Fire commission needs to step up
The statements by Spokane Valley Fire Department Commissioner Monte Nesbitt in a recent Vocal Point (Valley Voice, Sept. 10), suggest either the commissioners misrepresented today’s needs or they did on the ballot in 2007.
I wrote the Voter Pamphlet 2007 pro-statement for Spokane Valley Fire District to raise the levy lid, allowing an additional $12 million in taxes to fully fund improvements over six years. Fire Chief Mike Thompson provided the information. SVFD assured voters in 2007 the tax increase would ensure essential emergency services and “response time will be able to meet increased demand.” The plan included building one new fire station, updates and repositioning of existing facilities over six years.
Lack of response time at University was not mentioned. The misinformation seems to be Nesbitt’s reconstruction of history. If the Sprague/Appleway response time was a concern, it should have been on the fire district’s strategic plan, provided for in the 2007 levy increase. The one person who is not misinformed is Councilman Dean Grafos. The fact he is singled out depicts the sad political attempts by this commissioner to find a scapegoat for an issue commissioners never took the opportunity to resolve.
It’s a disappointing paper trail provided by Mr. Nesbitt. The commissioners’ log from 1999-2010 encompassed seven letters and a couple conversations that span 11 years. There’s no explanation why the fire district didn’t buy the land offered by the county in 2001. These apparent empty gestures to solve the Sprague/Appleway problem are underlined by a lack of concrete plans to address response time at this location.
Where is SVFD’s campaign to solve this “problem?” Frankly, when I am working on community issues, I’m a pain. I don’t go away, lobbying, distributing fliers, speaking publicly, and writing more letters in a week than listed by Nesbitt over 11 years. What’s more disturbing is “life and death” public safety should not need an invitation from the government for the fire district to comment. We trust the fire district to fight for us, to engage us and our officials, instead of sitting back stating, “to my knowledge, no governmental agency has ever requested input from the Spokane Valley Fire Department on this public safety issue.”
It was absolutely appropriate for Councilman Grafos to ask why Station 1 was not relocated. Why was relocation not a part of the fire district’s long-range plan for 11 years? It’s pretty sad if Mr. Nesbitt is telling us the fire district failed to incorporate this in the 2007 plan because they relied on backroom promises by officials that can come and go, rather than utilizing due process.
Taxpayer resources are limited. Public safety takes careful planning, improvements identified so they’re positioned for funding. Councilman Grafos understands planning for the future and that those on Social Security have not had an increase since 2008. He has worked tirelessly to unravel the entrenched budgetary increases in departments and salaries. He asks the hard questions that we elected him to find answers to. Let’s also remember no council member enacts legislation alone.
Voters trusted the 2007 ballot measure to encompass community needs. Chief Thompson assured me in large emergencies they position trucks in locations that ensure adequate response time in the entire area. Genuine problems have solutions. There’s plenty of room on Sprague for an emergency fire lane to drive east, and there’s likely other ideas. Spokane Valley Fire’s response time from dispatch to arrival was 8 minutes 10 seconds and they’ve cut the time to 7 minutes 33 seconds. Medical incident response is 6 minutes. The city of Spokane standard of cover is 8 minutes 30 seconds for first engine company on scene and for medical incidents within 6 minutes 51 seconds. As you can see, there’s a remarkable degree of emergency coverage. The important minutes are what we do in our first response; when in doubt, call 911.
I have the highest regard for the firefighters who risk their lives to protect us. Each City Council meeting typically has our fire chief and often a fire commissioner present but seldom, if ever, speaking. It’s time public agencies openly bring forward their needs in a spirit of collaboration, given orally or recorded in council minutes for the public’s sake. It is unfitting to use position to redefine reality due to an election year. It’s this unfortunate behavior that harms an organization and the community it serves.