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BUSINESS OF THE CITY COUNCIL
YAKIMA, WASHINGTON
AGENDA STATEMENT
Item No. 18.B.
For Meeting of: February 19, 2019
ITEM TITLE: Report from Fire Chief Markham on Regional Fire Authority
SUBMITTED BY:
SUMMARY EXPLANATION:
ITEM BUDGETED:
STRATEGIC PRIORITY:
STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
BOARD/COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION:
ATTACHMENTS:
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MEMORANDUM
To: Honorable Mayor Coffey and members of the Yakima City Council
From: Aaron Markham, Fire Chief
Date: January 16, 2019
RE: Information on Regional Fire Authority
Council,
In recent informal discussions regarding the formation of a Regional Fire Authority (RFA) with local
agencies, there was not much interest. I have reached out to the agencies below, which border the city
limits of Yakima, and have illustrated their level of interest:
Union Gap (No), YCFD#4 (not at this time),YCFD#12 (willing to listen),YCFD#11 and YCFD#10 (likely to
follow the lead of the City of Yakima, but they have no personnel or resources to combine) and YCFD#2/
Selah (not at this time).
Below is a summary of the historical information from the prior planning process and feasibility study.
• January 10, 2011 —A meeting was held with elected officials of Union Gap and Yakima, along
with Fire Chief Willson and Fire Chief Steele. Approval was made by both cities to move forward
with the study.
• Step 2, date uncertain —A meeting was held with all fire agencies with a contiguous border to
the cities of Union Gap and Yakima to determine which agencies were interested in participating
in the study. Below is a list of all agencies that were invited:
➢ City of Yakima
➢ City of Union Gap
➢ Yakima County Fire District#12 (West Valley)
➢ Yakima County Fire District#4 ( East Valley)
➢ Yakima County Fire District#11 (Broadway) contracted with Union Gap
➢ Yakima County Fire District#10 (Fruitva le) contracted with Yakima
➢ Yakima County Fire District#1 (Highland)
➢ Yakima County Fire District#2 (Selah)
"The Yakima Fire Department is dedicated to providing
quality public safety services to our community."
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At the end of this meeting ONLY four agencies showed an interest in the planning process and
feasibility study.The four agencies listed below were confirmed at a meeting in April 2011:
➢ City of Yakima
➢ City of Union Gap
➢ YCFD#11 and YCFD#10
• The next step — A study group made up of elected officials, fire officials, residents, business
owners and employees (20 people in total) was formed.
• This group met on a regular basis for two years to come up with a well-informed document.
They hired ESCI Consulting, at an estimated cost of $22,500, to do a financial analysis that took
nearly five more months to complete.
• The financial analysis concluded that a Regional Fire Authority was feasible if an ad valorem tax
of$1/1000 plus a fire benefit charge were used for the revenue source.
Please note: The additional revenue needed to sustain a Regional Fire Authority would be completely
borne by the residential and business property owners within the boundaries of the RFA.The benefit
charge may be insignificant to some and substantial to others compared to the current tax collection
practices.The fire benefit charge is a somewhat complex formula. It is based on the size of a building
and how hazardous its contents are. The buildings with the higher hazard pay a proportionately greater
fire benefit charged as compared to a less hazardous single family residence.
"The Yakima Fire Department is dedicated to providing
quality public safety services to our community."