Lindon, Pleasant Grove to study public-safety district

LINDON — Lindon and Pleasant Grove have agreed to conduct a feasibility study on the potential creation of a public-safety district in which both cities would have an equal say in the governing of fire, police, and emergency-medical services.

For more than 30 years, Lindon has contracted with Pleasant Grove, paying a fee for use of its emergency services. Lindon has not had any actual control over the agencies providing service.

With increasing emergency-services costs and a growing population — census records indicate Lindon grew 119.04 percent between 1990 and 2000, making it one of the fastest growing cities in Utah — Lindon wants a more substantial piece of the pie.

During the 2005-2006 fiscal year, Lindon paid more than $1.1 million for emergency services and have proposed spending about $1.4 million for 2006-2007 — all without control over how it was utilized.

So when the Pleasant Grove City Council approached Lindon officials about the possibility of a emergency services district, Lindon council members were very interested.

"When you put a lot of money into a project like that as a city, you generally like to see something tangible come out of it," said Lindon Councilman Toby Bath. "They've done a good job for us, and we've worked well with them, but that's a lot of money for a police station you have no say over. We felt like we needed more input. This will give us a little more say on what goes on."

The study will look at the feasibility of creating the new public-safety district, Bath said, including, whether a new district is really needed.

It will also look at the possibility of combining just some of the emergency systems rather than all three — fire, EMS and police services — into one.

"It all depends on what the feasibility study says," said Frank Mills, Pleasant Grove city manager. "If it says, 'Hey, listen, it makes sense to do it with the police, but not the fire and ambulance, ' then obviously we're going to have to take a good hard look at that. Maybe we're going to have to make some changes to make it work."

If they decided to form a district, both cities would pay a percentage of the overall costs, based on their populations.

That means for now, Pleasant Grove, at 23,468 residents, would still foot the lion's share of the bill since it's population is more than double Lindon's, which the 2000 Census says is 8,363.

The district would be governed by a new, separate body made up of members from both cities.