A new idea on fire department merger

The Fire District 13 commis-sioners want to investigate contracting to take calls for the La Conner Fire Department.

The board last week voted to send a letter to La Conner Mayor Ramon Hayes to begin examining the costs and benefits of District 13 taking some of the La Conner Fire Department’s calls.

“I propose that District 13 get together with the town of La Conner…We’d take some of their calls,” said Commissioner Chuck Hedlund at the meeting. Hedlund, who made the motion, emphasized that this would be on a “cost-per-call basis.” He refused to answer this newspaper’s questions about his proposal.

This idea came after years of talks to form a regional fire authority (RFA), which would combine Fire District 13, and the fire departments of the Town of La Conner and City of Anacortes.

The fire authority proposal, which would have to be approved by voters before it could go into effect, has been studied by the three agencies for more than two years as a way to pool resources, eliminate duplication of services and potentially cut costs. However, preliminary figures show that combining with Anacortes, which has a paid fire department, could actually drive up costs considerably for Fire District 13, which relies on volunteer firefighters.

La Conner Town Administrator John Doyle, using data provided by the three agencies, presented the figures at the last fire authority planning meeting. After the meeting, both Anacortes and Fire District 13 revised their numbers, but even the updated estimates show that Fire District 13’s costs could go up by 30 percent merging with the professional department. For the Town of La Conner, the price difference would be negligible.

Hedlund’s proposal to route La Conner’s fire calls through District 13 “is not inconsistent with the work we’ve been doing…going through the RFA process,” said La Conner Mayor Hayes. Though Hayes has not yet formally begun talks with the district over the matter, he supports looking into it.

Handling La Conner’s calls on a cost-per-call basis had not been discussed publicly by the commissioners until Hedlund brought it up near the end of last Tuesday’s meeting.

District 13 Fire Chief Roy Horn said later that the motion “caught me off guard…it was sort of a curve ball.”

However, he is interested in researching the idea. “If it makes sense dollar-and-cents-wise, it might be possible,” Horn said.

Doyle agreed that implementing Hedlund’s idea would depend on its cost-effectiveness for both the district and the town.

“Whether it’s a savings or not would depend on the terms of the proposal,” added Doyle. “There are lots of different ways to do it — we have to make sure it’s to everyone’s advantage.”

As of Tuesday, the town had not yet received a letter from the district.

“We have to make sure we reach an informed decision,” said Mayor Hayes. “The district is being very thorough, researching all options.”

Fire District 13 Commissioner Arne Fohn, who seconded Hedlund’s motion to send the town a letter, said that he wants the town and the district to “look at the RFA numbers” before jumping to any decisions.

Doyle said that “preliminary analysis through the RFA” indicates “significant cost-savings for the town,” by combining Fire District 13 and La Conner’s fire department.

The idea is that instead of the district and the town competing for the same “pool of volunteers,” they could combine forces and resources. “There’s a theoretical savings there that we want to take advantage of,” said Doyle.

Hayes said that the town and district would aim to “replace duplications of services…and add efficiency.”

“The town and the district have had a long-standing relationship,” Hayes said. He believes that a merger would strengthen that bond.