Fire protection is not a partisan issue

It has come to my attention that the Bonner County Republican Central Committee made a motion to oppose the three fire districts’ levies that are being placed on the May 20 ballot. I am disappointed that fire protection has become a partisan issue in Bonner County. 

People look to the central committee for guidance and policy recommendations, and assume those recommendations are made as a result of thorough research and careful consideration. No one from the committee has reached out to us for a meeting or information; therefore, I don’t know what research was done. Additionally, statements made in the meeting were based on assumptions and may not be accurate. Many statements made were also very emotional and bordered on personal toward me. 

I can certainly appreciate the desire to control taxes. However, there is a lot at stake here, and this decision shouldn’t be emotional. I am not asking the individual voter to support or oppose the levy. I understand it is often hard to separate policy from politics, but I have no agenda other than to provide you with solid data, and excellent service, with the resources you provide. In the end, I will support whatever decision the voters make. The only request I have is to be an informed voter and to do your own research, then make the decision that is right for you and your family. 

As a reminder, the level of service planned, that drove the need and amount of the proposed levy, came from community outreach efforts. Regarding the details, the amounts, and what they will fund, I used a zero-based budget approach to make sure those amounts were as minimal as possible when presenting them to the Boards. If anyone wants to see exactly how the funds will be allocated, and our staffing costs, I can provide that information for you. It is difficult to capture that in this letter and without a detailed discussion or a face-to-face meeting over budget documents.

The other assumption made in the meeting is that the levy is being proposed in order to facilitate a merger. I would like to point out to the community that the border of the Sagle and Westside fire districts do not touch. That would be required for any such discussion. What continues to be valuable about the JPA model is that it is not regionalization. Under the JPA the districts can save taxpayer money, while being independent, accountable to the taxpayer, and choose their own service level. 

As a note: while Northside Fire is not in the JPA, I serve as their fire chief under contract. As a result, all three districts are experiencing cost savings by sharing a fire chief. 

I remain available to the community for meetings, presentations, appointments, and even one-on-one sit downs, to answer questions as your fire chief. 

Jeff Armstrong is fire chief for the Sagle, Westside and Northside fire districts. He can be reached at jarmstrong@selkirkfire.us.