The Kirkland City Council approved two resolutions concerning their plans for a new fire station, one of which in order to avoid having to sell off Station 25 as stipulated under their interlocal agreement (ILA) with King County Fire District 41.

The first resolution clarifies what the city considers to be the original intent of the ILA in order to rectify their new plan for improving fire service with certain stipulations in the ILA between the city with the district following the 2011 annexation of Finn Hill, Juanita and Kingsgate. The second resolution pertains to the city’s future plans for improving fire services in the city, as well as removes funding for planned projections based on residents’ concerns.

The council first touched on the issue back in September, then held a public hearing at its Oct. 20 meeting before approving the resolutions.

The ILA had the city assume responsibility for uncompleted district projects, which included plans for consolidating Station 24 and Station 25 to improve response times on Finn Hill. At the time of annexation, the district had $5.2 million total in cash reserves ($1.2 million) and limited general obligation debt annexation ($4 million) to pay for the project, funds which were transferred to the city as part of the ILA.

The ILA included stipulations as to how the funds were to be spent, such as requiring the assets be used for the benefit of taxpayers of the fire district. A provision in the ILA also requires the sale of the existing fire station sites, as the project as originally conceived would have had a newly constructed station on a new site. Under the ILA, the anticipated sales proceeds from the two stations were not considered a funding source for the station project but would be used to retire the bond debt.

As the city moves forward with plans for improving fire service on Finn Hill, where the 2012 Fire Strategic Plan found a gap in response times, it has concluded that the single consolidated station idea is no longer feasible and that a dual-station model is “the most reasonable and cost-effective way to accomplish the goals of the Interlocal Agreement.”

The dual-station model is based on recommendations from a 2013 standard of coverage study and has received council support. Whereas the consolidated station would have had both current stations closed and the property sold, the dual-station plan proposes renovating Station 25 and building a new fire station somewhere in the general vicinity of Northeast 132nd Street and 100th Avenue Northeast to replace Station 24, which no longer has any fire staff and has ceased operations.

Under the resolution, the city will use $3.8 million of the fire district funds toward Station 25’s renovation, which would include repairs, fire alarm and fire sprinkler installations, fire separation walls and accessibility improvements, among other things. The remaining $1.4 million would be used to purchase property for the new Station 24 site. Once the site is purchased, the resolution states, the city would sell off the existing station property and use the proceeds from the sale to finance construction of the new station, though a bond might also be issued.

Now that the resolutions had been approved, the city will be renovating Station 25 and looking to purchase property for the new Station 24, while leaving six existing firefighters at Station 27.

Among the city’s plans moving forward is considering a bond measure for the construction of Station 24, the construction of a new Station 27 east of Interstate-405, and the renovation of Stations 21, 22 and 26. The city was also considering removing road barriers on Finn Hill to improve response times, but residents voiced objections over safety concerns, and as part of the second resolution the city repurposed the $3 million intended for the removal project purchasing the land for the new Station 27.

Although the city has looked at publicly-owned land on Finn Hill previously considered for the consolidated station, it has concluded that none of them were “ideally  suited and/or available,” according to the resolution. Prior to annexation, Big Finn Hill Park was initially considered as a site for the future station but was dropped due to local opposition.

“The goals of the Interlocal Agreement cannot reasonably and cost-effectively be accomplished by undertaking the Fire Station Consolidation Project as described in the Interlocal Agreement,” the resolution states. “To continue to attempt to consolidate the two stations in a new location would frustrate the purpose of increasing service levels in the near-term and within the budget provided by the District, and such attempt would not be in the public interest.”

Councilmember Toby Nixon, who served as a fire commissioner in the district at the time the ILA was written, said the proposed resolution would be in keeping with the spirit or intent of the agreement.

“The overriding purpose or intent of the commission was to solve the coverage issues on Finn Hill and to make sure the money or assets coming from the district to the city were used for that purpose and didn’t disappear into the city general fund,” he said at the Sept. 15 council meeting. “My belief is if we had thought about this contingency at the time we did the ILA, we would have allowed this explicitly. Even though I can’t speak for other commissioners and the fire district no longer exists, I think we’re on solid ground by following this path.”

He later reiterated this sentiment at the Oct. 20 meeting.

“The intent was to make sure that this $5.2 million didn’t just disappear into the city’s general fund and get used for something else,” he said. “The key question is whether the city has to sell Station 25 to itself. It doesn’t make a lot of sense for it to have to do that.”

Councilmember Penny Sweet stated that the resolutions will allow them the flexibility needed to provide fire services to the city.

“It’s been a long slog,” she said. “At times it’s kind of felt like ‘Where’s Waldo’ in terms of where we were going to land. I believe we landed in the right place. We took a lot of left turns along the way but I think this actually meets our commitment of expanding fire service across the whole city in ways that have been more creative than they have been in the past.”

City Attorney Robin Jenkinson said that while they aren’t aware of any legal precedent for the resolution clarifying the ILA, it is also an unusual situation due to the fact that the other party in the ILA, the fire district, no longer exists.

Before voting on the resolutions, the city reached out to the attorney who served as the bound council for the fire district. The city has also contacted the other fire commissioners at the time the ILA was approved and invited them participate in the public hearing, though according to Jenkinson, all other commissioners besides Nixon have at this point declined, though they also offered no objection to the resolution.