— from Rick Hughes —
We live in a remote part of Washington State, in a community of islands with limited transportation options and no critical/urgent/hospital care available on Orcas Island. What we do have is an amazing group of locally trained volunteers and professional fire fighters and paramedics. Living in a remote, rural area is not always easy and at times comes with unique issues, like medical care and transportation.
I have had the privilege of witnessing our amazing fire department in action at the Exchange fire and the Orcas Artworks fire in Olga, and feel lucky that we have so much talent in all our first responders. Both operations ran perfectly under stressful conditions and under the leadership of Kevin O’Brien.
It is important for Orcas Island to maintain the level of EMS and Fire services that we have for an assortment of reasons: the most important is the security knowing that we have people well trained and equipped, ready to save our lives and put out our fires 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It is critical to have effective emergency services on our island because we simply don’t have the luxury of relying on our neighbors for immediate assistance. I find this especially important when evaluating the possibility of wild land fires, natural disasters, or other large-scale incidents.
I have watched the discussion of the fire levy closely and do not understand all the negative comments around this issue. It is our responsibility to question and challenge our leadership and make them better and stronger leaders for our community, but at what point do the personal attacks become just wrong? If we are not careful, seasoned professionals may not want to work in our community because of how we treat those in service.
I hope we all understand that this is a fair levy rate and holds the line on spending. A no vote on the levy will have an impact on services available for Orcas Island.
Please join me in support for long-term, sustainable EMS/Fire funding by voting yes.
Thank you for your consideration.
Rick Hughes, county councilman, is also owner of Ray’s Pharmacy in Eastsound
I am not against this levy per se. All I hear is fear mongering from the pro side. The chief has never spelled out where this money is going. A budget is not specific enough. How much is on the medical side and how much is on the fire side. Many people I have talked to are voting no. It may not send it down but if a detailed explanation of who is on payroll and why we can’t get along without them was published, I might be convinced to support this as put forth.
Again I do not see anyone questioning the level of service that we are receiving.
The question is why do we need to spend
21 million dollars for the next ten years
for Administration and Operations.
The 1999 levy provided 20 million dollars for 15 years and we built two new fire
stations, bought the Westsound station and we purchase multiple new engines that were designed to serve the needs of the island.
We also now have 4 full time paramedics.
So why so much money now when the talks in
the past had been that we would reduce
the amount of money that would be requested after the 1999 levy expired ?
2012 Chief Harris salary & benefits = $85,000
2012 Assistant Chief positions = $52,200
2014 Assistant Chief position = $114,000
2014 Chief O’Brien salary & benefits = $132,000
2014 total = $246,000
2012 total = $137,200
Difference = $108,800
Very little difference in the work load from 2012 -2014