Soap Lake looks at fire chief fix

SOAP LAKE - The City of Soap Lake plans to create a new position to oversee the volunteer fire department while the city council struggles to find a long-term solution to provide fire services in the city.

The public safety officer position, proposed by Mayor Raymond Gravelle, would need to be approved by the council and would be an unpaid administrative position. Gravelle said Police Chief Glenn Quantz would likely be appointed to the role.

Former Chief Brandon Hood unexpectedly moved out of state after he was placed on administrative leave while the city conducts an audit on the fire department, according to previous reports from the Columbia Basin Herald.

Mayor Raymond Gravelle announced Wednesday Hood's employment was terminated. Hood is the fifth volunteer chief for the department since Gravelle took over as mayor in 2012. Details on the department audit are not being released at this time.

The city was previously unable to negotiate a contract with Grant County Fire District No. 7 to provide fire and medical service in Soap Lake, and currently does not have mutual aid agreements in place with nearby fire departments.

The council considered the move of creating a public safety officer to oversee the department as a short-term solution and discussed long-term options of annexing the city into Fire District 7 or proposing a public safety tax to fund a salaried, full-time fire chief in hopes to attract qualified candidates with administrative and managerial experience. A previous chief was paid $500 per month as a "consultant" for the city, according to city records.

"We can't keep going through chiefs," Councilmember John Glassco said. "The issue that we've got to face is the fact that if we don't have continuity with the management of the department, we don't have an effective force. I think the best thing we can do for the department is to create a salaried position from the tax because that's our best chance to hang onto someone who can manage the department and make it work."

City Attorney Katherine Kenison said both annexing into the district or a public safety tax would need to be approved by voters, reminding councilmembers of the difficulty of running a volunteer department.

"It is very hard to run a volunteer department with a paid chief," she said. "It is almost impossible to run a volunteer department with a volunteer chief. Anytime you're trying to keep a volunteer department staffed, you're going to have problems."

The council decided to continue to discuss the fire department next week, leaving Wednesday's meeting without adjourning. Gravelle said he will have a job description for the public safety officer for council to approve.