Fire district taken aback by late bills; commissioners to seek legal advice

by Meg Olson

Point Roberts fire district may have broken it off with North Whatcom Fire and Rescue Services (NWFRS), but the fire conglomerate isn’t letting go, at least of Point Roberts dollars.

At their May 12 meeting fire commissioners were taken aback by a bill from Kelley Insurance for $4,146, and agent Tony Kelley was there to explain why. “NWFRS said they were going to sue us if we didn’t” he said. “They said it was fire district #5’s responsibility.” Kelley explained the bill represented 14.5 percent of the cost of NWFRS insurance from September 2003 to September 2004, minus credits for district #5 withdrawing from that agency December 31, 2003. NWFRS refused to pay the bill, Kelley said, and Kelley Insurance paid the amount themselves to avoid a lapse in NWFRS insurance and in turn billed fire district 5.

Despite their surprise about the bill, fire commissioners voted to approve paying it pending an audit of their payments to NWFRS. “If we are really liable, we’ll pay it,” said fire commissioner Bill Meursing. “First we have to have some more information and contact out attorney. It’s got to be completely supported.” Commissioner David Gellatly expressed some frustration that things were popping up months after the split from NWFRS. “I remember the first or second meeting with them I sat at I specifically asked about the insurance and they told us we were covered until December 31. The frustration is that in essence they misled us.”

Volunteer chief Nick Kiniski said his understanding from conversations with NWFRS administrator David Crossen and financial officer Dianne DeFries was that the insurance bill was just the tip of the iceberg. “It’s coming down the pipeline NWFRS is going to start sending us bills from the past,” he said. He added the 2001 interlocal agreement did not make district #5 liable for the 14.5 percent of NWFRS administrative costs that agency came to hold the district responsible for.

“In the original concept of NWFRS we lost our chief in exchange for some consideration from them on the administration side,” Kiniski said. “In mid-stream the whole deal changed and we were sold a different bill of goods. It did a 180 from being a benefit to Point Roberts to being a benefit to NWFRS.”

Kiniski said the 14.5 percent came from a latter agreement to share the liability on a line of credit to fund an expansion of the NWFRS shop, which commissioners from all districts approved. A 2003 state audit found that the districts made inadequately supported payments and directed NWFRS to come up with a more equitable cost sharing formula. “I think we need some legal advice,” Kiniski said.

Crossen confirmed the insurance bill would not be the last district #5 receives for past expenses. “That’s just a start,” he said. Crossen said the NWFRS board had asked staff to completely review expenses since the formation of the agency, which brought together fire districts 5, 3, and 13 with the city of Blaine’s fire department, in 2001. “We need to reconcile everything and sort it out – work back and see who owes who,” he said. “It’s not just that district 5 owes other people money, other people owe money to district 5 too.” Crossen said he hoped to have a preliminary report on untangling the NWFRS finances to their board in June. “When they approve it we’d like to sit down with the three district boards and sort it out,” he said. “It’s kind of like going through a divorce. There will have to be some negotiation.”

Gellatly said the district would live up to its legal responsibilities, but first he wanted proof. “This is a little long after the fact and they need to be communicating better with us,” he said. “We need all the supporting documentation that we haven’t paid these bills in some way and an itemization of what it’s for.”

In other fire department business, commissioners voted to pay Emergency Consulting Services $6,000 to coordinate an executive search and interview process to get a new paid full-time chief for the fire department. Kiniski, who held the position until the dissolution of the contract with NWFRS has been serving in a volunteer capacity until the district hires a new chief.

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