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The former Twin Lakes fire chief said Thursday there has been no misuse of money in the relief association fund that was set up to provide a pension to retiring firefighters who have worked for the city.

Steve Soper said the fund has been managed by a small group of firefighters in the department, and there was a formula in place that determined how much firefighters would be paid upon retirement. After five years, a firefighter would be vested at 40%, and that would increase each year until after 20 years, when the individual would be fully vested.

Janel Heideman, who advocated for a Twin Lakes Fire Department during the special Twin Lakes meeting Wednesday night, made allegations about the fund, and said an investigation is underway with the state auditor.

Soper said issues surrounding the future of the fire department and the relief association fund are separate and should be dealt with as such.

He estimated that he left the department at the beginning of the year after there were people being brought in as recruits that he didn’t agree with. He decided he wanted to retire, and no one else wanted to be chief, so the department folded.

Initially, he said, the city asked the firefighters if they would stay on and help a little longer, and after some time that ended and ultimately the city began contracting with Emmons for fire service.

Soper said the former firefighters have since been looking to close out the fund.

Between those who were on the department, they had about 200 years put in of experience, he said. The firefighters ranged in service from five years all the way up to 23 years.

He said everything they were doing with the fund was in line with state guidelines, but they have still not been able to receive the funds they earned because the fund is being tied up by Heideman, who previously worked as an Albert Lea paid on-call firefighter for three years and as an EMT for Mayo Clinic Ambulance, and who now hopes to be a firefighter in Twin Lakes.

“We would like to pay ourselves off, but she is standing in the way,” Soper said.

“I’d just like this to be done. I’d like to move on. It’s been very stressful for everybody involved.”

When asked what he thinks should happen to the department in the future, he said he thinks the city would be best served by going with a department outside of the city and disbanding the Twin Lakes Fire Department.

He cited faster response from the neighboring agencies because of jobs that make it difficult to respond in a timely manner. He also referenced a shrinking community without many of the amenities it used to enjoy, including a school, lumber yard, grocery store, power plant, gas station, bank and others.

The Twin Lakes City Council ultimately will decide in December whether to have its own fire department or to contract out with Albert Lea or Emmons.

 

Related story:

Twin Lakes considering future of fire department, whether to contract out for services