With the impending retirement of Hoquiam Fire Chief Paul Dean Oct. 1 and now a letter of support from the presidents of both the Aberdeen and Hoquiam firefighters unions, discussions between the two cities about consolidating fire and EMS services seems to be picking up steam.
The letter was presented to the Hoquiam City Council Monday. “With the upcoming retirement of Hoquiam Fire Chief Paul Dean on Oct. 1, 2018, Aberdeen Firefighters Local 2639 and Hoquiam Firefighters Local 315 have come together to jointly support researching consolidation efforts,” the letter began. “We recognize these efforts have stalled in the past, however, we believe this is a good time to renew those efforts.”
The letter was signed by Brad Frafjord, president of the Aberdeen union and Andy Polmateer, president of Hoquiam union, and further urged the cities to consider “putting forth funding to support a consolidation feasibility study by an emergency services consulting firm.”
Hoquiam mayor Jasmine Dickhoff, Hoquiam city administrator Brian Shay, Aberdeen mayor Erik Larson, Aberdeen fire chief Tom Hubbard and Aberdeen deputy fire chief Rich Malizia got together late last week to discuss the cities coming together to fund a study to find the best option for consolidation. Dickhoff said the meeting was a brief one, but both she and Shay said the end result was positive.
“It was encouraging to see people understand we can make this work,” said Dickhoff. Shay added, “It went very well. Everybody was positive and agrees it makes sense to do a study and look at ways we can form a partnership.”
Benefits of consolidation
Shay and Dickhoff both said the goal is to streamline fire and EMS services to be more cost effective without creating a drop in response times or overall service.
Dickhoff added, “We’re always looking for ways to serve the community better.”
“The goal of it is efficiency in operations and cost-effectiveness,” said Shay. One area that could benefit would be in terms of staffing. Shay said at full staff the Aberdeen Fire Department has about 14 people on board, Hoquiam about seven. By pooling resources, Shay said they could handle a larger volume of calls without having to bring in staff at overtime wages.
The other benefit would be equipment costs.
“Hubbard told me years ago if Aberdeen and Hoquiam were one agency today of 25,000 people odds are we have one big ladder or snorkel truck, which costs like a million dollars,” said Shay. But since the cities are separate, both feel the need to have one each. Shay said potentially the aging fleet of emergency vehicles could be trimmed down, if that’s found to be feasible without hurting the level of service, and that would save on fleet maintenance costs.
Aberdeen City Council president Tawni Andrews said Tuesday, “As far as I’m concerned, I think it’s great if it offers more services to both cities. It never hurts to talk about it. Both departments already work well together and have good people.”
The study
Hubbard and Shay have been in talks with Emergency Services Consulting International, the same firm used to study the feasibility of the formation of a regional fire authority in South Beach in 2015. The firm is known as “the most well known” for doing such studies, said Shay. A scope of work proposal from the firm had already been reviewed, which outlines the depth of the assessment the firm will perform, to do the analysis and ultimately make a recommendation.
Hubbard recently asked the firm to provide a cost assessment, which has already been received. While Shay did not have the assessment in front of him at the moment, he said it came in at under $60,000.
“Now the cities are reviewing the cost estimate, then we go to the city councils and try to hash out agreements to share the cost (of the study),” said Shay. “That could happen as early as our next meeting.”
The results of the study could be 4-6 months away from completion, if the cities can reach an agreement on sharing the cost. The study will explore a number of options.
“We could form a regional fire authority, we could create a fire district or annex fire districts, or we can create an interlocal agreement where one city would contract its fire services through another,” said Shay. “The consultant will look at all the pros and cons and make a recommendation on the best option.”
In their letter, Frafjord and Polmateer wrote, “We are aware there are many types of consolidation/merger possibilities out there and that is why we believe a good starting point is to have people who specialize in these types of ventures take a look it it. We believe a good look by a consultant is in the best interest of the citizens we serve. Customer service is always our number one priority.”
Granted, the study could end with the consultants concluding consolidation may not be the best option, but Shay is confident that will not be the outcome here.
“I think it (the study) is going to prove to be a winner, a winning option for the cities,” said Shay.
After the study
Once a best option is agreed upon by the consulting firm and the cities, the wheels would be put into motion to efficiently consolidate the departments. Shay said if the best option is the formation of a regional fire authority or the creation of a fire district, those options would have to be put in front of the residents of both cities for a vote. An interlocal agreement or contract between cities could be done with votes from the city councils.
Once the study is complete it can be shared with other fire departments in the region to see if they too would consider becoming part of the consolidated department, said Shay.
“If you look statewide there are more fire districts in our county than any other county in the state,” he said. Because of the difficulty in finding volunteers and commissioners for all the individual districts, “it’s really time we look toward consolidation county-wide.”
Regional fire authority defined
The regional fire authority came to life in Washington when the Legislature put guidelines for its creation in the Revised Code of Washington in 2004.
It’s defined as a municipal corporation which allows fire districts, cities and tribal nations to join together for fire and emergency services. The end goal is to consolidate services, allowing for more streamlined and efficient delivery of services.
