The Lewis County Fire District 5 Board of Commissioners held a 45-minute meeting Friday to approve a motion to respond to the City of Chehalis and the Lewis County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) regarding the city’s intent to annex its urban growth area (UGA).
Part of that UGA is within LCFD 5’s area of service, as well as the service area of Lewis County Fire District 6.
The three commissioners, Chairman Sam Patrick, Sandra White and Mike Goodwillie — who appeared remotely — began the meeting by voting unanimously to deliver a letter to Chehalis and the BOCC, which Patrick later clarified was not a formal decision on whether it supported or opposed the annexation, but indicated that it expressed a desire to be involved in “knowing what’s going on,” especially regarding the financial details of the negotiations.
Stacy Denham, city manager for the City of Chehalis, was present at the meeting, and spoke to reasons for the annexation, saying that the state had changed laws to expedite the process.
Denham noted that current law allows for the City of Chehalis councilors and county commissioners to vote on the issue without having to rely on a public vote. He added that the county is also pushing for annexation because it wants all the UGAs incorporated into cities.
As for how that impacts Fire District 5 and Fire District 6?
“When we incorporate (Fire District 5 and 6), that area that we incorporate — eventually the district loses the funding coming from those taxpaying citizens, and then the City of Chehalis is then required to pick up the coverage of that general area,” Denham said.
The big question is whether the Chehalis Fire Department, Fire District 5 and Fire District 6 should merge into a bigger department — which Denham supports — or reach a different agreement.
Chief Adam Fulbright of the Chehalis Fire Department then spoke about the proposed interlocal agreement (ILA) that would establish a “functional consolidation” of operations between the agencies while still allowing for individual ownership of assets, budgets and facilities.
A goal of the ILA, Fulbright said, would be to show the public and legislative bodies that the agencies can work well together and, ultimately, become stronger as a merged organization.
“The (ILA) committee would also develop a financial plan that would provide long-term stability, if the elected officials agree that we want to go to the general public for a full-blown merger of organizations,” Fulbright said.
Patrick said that, as it stands now, all departments would remain separate, calling it a “larger mutual aid agreement.”
Denham emphasized that any loss of funding due to annexation would not be instantaneous, as fire districts are specifically protected by state law. He said the districts would retain their budgets through 2026.
“So that gives us time to kind of ramp up, to have negotiations, to deal with anything that we need to deal with,” Denham said.
If there is no functional merger, though, the Chehalis Fire Department would require a takeover on Jan. 1, 2027, according to Denham.
“The biggest aspect of this is to work together, to make sure that we work together and to make sure that … whatever the outcome is, it’s the best outcome for the constituents and people who are actually in these areas,” Denham said.
Some community members expressed concern over the potential ILA and merger, including former Fire District 6 Chief Bud Goodwillie, father of District 5 Commissioner Mike Goodwillie.
Goodwillie said the idea of an ILA is nothing new.
“The departments have been doing this for years,” Goodwillie said. “So why is there going to be an agreement?”
He added that the departments have long provided automatic aid.
“Basically what it's doing is providing coverage for the City of Chehalis because they can't cover the area that they're annexing,” Goodwillie said. “They've got one station that has supposedly been a temporary station. The city for the last eight, nine years, keeps saying that they're looking for property. They don't have the money to build a new station. They don't have the money to add eight to 10 new firefighters to cover a station to cover the area. So they're looking at these two districts to bail them out.”
Resident Tim Potter wondered why the annexation is taking place now, when the supposedly new state laws pertaining to annexation were passed in 2018. He also brought up the loss of taxpayer dollars that would result from the annexation.
Patrick indicated that the potential financial ramifications were still being determined, and emphasized that the proposed ILA between the agencies was not a merger, and that a true merger would still have to come to a citizen’s vote.
“This is kind of a mutual aid on steroids,” Patrick said.
Chief firing
During the meeting, Potter questioned the timing of former District 5 Chief Jonathan Beck’s contract termination. Beck was let go on Oct. 9. He was the third fire chief fired by the commissioners since June 2023.
“There was some stuff I can’t go into,” Patrick responded, before mentioning “some things that came up” that required conversations with legal counsel. He called the situation unfortunate.
“(In) some departments, one person will fit really well and do a great job; (in) another department, they don't fit as well, if that makes sense.” Patrick said.
When asked for further comment by The Chronicle, Patrick said, “All I can say is moving in two different directions.”
The chairman elaborated in response to a followup question from resident Debbie Aust.
“Well, what I can tell you is you sometimes don't know how a person's going to be, even doing backgrounds and stuff, until they sit in that chair and in that position.”
Patrick added that he wished Beck the best of luck.
“He has a lot of experience, a lot of knowledge, a very smart man, but like I mentioned, sometimes you can have all the knowledge in the world, but you just don't fit in one area,” Patrick said, before adding that a chief has to be able to work with people, agencies, the board of commissioners and the public.
“Sometimes you get down there and you realize it just doesn't work,” Patrick said.
After the meeting, Board Commissioner Sandra White told The Chronicle that former Fire Chief Gregg Peterson is helping out during the interim.
As far as annexation goes, the conversation continues.
On Monday, Oct. 20, the Lewis County BOCC is holding a joint public hearing with the City of Chehalis to further discuss the agreement that would allow the city to annex within its UGA.
