Appeal to Tacoma Fire Chief

Chief Ronald W. Stephens:

I am asking your forbearance regarding a contract to provide fire and emergency medical services to the Town of Ruston . Commensurate with a recent abrupt change in the makeup of the town council, an ordinance was passed by the Ruston Council which authorized Council Member Stebner and one other council member to negotiate a contract with the City of Tacoma to provide fire and emergency medical services to the town of Ruston . I am suggesting that you delay negotiating such a contract until you have met with Ruston Mayor Michael Transue and Ruston Fire Chief Don Torbet to get a better understanding of the current capabilities of the Ruston Fire Department and better gauge the support in the Ruston community for the Ruston Fire Department.

The Ruston Fire Committee just completed an analysis of the fire and emergency medical service needs for the Town of Ruston as the town prepares for the upcoming development growth. In performing its analysis, the Ruston Fire Committee interviewed the following local fire departments: 1) Browns Point / Dash Point 2) Lacey, 3) University Place and 4) Tacoma . All departments were exceedingly cooperative and helpful to the Ruston Fire Committee. Chief Stephens, your department in the persons of Michael Fitzgerald, Assistant to the Chief, and Jolene Davis, Deputy Chief Support Services, provided the committee with an excellent presentation of the capabilities, statistics and budget for the Tacoma Fire Department. Additionally, you provided the committee with a proposal for your Tacoma Fire Department to provide fire and emergency medical services to the Town of Ruston . After a meeting this summer with Ruston Mayor Transue and Fire Chief Torbet, you reaffirmed your department’s commitment to continue with the long standing Mutual Aid Agreement between Tacoma and Ruston.

As noted in my introductory paragraph, I am requesting your forbearance in negotiating a contract with Ruston for the following practical and political reasons.

Ø The Ruston Fire Committee recommended that Ruston retain and expand its Fire Department to a paid/volunteer department over the upcoming growth years.
Ø The Ruston Fire Committee considered your proposal for fire and emergency medical services to Ruston to be a fair and accurate one based primarily on a model of cost per incident.
Ø Increasing the Ruston Fire Department capacity will benefit the area wide fire and emergency medical services network by having an additional department to help share the increased services demand while helping defray some of the costs to other fire departments in the area.
Ø The Ruston Fire Committee concluded that the extremely rapid EMS and Fire response of the Ruston Fire Department, due to the very compact geography of the town, is a major benefit to the current citizens and will be a benefit to residents in the new developments occurring in Ruston and the adjoining area of Tacoma .
Ø After a number of difficult financial years for Ruston due to the closure of ASARCO and the EPA mandated site cleanup, Ruston is now entering into a period where it will be able to provide increased financial support for the area’s service demands.
Ø The Ruston community requires more time to have forums to discuss the Ruston Fire Committee recommendations. A paucity of such discussion was reflected in the denial of community input at the Ruston Council meeting that passed the ordinance authorizing Council Member Stebner to negotiate a contract with Tacoma .
Ø During the past year, Council Member Stebner, while serving on the Ruston Fire Committee during its assessment period, without conferring with the committee, proposed an ordinance to contract with Tacoma for fire and emergency medical services. The community support for the Ruston Fire Department and the Ruston Fire Committee was so overwhelmingly strong that Council Member Stebner withdrew his proposed ordinance.
Ø A contract from Tacoma at this time might prove to be awkward if it is different from the proposal given to the Ruston Fire Committee just a few months ago.
Ø The Ruston ordinance authorizing members of the Ruston Council to negotiate a contract with Tacoma may have over stepped the authority of the council to enter into an activity which is normally within the purview of the Ruston Mayor. Additionally there appeared to be procedural flaws that might bear upon the authority to proceed with negotiating the contract.

Chief Stephens thank you very much for your time to consider this issue, may I ask that you proceed with as much speed as possible in granting my request, the timeline proposed by the Ruston Council is extremely aggressive and will not provide for the considered community involvement that this subject requires.

Due to the wide ranging impact of this proposed contract between Tacoma and Ruston for fire and emergency medical services, you can see by the inclusive list of people on this email, I am intent on reaching as many principals as possible.

Thank you,

Lyle Hardin - Phone 253 752 8815
Ruston Resident
Ruston Fire Committee Member