Soap Lake mulls fire fee

SOAP LAKE - The City of Soap Lake may be in the position of paying a fee to Grant County Fire District No. 7 whenever the district provides emergency services within city limits.

Mayor Raymond Gravelle told city council members recently the district feels Soap Lake's fire department needs to take more appropriate actions to provide a higher level of consistency in first-alarm responses.

In a letter to the city, the District No. 7 said the local department consistently misses local calls and district crews respond instead.

"Our main issue is manpower," Soap Lake Fire Chief Tony Lidbetter said. "We currently have three volunteers, and that's all. And all four of us work full-time jobs during the day, so we're not here in town."

The unit's response time is under five minutes when fighters are available, but if no one is, dispatch would tone the department three times before notifying District No. 7, which covers rural Soap Lake.

"When we're here, we do a great job," Lidbetter said. "We do everything that we can, but we can't be here 24-7 because it's a volunteer department."

The city has until early September to take action. Solutions including drumming up more volunteers, a full-time fireman to be available, and annexation into District No. 7.

"Something needs to change, and whatever it is needs to be based on the best service for the community," Lidbetter said.

"I think it's more important, just like our police department, to have our own fire department. It's our town," City Councilwoman Kandis Lair said.

"We as a council want a fire department here," City Councilman John Hilliman said. "It takes volunteers to do this, and I know our chief here is having a hell of a time keeping up with volunteers."

"I'm going to assume that this is very serious, and I'm treating it accordingly," Gravelle said.

And while the board made no final decision, Gravelle said the city will explore some of the options mentioned at the meeting.

Newly hired interim Police Chief Glenn Quantz was sworn earlier in the evening, and delivered to the council and nearly packed audience his plans for the department.

"I have only one direction, and that's forward," he said. "It's years of damage that's been done, regardless of who's at fault. We've got a lot of things to do."

The department announced two full-time officer positions earlier that day, and he said radio upgrades were not too far off in the future.

"We want to be able to grow a little bit, but we have to stay within our mean," Quantz said. "I'm open to grow within the boundaries of our abilities."

The police reserve program was also discussed, which Quantz said he'd also like to expand pending costs.

He told the council and audience that he takes the idea of transparency very seriously.

"That's one of the agreements I made with the mayor," he said. "I would encourage you that if you're hearing rumors or gossip, come and ask me."

"I would like to just ask a little patience while he gets his feet on the ground and gets everything in order," Gravelle chimed in. "And most importantly, gets some more boots on the ground and hire more officers."

One recent position opened up earlier this month after the city terminated an officer due to, what Gravelle called "gross misconduct."

"Details can't be shared at this time because the investigation involved an active case," he said, declining to share anything further.