City renegotiates deal for backup fire dispatchers; mulls hiring more of its own

The city of Spokane extended its agreement on Monday to utilize a county-led emergency dispatch agency for backup when it is short on its own fire dispatchers.

The revised agreement was signed as the City Council considers a budget action that would allow the city to hire three more fire dispatchers of its own, alleviating the need to rely on the Spokane Regional Emergency Communications agency to fill in when the city crew is understaffed.

The interlocal agreement allows the county agency, commonly referred to as SREC, to handle city fire dispatch duty when necessary for a flat fee of $57,600 per month.

Meanwhile, the City Council could vote as early as next Monday on an emergency budget ordinance that would authorize the fire department to hire three full-time dispatchers.

The proposal is the latest evolution in council’s protracted consternation over joining the county-led emergency dispatch agency.

Last year the City Council barred the city from joining SREC, arguing the fledgling agency’s leaders had not proven that it would save the city money or provide better service to city residents.

Of the numerous police and fire agencies in Spokane County, the city of Spokane is the last major holdout to not join SREC.

In the year since SREC launched in 2019, the city has increasingly fallen short of the minimum staffing levels necessary to safely provide dispatch services. There are currently two vacancies on a fire dispatch team of eight people, many of whom are working overtime.

The proposed budget action would add three full-time fire dispatchers at an annual cost of about $500,000. Savings due to the vacant positions would cover the cost for the remainder of 2020.

It’s unclear where funding would come from in 2021, but Spokane City Council President Breean Beggs said Monday that the budget action could allow the city to be independent of SREC when its mutual aid agreement expires in February.

The revised agreement with SREC, unanimously passed by the council on Monday, was the second revision to the deal in recent weeks.

The council authorized the $57,600 flat payments last month, but expressed concern that the deal had to be renewed by both the city and SREC on a month-to-month basis. The new revision alleviates that concern by setting an expiration date of Feb. 1, 2021.

Either the city or SREC can pull out of the agreement with 14 days’ notice.

SREC’s governing board approved the revised agreement last month.

The new termination date “is in no way meant to be a threat or effort to coerce or pressure the City of Spokane or the City Council join SREC as a member,” said Spokane Valley Fire Chief Bryan Collins, a member of SREC’s board, in a statement last month.

“SREC’s Board fully recognizes that the City must make its own decision as to how it can best serve its citizens and deliver dispatch services,” Collins said.