To expand or not to expand?

The Board of Directors for Eastside Fire & Rescue wrestled with that issue at their monthly meeting on Tuesday.

Officials from District 27 expressed interest in joining the EF&R consortium to help improve their service, and enable them to move to a three-man crew at their station.

A preliminary study was undertaken to determine whether the district, which serves Falls City, would be a good addition to EF&R.

The board members had some reservations about proceeding, saying they want to be sure that the residents of Fall City were supportive of the move and that District 27 could pay for itself without burdening the other partners in EF&R.

Administrators recommended that the board approve another 100 hours of the chief and staff members’ time to further look into the proposal.

However, several board directors worried that the time might be wasted if they decided not to go ahead with the incorporation, and they didn’t want to add to Chief Lee Soptich’s plate.

“We do have a huge workload,” Soptich admitted. “But this is our workload. You didn’t add this to our plate, you served it. This is part of the efficiency goal. This is goal No. 9.” (Soptich was referring to goals made by the directors earlier this year.)

In the end, most of the concerns boiled down to financial questions, with board members, especially those representing Sammamish, expressing worries about how District 27 could afford the cost of moving into EF&R.

The city of Sammamish ran some numbers that put District 27 at several hundred thousand dollars below what it would cost to incorporate, meaning the other cities in EF&R might have to pick up some of the tab. Fire staff, however, disagreed.

“With all due respect,” Soptich began. “They have spent a week, and we have spent seven months.”

Soptich said that there is more to the equation than just the preliminary numbers, including the fact that by adding another partner, both Issaquah’s and Sammamish’s cost per station would go down, as much as $95,000 per station according to some very early estimates by the fire department staff.

The move would also fill the vacancy of another battalion chief, which the department has faced for a while now, as well as other benefits in operations, staff said.

In the end, the board of directors did agree to authorize more man hours studying the proposal, but only the financial aspect. The board will look at the situation again once more in-depth numbers are presented.

“If it’s going to cost a little more but operations will improve then I am willing to pay a little more,” said Director Dee Williamson, who represents North Bend.

The board will meet next for a study session on Nov. 5. For more information about EF&R, visit www.eastsidefire-rescue.org/.