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Marysville Arlington/FPO 12 Regional Fire Authority Planning Committee Meeting Marysville City Council Chambers November 1, 2016 6:30 p.m. Welcome and Introductions Mayor Nehring called the meeting to order at 6:34 p.m. and invited everyone to introduce themselves. Marysville Mayor: Jon Nehring Marysville Council: Steve Muller, Jeff Vaughan, Jeff Seibert Marysville CAO: Gloria Hirashima Arlington Mayor: Barbara Tolbert Arlington City Admin.: Paul Ellis Arlington Council: Marilyn Oertle 1, Chris Raezer, Jesica Stickles Marysville Fire Dist: Gary Bontrager, Marilyn Sheldon, Pat Cook Marysville Fire Chief: Martin McFalls Arlington Fire Chief: Bruce Stedman Marysville Council President Norton is also here as an alternate. Councilmember Muller explained they need to dissolve the old committee. 1 Councilmember Oertle arrived at 6:42 p.m. 111112016 Regional Fire Authority Committee Page 1of7 ---PAGE BREAK--- Motion made by Councilmember Muller, seconded by Councilmember Seibert, to dissolve the old RFA Committee. Motion passed unanimously. Election of Chairperson Motion made by Councilmember Seibert to nominate Councilmember Muller as Chair. Councilmember Vaughan asked about responsibilities of the Chair. Mayor Nehring explained it is simply to run the meetings in an organized manner and to implement meeting rules. Councilmember Vaughan asked if the Chair had to be a voting member. CAO Hirashima responded that it did not. She explained there are nine formal voting members of the RFA Committee - the three Marysville City Council members, the three Arlington City Council members, and the three Fire District Commissioners. Councilmember Vaughan said it would be good to have somebody as a chair who can help the group get through the process who isn't a voting member so that person could help the group work together to make a decision and to follow whatever procedures the group establishes. He proposed having a non-voting member that is accustomed to running meetings. He suggested that one or both of the mayors serve the role of facilitator. Council member Raezer thought it was a great idea for the Mayors to serve as the facilitators and suggested alternating meetings back and forth between Marysville and Arlington. Mayor Nehring and Mayor Tolbert both indicated a willingness to serve in whatever capacity the group desired. Motion made by Councilmember Raezer to nominate Mayor Tolbert and Mayor Nehring as co-chairs. Motion to nominate Councilmember Muller failed. Motion to nominate Mayor Tolbert and Mayor Nehring passed unanimously. Mayor Nehring commented that the meeting locations would alternate once the schedule is determined. Discussion of Meeting Rules and Procedures Councilmember Raezer suggested keeping the meetings informal like a workshop. He thinks a facilitator will help to keep them on track. Councilmember Oertle agreed. Fire District 12 concurred. 111112016 Regional Fire Authority Committee Page 2 of? ---PAGE BREAK--- Mayor Nehring then asked if members should be recognized. There was consensus to identify members before speaking since everyone didn't know each other and for the benefit of the minutes taker. Councilmember Muller asked if the Minutes Taker, Laurie Hugdahl, would be traveling to the different locations. Mayor Nehring explained that remained to be determined. Mayor Nehring commented that they would try to keep the structure of the meetings informal while still identifying and recognizing speakers. Establish Regular Meeting Schedule and Dates CAO Hirashima reviewed responses they had received regarding the meeting schedule and dates. Discussion followed about availability. There appeared to be a consensus to meet from 5-6:30 on the fourth Thursday. Commissioners Bontrager and Pat Cook indicated they worked on a rotating schedule and were on call so they might not be able to make all the meetings. Commissioner Bontrager commented that people who facilitate RFAs recommend meeting twice a month in order to be more productive in a short amount of time. Councilmember Seibert suggested just keeping it to one a month until after the holidays and then reassessing after the new year. Councilmember Oertle asked about having an earlier meeting such as 3:00 p.m. Councilmember Seibert indicated that it would be difficult for him to make that time. It was noted that this fourth Thursday is Thanksgiving. Mayor Nehring commented that it had been discussed to have this meeting as the November meeting, take the December meeting off, and then kick it off in full gear in January. There was consensus to have the next meeting on the fourth Thursday in January. CAO Hirashima distributed a contact list and requested that she be notified of any changes. Arlington City Administrator Paul Ellis suggested that he and CAO Gloria Hirashima could work together to finalize the meeting locations prior to the January meeting. Description of Current Fire Service in Each Entity A. Marysville Fire District (City of Marysville, FPD12) CAO Hirashima reviewed the joint operations of the City of Marysville and Snohomish County Fire District #12. She commented that they had discussed having a dedicated web page for the benefit of the RFA Committee to post information and minutes. She 111112016 Regional Fire Authority Committee Page 3 of7 ---PAGE BREAK--- reviewed the history, organizational chart, station map, budget history, budget comparison of contracts, major revenue sources (mainly property taxes), comparison of incidents by year, station response data, grid response map and times, table of staffing (28 part-time and 99 full-time), summary of daily staffing and resources at each station, of the Marysville Fire District. She also reviewed the history of the RFA committee. She explained it was motivated by concerns of the MFD Board about the Financial Sustainability and desire to move toward annexation to FPO 12 or RFA. Shift in the population and assessed valuation between 1992 and 2010 resulted in the City of Marysville's desire to explore fire service alternatives. The City considered annexation to Fire District 12 in 2010-2011, but did not move forward with it. The City of Marysville commissioned a consultant in 2014 to study fire service options. An RFA Committee was formed in 2015 to explore the RFA between FPO 12 and the City of Marysville. The City completed a fire service alternative study in July 2016 that resulted in the 2015 RFA Committee being dissolved. The creation of a new RFA Committee occurred tonight between Fire District 12, City of Arlington, and City Marysville. Chief McFalls stated all the data was on the website under annual reports if there were any further questions. B. City of Arlington Paul Ellis reviewed the history of the Arlington Fire Department. Fire Chief Bruce Stedman reviewed current apparatus and personnel, an analysis of calls for service (consistently going up). Paul Ellis reviewed agencies that Arlington contracts with. The agencies included Arlington Rural, Silvana, Darrington, and Oso. In 2013 Arlington commissioned a study (ESCI) to look at options to create a sustainable organization. There were 15 agencies invited to participate but only seven did. Key findings were that there would be some cost savings and opportunity for consolidation. Due to the participating agencies involved, there didn't appear to be a huge cost savings at that time. In 2015 the City formed a sustainability committee to see how they could put together a sustainable model for the fire and EMS. The recommendations were to explore increased cooperative opportunities with Marysville Fire district, third party evaluation of service levels and associated costs, conduct internal cost benefit analysis of Volunteer Firefighter Program, and develop and implement community awareness campaign. Councilmember Muller asked about how the rates for the contracts with Darrington and Oso was determined. Fire Chief Stedman replied that it is based on the levy rate. Councilmember Stickles asked if these presentations would be posted online. CAO Hirashima replied that it would be up by the end of the week. Councilmember Seibert requested that Arlington's study results also be posted. City Administrator Ellis replied they could do that. Mayor Nehring thanked everyone for their work getting ready for this meeting. 111112016 Regional Fire Authority Committee Page 4 ofl ---PAGE BREAK--- Councilmember Stickles asked how to find out more about the RFA process. Councilmember Muller recommended googling RFA and especially looking at Kent. He noted there is an implementation guide that will be helpful. CAO Hirashima said they would post the RCW and the guidebook on the web page. Chief Stedman noted that the guide is somewhat outdated, but it is a great starting point. Commissioner Bontrager suggested that each of the members receive a copy of the RCW. Direction on Future Meeting Agenda and Potential Facilitator Marysville Fire District Commissioner Pat Cook stated that it is imperative to bring in an experienced facilitator who has helped other departments form RF As in order to be most productive. He thought the investment would be Commissioner Bontrager agreed that time is critical in getting the group moved in the right direction. He recommended that they look at using an experienced facilitator. Councilmember Vaughan stated that the most important thing is the group's ability to make a decision. He expressed concern that selecting a facilitator would take more time and coordination. He thought that the Mayors could do a good job, but if they decide that more expertise is needed they could look for a consultant. Councilmember Stickles spoke in support of a facilitator and having a neutral third party. Commissioner Sheldon agreed with Councilmember Stickles and spoke in support of a facilitator. Councilmember Raezer also agreed with having a facilitator in order to keep the group on task. He noted it did not have to necessarily be someone experienced in RFA negotiations because that might not be the direction they need to go. Councilmember Seibert agreed with Councilmember Raezer about having a third-party person and not necessarily someone whose job it is to form RFAs. Commissioner Bontrager stressed that it is very important to have someone familiar with RFAs because there are some tough questions that will come up. Commissioner Cook thought it would be best to start off with a facilitator in order to not waste any time and to keep the group on track. Councilmember Oertle agreed with having a facilitator, but said she didn't want someone with a preconceived idea of what should be done. The person should just be there to guide the group. Council member Stickles asked how a decision to hire a facilitator would be made. Mayor Nehring explained that could be determined by the group. Mayor Tolbert added that it might be to have a few meetings to get to know each other as a group before bringing in a consultant. Councilmember Muller concurred. He suggested that 111112016 Regional Fire Authority Committee Page 5 of 7 ---PAGE BREAK--- the group could come together a few times to figure out its goals and get to know each other. He agreed that a facilitator could be very helpful when they start to work through some of the more difficult decisions. Councilmember Muller suggested that staff provide information about potential facilitators at the next meeting. Councilmember Seibert asked for a breakdown of levy rate information for both cities. Councilmember Raezer said he would like to see more of the data about the budgets of the three entities. Commissioner Bontrager said they need to look at the RFA implementation guide. He explained that the money would be coming as a new flow of money from taxpayers. As a result the citizens will see double taxing so it needs to be determined what will be done with that money. Commissioner Raezer commented the money is currently coming out of the city budget, but it is not double taxing. He stated they need to be careful about the terms they use because it is not double tax. Commissioner Bontrager agreed that it is currently being paid for out of general fund, but they would be coming up with a new entity. Council member Muller said he would like fire chiefs to put together what the new entity would look like in terms of existing fire stations versus potential fire stations, what the new model would look like, how it would benefit customers. Agenda items/Follow Up: • Packet of facilitator/consultants • Information that shows levy rates for a consolidated operation as well as how a consolidated operation would affect tax rates for a new district being formed. • Look at current budgets of the two operations. • More detailed review of personnel within the two operations • RFA guide book provided • Copy of RCW distributed to the group. Mayor Nehring asked for any additional comments from the members: Commissioner Sheldon stated that she is hopeful and optimistic about moving forward to have a safe community. She urged everyone to remember that their primary goal is to keep communities safe. She urged everyone to be committed to working together. Commissioner Bontrager concurred and thanked everyone for being here tonight and working together. He stated that consolidation brings better service at a better rate. Commissioner Cook agreed with both commissioners. He urged everyone to ignore boundaries and work together. 111112016 Regional Fire Authority Committee Page 6 of7 ---PAGE BREAK--- Councilmember Muller said he is looking forward to getting this done and working together. Councilmember Vaughan said he is looking forward to getting to know everyone and getting this done. Council member Seibert welcomed everyone and thanks to staff for all their hard work. Councilmember Stickles had no comments. Councilmember Raezer stated that they are all here for the community. Councilmember Oertle agreed with previous comments. She commented that an important thing is to be able to tell the taxpayers that it's not just another tax, but an opportunity to have more money in the general fund to help with public safety and police. Adjournment Seeing no further business Mayor Nehring adjourned the meeting at 7:52 p.m. Approved this ~ day of January, 2017. on Nehring Re~n~ Chair Barb Tolbert 111112016 Regional Fire Authority Committee Page 7 of7