Letter from Dunn Township Supervisor Mike Johnson

I’ve been asked to share my thoughts on the fact that Detroit Lakes has recently announced that it won’t provide Dunn the option of using their fire department for fire service.

As elected township supervisors, the Dunn town board is directed to serve the wishes of the majority of the residents and tax payers of their township. Back in March, 2006 a vote of Dunn residents told the board that they should not support the proposed new fire hall. As a result of that vote, the Dunn town board attempted to find options for Dunn, and had hoped to provide information so that our property owners could give direction as to what option they would prefer regarding fire service.

There have been several developments since that vote. The proposed cost of the fire hall, for Dunn, has come down. We have also discovered that property insurance for some residents will increase. It has come to light that the DL and PR fire departments do not have a working Automatic Mutual Aid agreement to better protect part of Dunn township. And only in late February did we know that the cost of service for DL versus Pel Rapids would be roughly the same.

All of this information would help the property owners make an informed decision to guide their elected township supervisors regarding fire service. The very foundation of our government is to provide information, and then offer options so that a majority can make an informed choice and let the majority rule. That is exactly what the Dunn town supervisor’s attempted to do, and they had pledged to follow the wishes of the people of Dunn. Unfortunately, there have been a vocal few that prefer to not join in this process. I’ve read that these same people say that the majority of the people of Dunn support the new fire hall in Pelican Rapids. Yet they have done everything in their power to ensure that we won’t have the chance to find out. The Dunn supervisors were gathering information for an advisory vote. These vocal few refused to let a vote be held. There is a high road and a low road. You can determine who has traveled each.

I would urge all property owners and residents to come to our open meetings. Join in the process, and if a vote doesn’t go the way you would like, accept the vote of the majority instead of undermining the process. As a Dunn supervisor, I feel that we have listened to our people and we have spent an enormous amount of time and energy trying to gather information, inform our voters, and move the democratic process along. Once again, our monthly township meetings are open to the public. Come out and join in the process and we will continue to serve the wishes of the majority of our people to the best of our ability.

Mike Johnson, Dunn Township