Months into negotiations, Fire District 38 and the city of North Bend are still struggling to reach an agreement on plans to replace the old and undersized Fire Station 87, which currently serves both populations through a joint agreement with Eastside Fire and Rescue.

The district and city haven’t been able to come together on ownership and location issues in order to get a capital funds bond measure before taxpayers in November, and stringent voter validation requirements following a presidential election could keep a bond issue off ballots in early 2009.

“It would be difficult to bring it back before next November,” said North Bend City Administrator Duncan Wilson.

Building and ownership

One topic under negotiation is how much city and non-city taxpayers should contribute to construction, and how much ownership of the station they would retain.

The district now pays about 70 percent of operating costs for the existing station, and recent talks have centered on the district paying 70 percent of building costs for its replacement, District 38 Commissioner Ron Pedee said. The 70/30 ratio roughly reflects the assessed valuation of property within the district versus that within the city.

As North Bend annexes its urban growth area in coming years, however, the proportions will shift, Pedee said.

The city has proposed that ownership be assigned on a “sliding scale” based on assessed value, and shift over time in the form of annual paper transactions, said North Bend Mayor Ken Hearing.

While it’s in the financial interest of both parties to operate jointly now, that could change with population shifts, Pedee said. He wants to ensure that if the city decides to discontinue its contract with Eastside Fire and Rescue, which staffs the station, District 38 taxpayers will get a fair share of their assets back.

“If the city were to leave EFR, then we need some indemnification because we’ve already saddled our district with 70 percent of the building costs,” Pedee said.

Wilson disagreed with Pedee’s assessment.

“I don’t think that’s accurate. They’re not always saddled with 70 percent of the debt, because those that are annexed will be paying off that debt regardless,” Wilson said. “That’s one of the biggest battles we’ve had: They’ve failed to acknowledge the fact that city residents will be paying off their debt.”

Hearing said District 38 taxpayers who might be annexed into North Bend should be able to take their portion of ownership into the city.

“It sounds like (District 38 negotiators) want back every dime that the district paid, even if people that lived in the district had diminished in population,” Hearing said.

The mayor added that the city has no intention of breaking with EFR: “If we can put together a contract, it’s a long-term forever contract.”

He said he was baffled by the mistrust of the city that he perceived from District 38.

“From my point of view, if you’re making those kinds of plans and assumptions, you’re setting yourself up for a dissolution,” Hearing said.

Another point of contention is where to site the new building. The city wants to see it built on property it already owns on North Bend Way.

“It is out of the flood plain, is centrally located, and provides slightly better service to people on the west side of town,” Hearing said of the site.

Pedee said another site, about half a mile east, might better serve his 12,000 constituents, but he was flexible on the location.

“If we could come to agreement on some of our other issues, I think that the city site would suffice,” he said.

Inadequate station

Representatives from the district and the city do agree that the current building is inadequate and structurally unsound.

Originally built as a volunteer station in the 1940s, the facility has been remodeled several times to accommodate the increased emergency services needs of the area. Crews who live there have dealt with rat infestations, and they sleep in quarters that look more like office cubicles than bedrooms. The electrical system, Wilson said, is “not as stable as we’d like it to be.”

In February, the station was temporarily evacuated after the discovery of asbestos.

The price tag for a new station that would serve the area for about 50 years could top $7 million, not including the price of land, said Fire Chief Lee Soptich. A station with a shorter life span would cost less. But whatever the price of the proposed station, the government must present taxpayers with a clear plan of what it would look like and cost.

“Once you have those details down, you need at least six months to educate the voters,” Pedee said. He said it took his district about a year and a half to educate constituents on the district’s last levy lid lift, which was on the February 2007 ballot.

“As much as we need to build a station, getting it on the ballot is secondary to getting an agreement,” Pedee said.

Construction costs continue rising, though, and Wilson expressed frustration at delays in getting a bond measure before voters.

“We’re just devastated by the roadblocks that were thrown up in front of us to get this done,” Wilson said.