Quincy City Council scrutinizes fire agreement
CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 11 months, 4 weeks AGO
Quincy High School student Xadany Roque, left, takes the oath of office as a student representative for the Quincy City Council at the regular council meeting Tuesday. City Finance Officer/Clerk Nancy Schanze, right, administers the oath. In other matters, council members examined what it costs to provide firefighting services to residents.
CHERYL SCHWEIZER/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
Senior Reporter Cheryl Schweizer is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience serving small communities in the Pacific Northwest. She began her post-high-school education at Treasure Valley Community College and enerned her journalism degree at Oregon State University. After working for multiple publications, she has settled down at the Columbia Basin Herald and has been a staple of the newsroom for more than a decade. Schweizer’s dedication to her communities and profession has earned her the nickname “The Baroness of Bylines.” She covers a variety of beats including health, business and various municipalities. | February 7, 2024 5:31 PM
QUINCY — Determining how much to pay for fire protection services was the subject of a lengthy discussion at the regular Quincy City Council meeting Tuesday.
The city’s contract with Grant County Fire District 3 expired at the end of 2023. City and fire district administrators have been negotiating a new agreement, and Administrator Pat Haley presented details of a proposal to the council. Council members didn’t make a decision on accepting or rejecting it.
If both sides accept the contract the city would pay about $737,800, an increase of about $80,100 from 2023.
In 2013 city officials hired a consultant to help determine how the fee should be assessed, and that resulted in a formula used in the original negotiations. One of the components of that formula is the assessed value of land within the city. Haley said that complicated the discussion since the city is home to a number of data centers, which don’t have the same need for fire protection that a lot of new homes would.
Council member Dave Dormaier was on the committee that helped come up with the revised proposal and said it wasn’t easy to find something that took all the factors into account.
“How can we go about this, in a yearly review with data we can all agree on, and that’s easily obtainable by the city without a lot of work?” Dormaier said.
Haley said the formula accounts for the percentage of square miles, number of calls and population that the city makes up within the GCFD 3. It factors in the resources and equipment provided by the city, he said. Like everybody else GCFD 3 has felt the effect of inflation, and the agreement would take that into account.
From 2025 on, Haley said the formula will be changed to take into account the impact that the data centers have on the assessed valuation.
“What does assessed valuation have to do with firefighting?” asked Council Member Dylan Kling.
“It evaluates the community’s ability to pay,” Haley said.
The original agreement also included the contract between GCFD 3 and Protection One, the privately owned ambulance company that covers the Quincy area. That contract has been taken out of the calculations for determining the city’s fee, Haley said, since the city also has a contract with Protection One.
The contract from 2025 forward would have a cap on the amount of GCFD operational expenses that would be used to calculate the city’s fee, Haley said.
The fire district does require some additional training to fight a fire at a data center, according to the contract, but council member Jeff Spence disputed that. Council member Jim Kling said the data centers have good fire suppression systems, and he didn’t think the city would be called to many fires there.
Haley said the proposal would be submitted to the council for approval or rejection at a later meeting.
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.
MORE STORIES
ARTICLES BY CHERYL SCHWEIZER
Revised Washington law makes it easier for youth to get identification
OLYMPIA — It will be easier for young people 16-18 years of age to get a Washington identification card without a parent’s or guardian’s signature under revisions to ID laws that took effect Jan. 1.
Negligent driving law revisions add penalties in some cases
MOSES LAKE — Drivers will be subject to new penalties if they are charged with negligent driving in collisions that involve people who aren’t in a car or truck.
One infrastructure project complete, others planned for Royal City
ROYAL CITY — Cross one long, long project off the list. The last section of old water line in Royal City was replaced in 2024, wrapping up a project that Mayor Michael Christensen said took a while. “Over the years we’ve been trying to upgrade our water system, and now the entire city is upgraded,” Christensen said. “That was a long time coming and it was a bit of a task.”