After waiting for more than three hours at the Sammamish city council meeting on Tuesday night, community members were relieved to finally hear city manager Ben Yazici’s proposal to the council, which was to remain partners with Eastside Fire and Rescue.
“Considering how much public scrutiny this issue has received over the past year and a half, I don’t think you have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what the recommendation was going to be,” Yazici said. “I am happy to report to you tonight that we have made very substantial progress.”
An ad-hoc committee was recently created to make progress on the issue. The committee includes Sammamish City Council member Don Gerend, Issaquah City Administrator Bob Harrison, Fire Commissioner Michael Fette from District 10, Chris Dahline from District 38 and Allen Gothelf from North Bend. They’ve only met twice — Nov. 2 and 4, but the committee did work out a suggested funding formula that they unanimously agreed to present to their respective agencies.
This proposal was presented to the Sammamish city council Tuesday night and is based on an 85/15 funding model for all five EFR partners–a total of nine fire stations. Under this plan, 85 percent of cost would be based on assessed value and 15 percent would be based on calls. However, 25 percent of the operating costs for fire station 81 in Pine Lake and station 72 by the Issaquah park and ride will be spread evenly throughout the partnership. The model would save the city of Sammamish approximately $412,000 annually after the first year. Although the estimated savings under the original plan was $491,000, Sammamish city council members said they are happy with the new proposal.
Although everything will need to be formalized and approved by all the partners, Yazici said the ad-hoc committee’s proposal comes very close to meeting Sammamish’s cost-reduction goals and therefore his recommendation is for Sammamish to remain in EFR.
“There’s no reason we need to spend days, weeks, months on this thing,” said Yazici. “Let’s get it done.”
In order to move forward with the ad-hoc committee’s proposal, King County Fire District 10, District 38 and Issaquah have to approve the funding model by Dec. 15. North Bend has already signed on, and as the smallest station it is taking the biggest hit financially.
While Yazici supported the proposal, he also made it clear that his recommendation is conditional and ultimately dependent on the EFR partners.
“We’re not the bad guys here,” said councilmen John James. “We’re trying to bend over backwards and make something work. The other partners are the ones, perhaps, they (the public) need to focus their efforts on.”
Jon Wiseman, president of Eastside Fire Fighters, Local 2878, urged the Sammamish city council to take action and delay their Nov. 12 vote. Wiseman ensured the council that after the Issaquah city council meeting, he believed an agreement could be made. According to analysis presented by the Sammamish council, the new plan would end up saving Issaquah money as well.
At Monday night’s regular city council meeting in Issaquah, Wiseman asked the Issaquah city council to support the union’s offer to contribute $10,000 toward mediation between Issaquah and Sammamish to find a solution to the funding formula for the partners in Eastside Fire and Rescue.
“Issaquah does not want to see Sammamish drop out of EFR,” said Fred Butler, Issaquah city council president. He said that if they cannot come up with an agreed-upon funding model, the city of Issaquah will accept the offer to mediate.
Issaquah Mayor Ava Frisinger emphasized that they adopted a review process and plan to take action on Nov. 12 at a special work study meeting at 6:30 p.m. in council chambers.
The city’s website says that Issaquah is committed to the partnership.
Sammamish council members said they didn’t think mediation was necessary at this point, with the substantial progress recently being made. However they were thankful to the union for the offer, and assured them that if it got to the point where mediation was needed, they would take the union up on the offer.
“I want you guys (the community) to realize this is a great offer for Issaquah. They should take it and you guys should encourage them to take it,” said Sammamish councilmen John Curley.
Yazici said that after the funding model is approved by all parties, of which the deadline is Dec. 15, the binding interlocal agreement must also be agreed upon by all five partners. If the partners do not agree and sign off by Jan. 14, Sammamish will give notice to leave EFR. And in case things don’t end up working out, Sammamish is including $2 million in their 2014 budget to begin starting their own fire department.
“We’ve been at this for almost two years now,” said Sammamish Mayor Tom Odell. “It was only when we threatened to leave (EFR) that people started taking this seriously…we’re not bluffing.”
The official vote to stay with EFR per Yazici’s recommendation will occur on Tuesday, Nov. 12.
Staff writer Linda Ball contributed to this report
