Camas officials mull fire deal expiration

The interlocal agreement that formed the joint Camas-Washougal Fire Department (CWFD) nearly a decade ago is set to expire at the end of 2023.

Now, Camas-Washougal city officials are trying to nail down an updated interlocal agreement (ILA) that would keep the joint fire department whole and give city leaders time to work on a regional fire authority proposal and pitch that idea to voters in both cities.

“We were hoping to get a little further than we got, but we are where we are,” Camas Mayor Steve Hogan told Camas City Council members this week during the Council’s May 15 workshop. “We are looking at the ILA and trying to update it … to establish a new ILA.”

Hogan said city leaders — including Hogan as well as Camas and Washougal city council members who sit on the Joint Policy Advisory Committee (JPAC) for the fire department, Washougal City Manager David Scott and Camas City Administrator Doug Quinn — are focusing on making the new ILA equitable and fair to citizens in both cities.

“We’re not trying to look back and fix history,” Hogan said Monday. “We want to move forward and get to a destination that, at this point, looks like it might be a regional fire authority.”

Hogan said JPAC members are still trying to figure out financial impacts to Camas and Washougal according to different scenarios in the updated ILA.

“We’ve covered a lot of issues, but the big issue we were hoping to get for this meeting — what would be the (financial) impact for Washougal and for Camas if we went one way or another — we couldn’t get that together in time. Since we don’t have that money aspect ready to go, we will try to get to that decision point and present that to you as a whole package.”

When Camas-Washougal city officials put the original ILA together in 2012, they agreed to base the funding formula for the joint fire department on three elements: the assessed value of structures in each city (50%), population (25%) and calls for service (25%). That funding formula came out to a roughly 60-40 financial split, with Camas paying around 60% of the costs for the fire department — and taking on an administrative role — and Washougal paying 40% of the costs.

‘At breaking point’

As the Camas-Washougal region has become more populated and demand for fire and emergency medical services (EMS) has increased, CWFD leaders and firefighter union representatives have told Camas-Washougal leaders that the department’s staffing levels must increase to keep up with demand.

In February 2022, then Camas-Washougal Fire Chief Nick Swinhart told Camas city leaders the fire department was understaffed and that CWFD administrators were forcing firefighters to work mandatory overtime just to keep the fire stations open.

“The group is at a breaking point,” Swinhart said. “Working 60 hours a week is not sustainable.”

Camas City Council members have agreed to increase the fire department’s staffing levels to help accommodate three-person fire engine staff and decrease the department’s reliance on mandatory overtime, but Washougal city leaders have said they cannot support paying for the additional staffers.

In November 2021, consultants from the Tualatin, Oregon-based Merina + CO told Camas-Washougal city officials that the current ILA model wasn’t working.

“For Washougal, it’s pretty telling,” Merina consultant Rob Moody told Camas city officials in 2021. “Based on what we believe the city of Washougal could raise in property taxes given the current rates … (paying the city’s share of the CWFD partnership through 2028) is not sustainable for the city of Washougal.”

Seven months later, in June 2022, Merina + CO consultants returned to the Camas and Washougal city councils to deliver the results of their company’s deep dive into an alternative to the ILA that formed the joint fire department.

Instead of working to correct gaps in the current ILA, Merina consultants told Camas-Washougal city councilors in June 2022, city officials should consider bringing a proposal for a regional fire authority (RFA) that would continue to provide fire and emergency medical services to the entire Camas-Washougal region to the voters.

“What’s become clear, is that the RFA provides the best opportunity to address many of the gaps facing the (fire department),” Jordan Henderson, of Merina, told Camas officials in 2022.

City officials are also considering taking a capital bond to voters to collect money needed to replace failing fire stations and worn-out fire engines.

In January 2023, then-interim Camas City Administrator Jeff Swanson said the city was “behind the eight ball” when it came to replacing its failing fire stations and equipment.

“We have two fire stations that need to be replaced and a capital facilities plan that indicates they should be replaced in the next year or two,” Swanson told Camas officials. “We should already be proceeding with construction.”

‘Better off together than apart’

At a JPAC meeting held in March, Merina + CO consultant Jordan Henderson told Camas-Washougal leaders that the preferred alternative is still the RFA, which, he explained, would be “an independent entity with its own taxing authority” with a still-to-be-determined levy rate based on assessed property values throughout the Camas-Washougal region.

Henderson’s group conducted a cost-share analysis to show city officials what each city might pay if the updated ILA was using a similar “levy rate” model based on all assessed property values instead of the three-part funding formula used to form the original ILA in 2012, which took into account structural assessed values, population and calls for service.

“When you model … based on 100 percent taxable assessed value between the combined service areas, based on assessors’ data from 2022, (the funding formula would be) 69 percent for Camas and 31 percent for Washougal,” Henderson said during the March 28 JPAC meeting.

At the Camas City Council’s workshop on Monday, May 15, Camas officials discussed the consultants’ report, the need to amend the soon-to-expire ILA and the possibility of bringing an RFA proposal to voters.

“We are looking at how to equitably share the cost for our 70 (CWFD) staff members,” said Camas City Councilor Bonnie Carter. “Immediately, that doesn’t look great for Camas, but … we are trying to determine what we can afford and what Washougal can afford. The whole point is that this has been difficult. Trying to get (agreement on funding between the cities for the new ILA) is one of the final pieces of this.”

Camas City Councilman John Nohr – the fire chief for Clark-Cowlitz Fire & Rescue – said the creation of an RFA would lay out an equitable and fair way of collecting fees from Camas and Washougal taxpayers.

“I think anything that lays out a fair system for both cities is a good goal to have,” Nohr said Monday. “Both cities are getting an extremely good deal on fire and EMS services today.”

But, Nohr added, the joint fire department has not kept pace with the community’s growth and increased demand for fire/EMS services.

“The department is not right-sized to serve the community the way most people would expect the community to be served. On a regular basis, (CWFD) is at ‘level zero,’ with no resources left in Camas-Washougal to respond to an incident in the community, and it’s a long way … for a Vancouver unit to get here,” Nohr said.

Though some Camas officials have pointed out that Washougal pays less for its share of the fire department and often has a higher call volume for EMS services, Nohr said you can’t base a fire department’s funding formula on service calls.

“You’re paying for highly trained staff to be available to respond to your emergency,” Nohr said Monday. “What you’re really saying is, ‘As a community, what is the right amount people want to pay to have that service available?’”

Nohr also said city officials should look at 70 staff members for the joint fire department as a “bare minimum” number for providing fire and EMS services.

“It doesn’t take into account (people getting injured or taking leave),” Nohr said. “So that 70 is when we all come to work and everyone is healthy.”

On Monday, Camas Councilman Tim Hein said he would like to see a breakdown of what it might cost for Camas to go it alone and run their own fire department again. In past discussions held since 2018, fire officials and consultants have said Camas-Washougal residents are better served by a joint fire department and that, prior to the current ILA, Camas firefighters often had to assist Washougal on fire and EMS calls.

Councilwoman Lewallen said, “it would be helpful to say, ‘Here are the pros and cons … here’s the levy fees we would retain if we kept our own fire/EMS services.”

Councilman Chaney, however, said he believes the two cities should not go their own way when it comes to fire/EMS services.

“I believe today and in the future, that we’re better off together than apart,” Chaney said Monday. “Our citizens travel across city boundaries … and we’re better off because of the scale of economy.”

“There is a reason that there are a tremendous number of mergers (between fire departments) and RFAs, with cities getting out of the fire service (business),” Nohr said. “It’s because they recognize … that political boundaries don’t make sense when you’re trying to (deliver fire/EMS services) and trying to be efficient.”

Nohr awarned that voters in the Olympia-Tumwater region recently knocked down an RFA proposal.

“They tried to bite off two big issues: the RFA and introducing fire-benefit charges in lieu of a fire levy,” Nohr said. “They failed to adequately explain to the public what was going on. If we move forward on an RFA, we need to keep it simple and with a formula people understand.”