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Lexington council approves fire and rescue services agreement with SBM Fire Department
Summary
The Lexington City Council voted 5-0 on June 4 to contract with the Spring Lake Park–Blaine–Moundsview (SBM) Fire Department for fire and rescue services. The decision followed council debate about tax impacts and drew critical public comment from local residents.
LEXINGTON — The Lexington City Council voted unanimously on June 4 to approve a Fire and Rescue Services Agreement with the Spring Lake Park–Blaine–Moundsview (SBM) Fire Department, moving the town to receive fire and rescue coverage from the regional department.
Councilmember Winge moved to approve the contract and Councilmember DeVries seconded; the roll call vote was DeVries — yes; Mahr — yes; Winge — yes; Hunt — yes; Murphy — yes. The motion carried 5-0.
Why it matters: Council and residents framed the decision as a tradeoff between preserving a local volunteer department and limiting tax increases. Councilmember DeVries, who said he served on the Lexington Fire Department for 40 years, said he fought against dissolving the local department but supported the contract “looking out for the taxpayers and the services that are provided to them.” Councilmember Winge said he did not want his taxes to rise “30–40%” to sustain the town department.
Public comment before the vote included several residents who urged the council to maintain local firefighting capacity. Heidi Haakinson told the council that Lexington Fire Officers had accepted a flight on a private jet to Atlanta to view a vendor’s apparatus and said the trip “saved taxpayers money.” Linda Pitchford, whose husband is a retired Lexington firefighter, said she did not understand why the council appeared to be "getting rid of the fire department." Diane Harris said, “If our fire chief hadn’t been fired, we wouldn’t be in this situation,” attributing the change in part to recent personnel decisions; Councilmembers noted personnel matters could not be discussed in open session.
Councilmember Mahr acknowledged the difficulty of the choice and noted legal protections around personnel, saying Chief Mohler had already discussed the fire department budget with council last summer. Mayor Murphy said he was sorry the council had to make the decision and asked that the city find a way to preserve the department’s history.
Contract details, including term length, cost to Lexington, staffing levels and transition timeline, were not specified on the record during the June 4 meeting. The council recorded only that it approved a services agreement with the regional SBM department; implementation tasks (such as equipment transfers, station access, and staffing changes) were not detailed and remain to be finalized.
The council took no separate vote on dissolving any local entity; the recorded action at the June 4 meeting was approval of the services agreement. The council adjourned at 7:43 p.m.
