Sammamish opposes change to EFR
September 23, 2008
By Ari Cetron
Officials discuss amending agreement to allow trail period more easily
Changes seem unlikely to the structure of Eastside Fire & Rescue, but that won’t stop the board from talking about it.
The EFR Board of Directors on Sept. 9 decided to delay consideration of a change to the agreement that governs the partnership, but one member signaled that ultimate approval of any changes is not in the cards.
The board is made up of members from the cities of Sammamish, Issaquah, North Bend, and fire districts 10 and 38 in unincorporated King County. Under the group’s current charter, formally known as an Interlocal Agreement, a new partner may only be added by the unanimous consent of all members — each City Council and fire district must approve the addition.
Some board members proposed amending that policy to allow for a three-year membership, essentially a trial period. The trial membership would be allowed with a vote of a majority of the board plus one — a supermajority. It would only need to be approved by the EFR board, cutting out the various city councils.
But that proposed change is dead on arrival, said Lee Fellinge, vice-chair of the board and mayor of Sammamish.
“Sammamish will not support any change,” he said.
Fellinge said he feared that this new procedure would be a back door to allow expansion of the partnership. He said it would be unlikely to cut out a group after a trial period.
He also said that the trial period is something that could be done under the existing agreement, making any change unnecessary.
He went a step further and said the board should simply drop the discussion altogether. He noted that EFR staff was complaining about a high workload, and wondered why they should spend their time on a resolution that is destined to fail.
“It seems like we’re adding work to our staff that’s not going to be fruitful,” he said.
He said that EFR officials and board members have spent too much time discussing things like expanding the partnership, when they should have been addressing issues of how to improve the department.
For the past few months, discussions have swirled around possibly adding new members to EFR.
Sammamish has consistently opposed the proposals, saying that adding the new areas would cost Sammamish taxpayers more money but they would see no increase in services.
EFR officials dispute that conclusion.
EFR Chief Lee Soptich bristled at Fellinge’s opposition. He said that without a previous change to the agreement, Sammamish itself would not be a member of the group. He urged Fellinge to be more open to the idea.
“I think it’s short-sighted,” Soptich said. “Why not explore it?”
The board discussed changing the proposed amendment to make the trial period subject to a unanimous vote, as well. Fellinge said Sammamish would not likely support that, either.
The board directed EFR staff to come back with the revised proposal, anyway.
“Sammamish hasn’t seen the language we’re proposing,” said Ron Pedee, the board chair, who acknowledged he hadn’t read the proposed amendment very carefully. “Maybe we’ll surprise ourselves.”
Editor Ari Cetron can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 233 or samrev@isspress.com.
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