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Sammamish officials oppose new fire authority
June 23, 2009
By J.B. Wogan
By J.B. Wogan
Higher taxes, less direct contact with the governing body and less say in how the body operates — those were some of the issues that caused residents in Sammamish to form its own city 10 years ago. And yet, fire protection advocates are now pushing for a regional fire protection agency model that might result in everything Sammamish residents sought to avoid.
Two partners of Eastside Fire & Rescue, which includes Sammamish, are exploring the option of forming a regional fire authority with an independent taxing authority.
The city is outside the borders of those partners — Fire Districts 10 and 38. Sammamish officials say they want no part of such an entity.
“We haven’t seen any information that it’s going to improve the quality of service for our residents,” Sammamish City Councilman Jack Barry said. Barry sits on the Eastside Fire & Rescue board of directors as one of two Sammamish representatives.
“The only thing we hear, at best, is that bigger is better. We don’t necessarily subscribe to that,” Barry said.
“The argument that they use is that they can be more efficient and that they can share resources better,” Sammamish City Councilman Lee Fellinge said. Fellinge is Sammamish’s other representative on EFR’s board of directors. “You can accomplish the same thing through cooperative agreements.”
Fellinge added that he is leery of potential conflict-of-interest situations in a regional fire authority.
“The quality of the governance tends not to be as good. What you get as a governing body is firefighters. There’s nothing wrong with firefighters, but there’s a conflict of interest,” Fellinge said, adding that firefighters in governing roles would have the dubious responsibility of approving salaries for themselves and their peers.
“It wouldn’t matter if you were setting that up for fire or any other service that you can imagine,” Fellinge said.
At the June 9 board of directors meeting, Fellinge reiterated to his fellow board members that Sammamish is not interested in becoming part of a regional fire authority or any other kind of expanded fire agency.
Formal partnerships and the formation of a regional fire authority are different from mutual aid agreements, which EFR currently has in place with surrounding fire agencies such as the Fall City and Snoqualmie Pass fire departments. EFR Fire Chief Lee Soptich reported to the board of directors June 9 that he is also pursuing an equipment-sharing arrangement with Mercer Island City Fire Department.
“Sammamish taxpayers would see a significant increase in cost of fire service without an added benefit in coverage,” Fellinge said. “It would be unfair to our taxpayers.”
Regardless of Sammamish’s position, the idea of a regional fire authority is picking up traction in nearby areas.
Elected members of fire commissions in Fire Districts 10 and 38 have voted to form a planning committee July 15 that will develop a proposed fire authority, with the possible inclusion of Snoqualmie Pass, Issaquah, Woodinville and other local fire districts not associated with cities.
Supporters say regional fire authorities are supposed to enable multiple fire departments in adjoining areas to make joint decisions that cut costs while providing equal or better service for the overall area, according to EFR Deputy Fire Chief Jeff Griffin.
Eric Robertson said the theory works. Robertson is the administrator of the Valley Regional Fire Authority, which combined the Auburn, Algona and Pacific fire departments with the Fire District 31 in January 2007.
“The first two years of our existence, it has provided a reliable, flexible funding source to meet our demands. Across the board, the average taxpayer saw just a very slight increase,” Robertson said.
Rick Gaines, who used to sit on the EFR board of directors and is the chair of the District 10 Fire Commission, said forming a regional fire authority would help build new fire stations. A regional fire authority could spread the cost across a wider taxpayer base, he said.
Under the EFR structure, individual partners must go to their individual taxpayers to pay for major capital expenses like a new fire station. So, while service might be borderless, funding is cordoned off to individual taxpayer bases. A recent example was the November bond passed by Issaquah voters for a new fire station. While the fire station might have had benefits to all of EFR’s partners, Issaquah residents had to pay for it.
Issaquah City Councilman Dave Kappler, one of Issaquah’s representatives on the EFR Board of Directors, said he liked the concept of a regional fire authority enough to explore the option, but he has some reservations about how it will work in practice.
“I’ve been skeptical about them, mostly on the funding model,” Kappler said.
Meanwhile EFR administrative staff is trying to appear neutral on the issue. EFR staff might attend meetings about forming a regional fire authority, but the administration has no official position on regional fire authorities, Deputy Griffin said. If partners like Sammamish wanted to join a regional fire authority, the individual city council or fire commission would have to take a formal vote to participate.
Reporter J.B. Wogan can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 247, or jbwogan@isspress.com. To comment on this story, visit www.SammamishReview.com.
Higher taxes, less direct contact with the governing body and less say in how the body operates — those were some of the issues that caused residents in Sammamish to form its own city 10 years ago. And yet, fire protection advocates are now pushing for a regional fire protection agency model that might result in everything Sammamish residents sought to avoid.
Two partners of Eastside Fire & Rescue, which includes Sammamish, are exploring the option of forming a regional fire authority with an independent taxing authority.
The city is outside the borders of those partners — Fire Districts 10 and 38. Sammamish officials say they want no part of such an entity.
“We haven’t seen any information that it’s going to improve the quality of service for our residents,” Sammamish City Councilman Jack Barry said. Barry sits on the Eastside Fire & Rescue board of directors as one of two Sammamish representatives.
“The only thing we hear, at best, is that bigger is better. We don’t necessarily subscribe to that,” Barry said.
“The argument that they use is that they can be more efficient and that they can share resources better,” Sammamish City Councilman Lee Fellinge said. Fellinge is Sammamish’s other representative on EFR’s board of directors. “You can accomplish the same thing through cooperative agreements.”
Fellinge added that he is leery of potential conflict-of-interest situations in a regional fire authority.
“The quality of the governance tends not to be as good. What you get as a governing body is firefighters. There’s nothing wrong with firefighters, but there’s a conflict of interest,” Fellinge said, adding that firefighters in governing roles would have the dubious responsibility of approving salaries for themselves and their peers.
“It wouldn’t matter if you were setting that up for fire or any other service that you can imagine,” Fellinge said.
At the June 9 board of directors meeting, Fellinge reiterated to his fellow board members that Sammamish is not interested in becoming part of a regional fire authority or any other kind of expanded fire agency.
Formal partnerships and the formation of a regional fire authority are different from mutual aid agreements, which EFR currently has in place with surrounding fire agencies such as the Fall City and Snoqualmie Pass fire departments. EFR Fire Chief Lee Soptich reported to the board of directors June 9 that he is also pursuing an equipment-sharing arrangement with Mercer Island City Fire Department.
“Sammamish taxpayers would see a significant increase in cost of fire service without an added benefit in coverage,” Fellinge said. “It would be unfair to our taxpayers.”
Regardless of Sammamish’s position, the idea of a regional fire authority is picking up traction in nearby areas.
Elected members of fire commissions in Fire Districts 10 and 38 have voted to form a planning committee July 15 that will develop a proposed fire authority, with the possible inclusion of Snoqualmie Pass, Issaquah, Woodinville and other local fire districts not associated with cities.
Supporters say regional fire authorities are supposed to enable multiple fire departments in adjoining areas to make joint decisions that cut costs while providing equal or better service for the overall area, according to EFR Deputy Fire Chief Jeff Griffin.
Eric Robertson said the theory works. Robertson is the administrator of the Valley Regional Fire Authority, which combined the Auburn, Algona and Pacific fire departments with the Fire District 31 in January 2007.
“The first two years of our existence, it has provided a reliable, flexible funding source to meet our demands. Across the board, the average taxpayer saw just a very slight increase,” Robertson said.
Rick Gaines, who used to sit on the EFR board of directors and is the chair of the District 10 Fire Commission, said forming a regional fire authority would help build new fire stations. A regional fire authority could spread the cost across a wider taxpayer base, he said.
Under the EFR structure, individual partners must go to their individual taxpayers to pay for major capital expenses like a new fire station. So, while service might be borderless, funding is cordoned off to individual taxpayer bases. A recent example was the November bond passed by Issaquah voters for a new fire station. While the fire station might have had benefits to all of EFR’s partners, Issaquah residents had to pay for it.
Issaquah City Councilman Dave Kappler, one of Issaquah’s representatives on the EFR Board of Directors, said he liked the concept of a regional fire authority enough to explore the option, but he has some reservations about how it will work in practice.
“I’ve been skeptical about them, mostly on the funding model,” Kappler said.
Meanwhile EFR administrative staff is trying to appear neutral on the issue. EFR staff might attend meetings about forming a regional fire authority, but the administration has no official position on regional fire authorities, Deputy Griffin said. If partners like Sammamish wanted to join a regional fire authority, the individual city council or fire commission would have to take a formal vote to participate.
Reporter J.B. Wogan can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 247, or jbwogan@isspress.com.
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