King County logo
v1.0.0.1
King County Fire Protection District No. 28

Proposition No. 1

Increase in Number of Commissioners

Shall the board of commissioners of King County Fire District No. 28 be increased from three members to five members?

Yes

No


The Board of Commissioners of King County Fire Protection District #28 passed Resolution #2015.05 requesting the expansion of the Board of Commissioners from three (3) members to five (5) members to be placed before the voters of the District. RCW 52.14.015 allows the increase with a single majority vote.

The Board of Commissioners believe passage would be in the best interests of the District because it would allow a larger representation on the Board, greater citizen participation, and provide more input for the effective and efficient running of the District.

For questions about this measure, contact: Stan McCall, Fire Commissioner, 360-825-5544, smccall@ci.enumclaw.wa.us

Fire District #28 is seeking voter approval to increase the number of Fire Commissioner positions, from 3 to 5. It is inefficient and ineffective to continue to govern the Fire District’s budget and finances with only 3 Commissioners. A board made up of 3 Commissioners prohibits pre and post meeting discussions due to a risk of violating the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA). Five Commission positions will enable more effective financial management and decision making and should shorten Fire Commission meetings. This change would allow for internal committees to be established, attended by selected Commissioners, to address complicated finance and labor issues more effectively.

We have struggled with limited and inefficient budgetary oversight for far too long.

Voters should welcome best management practices and greater efficiencies within our Fire District to better serve the patrons.

Statement submitted by: Lane Walthers, L_walthers@hotmail.com

There can be negatives to having a 5 commissioners board.  This is determined by the voters. Many Fire District Board of Commissioners are comprised of all retired or current fire fighters. In District 28 this was the case with the previous 3 member board. That Board of Commissioners provided the Employees of the district with every benefit legally possible and spent far beyond what was reasonable in other areas, placing the district in financial harm.  Then the board came to the voters for more money. Fire District Boards need to be comprised of fiscally responsible citizens or business owners along with fire fighters.  An all fire fighter board tends to attend to the needs of the fire fighter brotherhood needs before taking into account the financial cost to the citizens they are serving.   A fire district is no different than any other government agency except that no higher government over sees a fire district.  Only the citizens can hold them accountable. A 5 member board will only efficiently serve the citizens if non fire fighter citizens are placed on the board by the voters along-side commissioners with fire fighting / EMS backgrounds.

Statement submitted by: Ted DeVol

No statement was submitted prior to the deadline.

No statement was submitted prior to the deadline.

Simple majority (RCW 52.14.015)

1266 en-US Production

TTY: Relay 711

Sign up for email or text notifications