WHITE SALMON — The planning committee appointed to evaluate a plan to bring the White Salmon Fire Department and Klickitat County Fire District No. 3 into a single entity called the West Klickitat Regional Fire Authority (WKRFA) delayed a vote on the final plan over concerns that the process has been rushed.
The proposal to create the WKRFA must first be approved by the planning committee, then later a joint session of White Salmon city councilors and Fire District No. 3 commissioners, and finally by voters within the combined districts of the two entities.
The RFA planning committee met last Monday, May 8 and Wednesday, May 10 to resolve concerns over the proposed funding apparatus that would determine the RFA’s revenue.
If the concerns were resolved and the final plan approved, the committee would have been on target to place the measure on the August primary election ballot. With the delay, committee members are targeting the November election to bring the proposal to voters.
At the May 8 meeting, KCFD3 Fire Chief Wes Long presented two options to fund the regional fire authority. Option 1 would levy taxpayers at a rate of $.69 per $1,000 of assessed value, while option 2 would levy taxpayers at a rate of $1.05.
It was revealed at the May 8 meeting during discussion that while voters would vote for either of the two figures, the rate could be increased by a simple vote of the committee to a maximum $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed value. Additionally, committee members agreed to include an additional $0.07 per $1,000 of assessed value to reserve for an equipment and facility replacement fund.
The committee agreed upon a final rate of $0.76 per $1,000 but delayed a vote on the final plan until the May 10 meeting.
Mayor Marla Keethler told the committee on May 10 that a meeting with volunteer firefighters concluded that the process has been rushed.
“We undertook a very aggressive schedule in an attempt to meet this August target. I would be remiss if I said that there is not some serious concern being brought forward by some of our volunteer firefighters that this is indeed perhaps too rushed of a timeline to have the right people at the table to fully review both for the entities that want to form this, that all interests and concerns had been vetted, reviewed, and flushed out,” Keethler said.
Keethler added that there is a general support for combining the two entities, and that delaying the process could benefit the RFA moving forward.
City Councilor Jim Ransier, who sits on the RFA planning committee, said there are multiple benefits to combining the entities, especially in terms of funding and volunteer recruitment, retention, and training. He called for resetting the target for the November election.
“We need the extra time for volunteers and the community to support the proposal,” Ransier said.
Karl Swanson, a volunteer firefighter with the city, said he is in support of the RFA in principle. But some parts of the proposal gave him pause.
“We were led to believe we would take part in the process as I understood it, as did others, and we were not fundamental parts of the process,” he said. “Time, I think is what is needed, not to upend, but to make the product something that everyone can get behind, as we are all behind the service of the fire department, service to the city, as well as to the district.”
Committee members will take the additional time to collect feedback and consultation, especially from volunteers.
Keethler said communication needs to happen with the public further to create public input. With the short timeline, she said, “I’m not surprised we haven’t had a lot of input.”
District Commissioner Tom Montag voiced frustration since the idea to merge the two fire departments has been worked on since 2013. “When we started this process, we said this is not sustainable for both these fire departments being separate,” Montag said.
At the May 8 meeting, discussion revealed that a $0.69 per $1,000 levy rate would increase the total amount of revenue between the two districts by more than $350,000.
With the vote delayed, future meetings will continue to iron out the details of the RFA plan.
Commented