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Fire district pulls the plug on North Whatcom Fire & Rescue

by Meg Olson

Whatcom County Council hastily appointed former fire chief David Gellatly to one of the two vacant commissioner positions on the board of fire district #5, and he and remaining commissioner Bill Meursing wasted no time altering the department’s course. The pair’s first move was to yank the district out from under the North Whatcom Fire and Rescue Services umbrella, followed by scrambling to face the consequences of the breakup.

Gellatly, who received 76 votes as a write-in candidate running against Jesse Lofquist in the November election wound up in Lofquist’s chair after the latter’s resignation. At their December 9 meeting county council opted not to wait another meeting to fill the vacancy and appointed Gellatly, the only candidate who had come forward for the job.

County council’s quick action meant the district board could meet for their regular meeting December 11, since Meursing could have taken no action alone. The two commissioners motored through an agenda loaded with big changes. “We’re at a little bit of a crossroads here,” Meursing said. “Hopefully we’ll get organized sooner rather than later.”

North Whatcom Fire and Rescue Services administrative staff was absent at the meeting, which Meursing said was by mutual understanding. “I said you don’t have to be here, they didn’t particularly seem to want to,” he said.

Making Do With Less
Commissioners voted to take the one-percent tax increase allowed them by law without voter approval. “It gives us an additional $1,978 in 2004,” Meursing said. The fire department will have approximately $200,000 in tax revenue next year. Commissioners pledged to develop a budget that does not exceed taxes collected, which would preclude merging with the higher taxing districts in NWFRS. “Our budget will not exceed the dollars we bring in from taxes, and we will not dip into reserves,” Gellatly said. The department has used reserve dollars to balance the budget for the last two years, spending $301,000 in 2002 and $274,000 in 2003.

Gellatly added that the department would provide the level of service the taxation level can pay for. “If people within the community want to speak to us at another time about providing us with more dollars we can talk about increasing the levy down the road.”

Quitting North Whatcom
“This budget will completely reflect the direction we would like to go,” Meursing said. “On November 4 the public overwhelmingly decided against the 66 cent increase in the fire levy. To me that was a clear indication, because it essentially goes hand in hand, that the public wanted district #5 to separate from NWFRS, but you just don’t take a pair of scissors and go poof like that.” Meursing said commissioners would need to meet more often to tackle everything from getting their own insurance and legal representation to forming a new department administrative structure. “We don’t want to be without what we need as a fire department.”

Gellatly was optimistic the department would thrive on its own. “I don’t think it’s a secret I’m not satisfied with our relationship with NWFRS,” he said. “I believe we can work with NWFRS, in a limited capacity but being a full partner is beyond what Point Roberts requires.” He added he was committed to reversing a trend away from self-sufficiency. ”I was personally surprised at the extent the commissioners of this fire district had given up control of the administration,” he said. “When it comes to the administration of this fire district it’s a simple straightforward matter that seems to have become very complicated by a large bureaucracy.”

The commissioners approved a motion for Gellatly to “enter into negotiations to sever our partnership with NWFRS by January 15, 2004.”

An Emotional Stand?
While their fellow NWFRS commissioners didn’t think much of the move, they didn’t stand in their way. “I don’t think you’ve done your homework here,” fire district #13 commissioner Butch Hinchey said at the December 15 meeting of the NWFRS board in Point Roberts. “I think you’re making more of an emotional stand than a logical one. I don’t think you’ll be able to fund the same level of fire service on your own.”

NWFRS board president Rich Bosman asked why district 5 would not consider staying in NWFRS until the end of 2004, when the interlocal agreement’s trial period expires, to insure a less abrupt and more orderly transition. “Once you start talking about divorce, it’s best to just go,” Meursing said.

Consequences…
NWFRS administrator David Crossen said the separation would be harder on district #5 than on the remaining partners. “There are some immediate effects and some big ones,” he said, “one of which is the finances of the Wellness Clinic.” The medical clinic, the only one of its kind in the state, is sponsored by district #5 and funded through a federal grant, but NWFRS runs the books under stringent federal requirements that district #5 is not set up to meet, Crossen explained. Gellatly asked if they could contract with NWFRS to continue to provide that and perhaps some other administrative services. “We do wish to withdraw but we want to make sure this essential service is maintained in Point Roberts,” he said. Commissioners from the other district did not appear enthusiastic about the proposal. “You can’t have it both ways,” said district #13 commissioner Bill Salter. “On the one hand you want to get rid of us and on the other you want us to help you.” Salter added if district #5 wanted out, they might as well go now and suggested a termination date no later than the end of the year.

The NWFRS board members voted unanimously to take an amendment to the interlocal agreement terminating district #5 membership as of December 31, 2003 back to their respective boards. The agreement may get district #5 out the door but not off the hook. As written it contains a clause specifically holding district #5 to pay any shared costs of operating NWFRS for the past two years, which the state auditor has asked the agency to review.

Wellness Clinic practitioner Virginia Lester asked Meursing and Gellatly to not act precipitously and jeopardize the clinic’s grant funding. “We don’t want to raise any red flags. A red flag to the federal government is what’s going on here. Something is not right,” she said. NWFRS finance manager Diane DeFries said she would work to get whomever takes over the finances for the Wellness Clinic to meet federal requirements. “What they (the federal grant administrators) need is to know there is someone in place that’s qualified and responsible to manage those funds,” she said.

Another impact of the split will be that the department will be left without a chief, as current division chief Nick Kiniski is a NWFRS employee. “We need a leader but it’s a matter of what we can afford and what the individual or individuals are ready to accept.” Gellatly said at the December 11 meeting.

When commissioners met again December 17 volunteer firefighters had their say. “I do think we need a full time paid chief,” said firefighter and emergency medical technician Deb Hart. She specifically targeted the training resources the fire department was losing by leaving NWFRS.“They had training mechanisms and materials all in place,” she said. “Nick’s an awesome chief. I can’t imagine a better one. Now our new chief will have to be doing not only everything Nick’s been doing but everything NWFRS has been doing as well.” Hart suggested commissioners hire an administrator as well as a chief “so the fire chief can be the fire chief and deal with people and training.”

Kiniski , who is one of four intermediate life support EMTs with the department, gave a strong indication he was not going to stay on as chief under the new board. “I’m done December 31. I’ll come back as a volunteer and respond to calls,” he said. “I love Point Roberts and I still want the service to be there for people.”

Open And Responsive?
The new district #5 board of commissioners took several steps in December to increase public involvement in the fire department’s business. At their December 11 meeting they voted to move the meetings from Thursday afternoons to Monday evenings and to hold two meetings a month until March to handle the transition away from NWFRS. They also agreed to a suggestion from the audience they have two public comment periods, one at the beginning and one at the end of the meeting. “I’m delighted to see how business is being conducted,” said audience member Bruno Moras.

However, as Gellatly and Meursing sped through their agenda in unison, some suggested they shared a well-planned agenda, and one that had not been planned in public.

“It seems to me two men are trying to decide the whole thing,” Moras said, encouraging the two board members to appoint a third as soon as possible from the four applications they had received.

When asked if they had attended the same social function the previous evening Meursing and Gellatly admitted they had, and that they had discussed fire district business, but that “no final action was taken.” That position doesn’t meet the standards of openness set by the state. The state’s open meetings act defines a meeting as any time a quorum of members of a governing body get together to take any “action” on official business, and “action” means the transaction of the official business of a public agency by its governing body including, but not limited to, receipt of public testimony, deliberations, discussions, considerations, reviews, evaluations, and final actions.

Gellatly said they had not intentionally conducted department business behind closed doors. “What we are going to do we are going to do right here in front of everybody,” he said. “I have nothing to hide and I’m in full support of those laws.” Meursing added if he ran afoul of the open meetings act it was out of ignorance rather than a desire to exclude the public. “We are going to make mistakes,” he said.

The Newest Commissioner
On December 17 Gellatly and Meursing appointed Susan Brownrigg to the third position on the board. The manager of inpatient therapy at St. Joseph Hospital, Brownrigg is a relative newcomer to the Point. “ Perhaps the best thing I bring to the position is an unbiased view because I don’t have your history,” she said.

Also vying for the position were Rich Lloyd and Holger Michelson, both who voiced strong support for the split from NWFRS and running the fire department with whatever was collected in taxes.

Attendance continued to grow, with almost three dozen community members and department volunteers attending the December 17 meeting and while most gave qualified support to the direction commissioners were taking there was obvious anxiety about some of the fallout. “We’re going to get some mud in our face but we’re with you guys all the way,” Meursing said.

“We have no intention of taking any steps backward,” Gellatly assured the audience. “I didn’t take this position to make a bunch of changes and walk away. We are looking at the budget and how we can make it all work. Work better.”

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