Cle Elum City Council approves exploring fire district merger

Cle Elum City Council approves exploring fire district merger

The Cle Elum City Council has agreed to explore a merger between fire districts in Upper Kittitas County.

Officials from Cle Elum and Roslyn met earlier in February to discuss the possibility of pooling resources.

At last Tuesday’s council meeting, Mayor Matthew Lundh suggested the next step would be determining a governance structure.

Councilmember Steven Harper expressed support for consolidation, saying, “I think if nothing else, everybody comes away agreeing that consolidating resources, whether we consolidate as an RFA or a department or whatever, just continuing to use resources more efficiently, combining trainings, combining maintenance of resources. There shouldn’t be duplicity of things where we can get a deal by working together. We should always seek that.”

However, Councilmember Ken Ratliff voiced some concerns, saying, “We’re probably going in that direction eventually, but I’m reluctant. It would bring in a new government, and I think it should be part of one of the cities.”

While discussions about the merger continue, the future of fire services in the region remains uncertain.

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