As the City of Chehalis’ interlocal agreement with the Washington state Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF), which manages Green Hill School, for fire and emergency medical services is set to expire on June 30, the Chehalis City Council will not renew the two-year contract. At least not yet.
Green Hill School does not pay property taxes as a state agency, so an interlocal agreement has provided fire and emergency medical services for several years, with the current two-year agreement beginning on July 1, 2023.
The DCYF agreed to pay $0.096 per square foot per year with a 2% increase, equating to a total of $57,323.31 from July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2027. However, Councilor Bob Spahr stated during the council’s Monday meeting that the fee the agency pays is inadequate for the amount of service. Chehalis Fire Chief Adam Fulbright responded to Spahr’s question about the call volume at Green Hill, and while he said the exact number of calls per year the department receives, he stated that it has experienced an uptick in calls recently about overdoses, namely in fentanyl.
“I’d like to hear a little bit more about an audit that the [fire] chief might bring to us as to what it’s really costing us,” Spahr said.
Councilor John Six considered renegotiating with the state about a more significant increase for the next contract. He suggested letting the contract expire while the city researches the call volume per month and how much it costs the city.
“Would it really throw a wrench in if we decided to say, ‘Actually, let’s just continue with what we have and let it roll while we do a study and figure out what the actual cost is and decide we actually need to increase by like 10% to 15% to actually get close instead of waiting another two years?’” Six asked. “I’m not saying we’re going to break even, but I do think it should be a lot more than 2%.”
“I don’t think that will be a problem, but we can certainly chat,” Fulbright responded. “Communication with this group has gone really well. We talked back and forth. There’s been no pushback. They were completely prepared to pay the 2% extra.”
City Manager Stacy Denham said city staff don’t know how long it will take to renegotiate the contract, so the agreement could be tabled and brought back to the council in July.
