto Township Trustees for your review.  The names of your elected trustees are all listed in the letter.