NEWS

EAST PIERCE FD REJECTS ORTING FD BID TO ANNEX

By: Barbara Hansen September 1, 2009

Fire District 18 will not be annexing with East Pierce Fire Protection District, at least not in the near future.

In a letter read into the record at last night's Fire Commission 18 meeting, East Pierce commissioners stated their district does not have the capacity to serve an additional 20,000 residents such a merger would entail. Recently, East Pierce began serving two other districts – Fire District 8 and the City of Milton.

“Since the signing of the agreements, staff has been extremely busy formulating immediate interim administration responsibilities and response capability plans,” the letter stated.

In addition, East Pierce expects two senior staff members to retire in the near future, as well as preparing to undergo a five-year strategic plan.

“This is the hardest letter I have ever had to read to anybody,” said Russ Kuss, chair of the East Pierce Board of Commissioners. “I wish it could be different.”

“We don't pass up opportunities lightly,” said East Pierce Assistant Chief John McDonald, who complimented fire fighters for “working their tails off” and stated East Pierce just didn't want to enter into another agreement “unless we could give you all you should expect.”

City of Orting, FD 18 and Graham Fire Department plan a special meeting for sometime mid-September to discuss contracting with Graham for administrative services. The contract with Interim Chief David Wakefield ends September 30 but could be extended until another provider is found.

In other business, Wakefield reported that although 68 percent of voters in the August primary election approved District 18's proposition to continue the Emergency Medical Services levy of 50-cents per $1,000 assessed valuation, it appears that not enough voters turned out to validate the election. The measure was approximately 80 votes shy of the 758 yes votes needed to approve. (The official election verification is at 4:30 p.m. today, September 2.) The levy gets one more chance on the general election ballot Nov. 3.

The City of Orting passed its EMS levy in 2008. Only residents who live in the unincorporated parts of the Fire District have yet to approve the levy. If it fails, FD 18 will be in the unusual predicament of having to provide EMS services to the City of Orting while it is not funded to provide the same services to fire district residents living outside the city limits.

Five fire fighters passed their one-year probation period and tests for their positions. Those passing probation are paramedic and fire fighter Jacob Flick and fire fighters Angela Kotcher, D.J. Segobia, Jennifer Staley and Jacob Weigley.

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