Grimm breaks tie to leave JPA

SANDPOINT — After months of deliberation, the City Council voted Wednesday to leave the Selkirk Joint Powers Association, with Mayor Jeremy Grimm breaking a tie in favor of leaving.

The vote followed an hour-long debate by the council over a request by local fire districts to extend the joint powers agreement among the Sandpoint, Sagle and Westside fire departments by three months instead of a year.  

Geraldine Lewis, Sagle Fire District board chair, and Ken Deck, Westside Fire District board chair, said they believe a three-month extension would be more appropriate since the fiscal year ends in September. 

Prior to the JPA’s formation in 2014, Sandpoint was an independent fire station. Since the JPA was formed, Selkirk officials have said the firefighters have learned coordinated 911 response plans and combined resources to provide more efficient services. Some city officials have voiced concerns about how the JPA operates and the administrative burden it places on the city. 

Since its beginning, the agreement has operated on a term basis, being renewed every few years. Since it was set to expire in April, discussion about Sandpoint’s continuation in the JPA emerged earlier this year. During initial conversations, the council voted to extend the term until June to allow for further research and dialogue. In the meantime, Sandpoint officials have hosted a workshop and a special council meeting.

Before making a decision about the fate of the JPA, a council majority decided to invite the districts into a year-long extension to offer them time to address the city’s concerns, adjust the organizational structure, and evaluate the new structure’s success. 

Instead, the Sagle and Westside district boards agreed to extend the JPA until the end of the current fiscal year, Sept. 30, 2024.

“We believe this to be the easiest term as related to the agreement, yearly budgets, and planning,” the letter said. 

In response to the district’s request, councilors Justin Dick, Kyle Schreiber, and Pam Duquette continued to voice their support of continuing in the JPA.

Since an extension until the end of September is what the fire districts proposed, the trio said they don’t see why a year or six months should make any difference.

“I think we should give it a chance to succeed,” said Schreiber, who also serves as the council’s representative on the JPA board. “We did discuss this pretty extensively at the JPA meeting the other day and it seems to me that whether we leave the JPA and become a standalone fire department, our budget is going to look pretty similar.”

Councilor Deb Ruehle continued to encourage the city’s removal from the JPA, saying that addressing concerns was long overdue and the city should re-establish its own department. 

“I am greatly in favor of continuing coordinated training whether that’s a JPA or not a JPA,” Ruehle said. “I do see the value in coordinated training and coordinated equipment.” 

While Councilor Joel Aispuro supported the year-long extension of the JPA approved March 27, he said he could not support the short time frame of the current request. 

“I’m just going to be realistic here,” Aispuro said. “Anything with government or politics you’re going to get something cooked up in two months — I’m sorry, I just don’t believe it. That’s where I felt more comfortable with the year. I’m not saying it’s impossible — I just don’t see it likely to be completely honest … If something is designed or cooked up that’s going to work, we’re going to have to come in with the new agreement anyway.”

However, he said this is not the end of the JPA, but rather, a cleaner chance to allow the districts to come up with something that the city can re-emerge into later. 

Schreiber added that the difference for him is that allowing for the extension still gives Sandpoint more time to prepare for an independent fire district if the enhanced JPA is not favorable. 

“If we give our 60-days notice right now, we’re going to be scrambling to put all that stuff together,” Scheiber said. “So I think that the proactive solution is to give ourselves the extra time and if an enhanced JPA doesn’t materialize, then we’re more prepared when we become a standalone fire department.” 

Grimm suggested that those comments were incorrect and the city is ready to embrace an independent fire department.

“We are prepared, and we know exactly what would transpire if you gave a 60-day notice today,” Grimm said.

Duquette made a motion to accept the district’s proposal of extending until the end of the fiscal year, with an intent to give notice that the city will leave the JPA on July 1. 

“We were offering a year. I don’t see why we can’t continue to offer time,” she said.

The vote ended in a tie, with Grimm voting no. 

Councilor Rick Howarth, who was sworn into the council the same evening, voted to disband from the JPA along with Ruehle and Aispuro, leaving Grimm to break the tie. 

In voting to leave the JPA, Grimm said budgeting complications and the legality of future entities were behind his decision. 

“Part of me is very receptive to that because 60-day notice today means tomorrow morning we’re going to be getting to work unpacking this, and that’s tight,” Grimm said. “We can do it. I did talk with staff and we do have the ability to put the wheels in motion. The big thing though is, even with the three-month extension, even if they come back with a legally supported enhanced JPA that council wants to participate in, the budget process is such that we are moving forward at this point with a budget as an independent fire department — a chief with nine firefighters. We’re starting the budget on April 9 and if there is not revenue from them, we can’t build in fake revenue.”

Duquette said she believes the JPA is worth spinning the wheels for. According to her research, the city’s budget is short-term and can be changed based on certain circumstances. 

This was confirmed by Grimm, and the city’s finance director. While he said part of him favors extending the JPA to the end of the fiscal year as it relieves pressure to decouple and separate now, two factors still concern him. They included a collective bargaining agreement with the union and the extra complications that would be added to that if the JPA still exists.

“[One] of the things that arose on April 9 was the city of Sandpoint, as a potential partner in this, has not had any introduction or invitation to formalize our goals in that,” Grimm said. “They were assumptive goals … We have not defined what our goals are. We have not had a chance to solicit consultants who may or may not be available to perform this work. My fear is, and the reason I bring this up is, we’re really not sure what we’re going to get. And I really hate being reactive.”

Local union president, Clint Frank, said the firefighters were disappointed with the outcome and wished the districts could have continued working toward a compromise. After endorsing Grimm in the most recent election, he said it was discouraging to have him vote against what the firefighters thought was best. 

“By gutting our 911 response plans, they've made [their] service not as robust,” Frank said. “We’ll only have a single engine on scene of large scale incidents until mutual aid, which are traditionally delayed. They keep talking about automatic aid — we have no automatic aid agreement signed with anyone in the county. It’s just words, it’s not actions.”

While he said it may be straightforward to divide up equipment, dividing newer employees who were hired as Selkirk Fire employees will be a challenge, especially when many want to work for the districts because they feel their concerns are more valued.  

“I want the city to be successful,” he said. “I love the city, I love the town. I just want the elected officials, first of all, to listen to their employees. When you have an entire employee group encouraging you to stay together because it’s the safest and best practice, I would say probably listen.” 

   (Photo courtesy SELKIRK FIRE, RESCUE & EMS) Flames and smoke pour from several buildings in Sandpoint’s historic district in the early hours of Monday, Feb. 11, 2019, as fire crews from around the region work to bring the blaze under control. The Sandpoint City Council voted to leave the Selkirk Joint Powers Association.