On Friday, July 18, nearly 2,000 gathered in Wood Village for their annual Nite Out event, which features music, family fun, and dozens of vendors representing local organizations and businesses.
This year, the City hosted a “Fire HQ” booth, where elected officials and City staff engaged with community members about the potential upcoming changes to fire and emergency services for the community. The booth focused on education around current service levels, and what a new station in or near Wood Village could do to lower response times. The booth had a poll asking community members what they valued in a fire service, and of quality, timeliness, and cost, the community overwhelming wanted timeliness, followed by quality. Community members also want to see emergency response times around four minutes. That number is hard to achieve in Wood Village due to a station gap. The booth also featured a raffle with fire safety prizes, including fire extinguishers.
The City discussed with the community that they are evaluating service providers between a contract with the City of Gresham, and the fire district model with Clackamas Fire District. Gresham Fire has provided service through a contract between the City of Wood Village and the City of Gresham for decades. But when the contract came up for renewal and negotiations began, the City of Gresham offered an extension of the previous contract but with a 94% increase in total cost with no additional services.
“Faced with this significant increase, we knew we would no longer be able to provide fire and emergency services through existing property taxes alone,” said Greg Dirks, Wood Village City Manager. “While the initial costs are similar, the cost to stay with Gresham ultimately grows to beyond the cost of Clackamas Fire District.”
In addition to being more cost effective, Wood Village highlighted other benefits to a fire district model, including having more ownership and control over the fire services. “On a service contract with Gresham, we are effectively a ‘renter,’” Dirks continued. “We are dependent on the contract offered each time, and we have no control over decision making over the fire stations, equipment, staffing decisions, and union relations.” The Clackamas proposal includes a fire station between Wood Village and Fairview to reduce response times for both communities.
Conversely, voters could choose to join a fire district, where they’d have a say in any tax measures put forward in the future, run for and vote on board members, and a choice to leave the district. Additionally, it would allow Wood Village to directly invest in fire and life protection assets, like fire trucks and centralized stations, even prior to joining the district, which they have been previously unable to do.
“Our primary goal is to improve service delivery for our community and provide sustainable funding for our firefighters. If costs are going up regardless, we need an option that is sustainable financially, and improves service,” Dirks said.
The Cities of Wood Village, Fairview, and Troutdale, recently commissioned an independent assessment of current services and alternative models to review financial sustainability and opportunities to improve service delivery. The report, completed by AP Triton, found that the current total response time in the Three Cities is 14 minutes, 20 seconds (90% of the time), which does not meet national standards for fire protection. (AP Triton, Feasibility Study, Options for Fire Protection & EMS, pg. 41)
Currently, service for the Three Cities primarily relies on one station, GFD #75, located in Troutdale. The report indicates that a new station, located centrally and near the highest-density EMS call volume areas, could mean a majority of the area would see call times improve to an average of 4 minutes. (AP Triton, Feasibility Study, Options for Fire Protection & EMS, pg. 32)
“We greatly appreciate the years of service Gresham Fire has provided to our communities,” Dirks said, “but our responsibility is to our community members. When we look at long-term cost, response times, and sustainability long-term, we believe joining a fire district is the best option.”
More information is available at https://www.woodvillageor.gov/fire-ems-updates/.