Council approves JPA workshops

SANDPOINT — With Selkirk Fire’s Joint Powers Agreement term set to end in June, Sandpoint City Council, local firefighters, JPA board members and the community are discussing the city’s continued participation in the agreement.

The Selkirk Fire JPA is composed of Sagle, Westside and Sandpoint fire departments. The three departments share a fire chief, assistant fire chief, and a fire chief’s assistant, according to the Selkirk Fire website. 

“The JPA has allowed all three fire departments to increase their capabilities and become more efficient in regards to emergency responses, fire prevention, public education and community outreach,” officials said on the website. 

Selkirk Fire, Rescue and EMS is managed by a board of commissioners who are represented by two Sandpoint councilors, two Sagle Fire commissioners, two Westside Fire commissioners and a community member.

When the meeting ended, the council voted to hold several public workshops to encourage more discussion about continuation of the JPA and its impact on the community. 

“I want to make it clear to the public and the union and all of our board members out there that this is coming to a head because we have union negotiations coming up and then we have the term ending on the joint powers agreement,” Mayor Jeremy Grimm said in introducing the discussion. “I’m hopeful that we can avoid a rushed decision and we might have time to pause for the community.”

Councilor Justin Dick said he had conversed with employees within the fire department, with many saying they favored the workshops to offer opportunities to engage in conversation.

“This is a very multi-faceted joint powers agreement here,” Dick said. “There is a lot at stake for everyone. I don’t know if the public, as fast as this moves, understands all of the intricacies of this — the services that are rendered outside of Sandpoint, what’s good in terms of our level of service right now, what’s good for our level of service for our Sandpoint residents.”

All participants in public comment shared their support of the city’s continuation of the JPA. Clint Frank, Selkirk Fire engineer, has been a community member and firefighter for 22 years. He shared his support for the JPA and offered reasons he believes it is necessary, saying its termination would be a huge step backward for the departments and the communities they serve.  

“It was brought to our attention that the city of Sandpoint is potentially dropping out of the Selkirk JPA,” Frank said. “... We strongly recommend further discussion with cooperating agencies and firefighters so we can better understand the impact this has on fire rescue and EMS services. The community currently has a better equipped fire department since Selkirk Fire formed as a JPA in 2014.”

Frank said the current system provides a coordinated response plan through the 911 call center that supports firefighter and civilian safety by sending the right resources immediately. 

“This all leads to better outcomes on large scale calls,” he said.  

He noted many concerns he believes would result should the agreement not continue,  including other agencies being left without a chief and direction, organizational difficulties caused by employees and equipment already being intermingled, a need to essentially gut 911 response plans, and exasperating current staff retention issues.

“To move back to three individual departments with mutual aid requests as a form of response plan is probably a 15- to 20-year step backward,” he said. “The city of Sandpoint currently does not have volunteers so we can’t handle those large scale calls just with the two or three firefighters we will have on duty. We’ll depend on mutual aid, which is always delayed.”

Clint said firefighters believe in this JPA and, that with the right leadership, all parties can accomplish the objectives of why they came together in the first place — to better serve the public. 

Merlin Glass, 36 years in the fire service, attended all JPA meetings for the past year. He stressed that staffing levels need to be a major component of upcoming conversations as they directly impact the safety of the community’s firefighters. 

“I don’t know if the public knows that on any given day we only have eight firefighters that cover these three districts, all the way from Laclede all the way to Sagle,” Glass said. “To put out a fire in this building (referencing Sandpoint City Hall) you would need everybody in this room to participate … In any workshop you have, staffing levels have to be an ingredient because staffing levels cost money and that’s where you guys come in.” 

Michael Gow, with Selkirk Fire, echoed Glass’s statements and offered more context for what staffing in Sandpoint currently looks like. 

“The city of Sandpoint has a minimum of two firefighters on duty each day,” he said. “Right now, we have a potential of eight firefighters coming to the scene with three to four  different pieces of apparatus. That increases firefighter safety, rather than two people trying to figure out what is going on and how to mitigate that incident.”

He encouraged the council to put themselves in the shoes of those who elected them when making a decision about the future of the JPA.

 “I guarantee if you went out and told the public you’re going to take away firefighters that are responding to their house, they wouldn’t be supportive of it,” he said. 

Geraldine Lewis, chair of the Sagle Fire board of commissioners, said she came to speak on behalf of the five commissioners. 

“Sagle commissioners are in favor of keeping the JPA intact,” Lewis said. “But we realize there are some inherent problems with the contract — with HR, billing and the administration of it — but we feel that the benefits far outweigh the difficulties. The district wide unification is not only better and safer for the firefighters, it’s also safer for all those who live in the area.”

She said her board hopes there is room for improving the agreement to make it less cumbersome to operate.

William Gadsby retired two weeks ago from being chair of the Westside Fire Commission board which he served on for 15 years. He said both Westside and Sagle are working on levies to hire up to 10 more firefighters.

Sandpoint’s continued participation is critical for the success of addressing our manpower and staffing shortages,” he said. “Should the voters approve our manpower increase, the city will benefit tremendously from a stronger Selkirk workforce.”

The original agenda item encouraged discussion about continuation in the JPA with no required action, however Dick made a motion to establish public workshops that will make room for further discussion before a decision about the JPA is made. Council voted 4-1 to approve the workshops with Councilor Deb Ruehle dissenting. Councilor Joel Aispuro was absent and did not vote. Grimm clarified that depending on timing he will need written approval from the union to push approval of the Collective Bargaining Agreement forward into the year.