Fire commissioners for Clallam County Fire District 3 have paused a decision to sell a home adjacent to fire station 34 on Fifth Avenue.
Initially, they agreed to put the two-bedroom, approximate 900 square foot home and 0.18-acre property at 305 North Fifth Ave. in Sequim on the market at their Jan. 6 meeting in a 2-1 vote. Board President Bill Miano voted against the sale.
Proceeds from its tentative sale would support a capital fund to help replace the Carlsborg Fire Station 33 due to its size and condition, and be constructed at the Operations and Training Center nearby on Carlsborg Road.
The home was purchased more than a decade ago by the district from William and Isobel Johnston for $142,000 with the agreement they would live at the home until their deaths. The couple has both passed away in recent years.
District staff had previously planned for the property to be used in the future for district use.
For decades the home was a popular sight for its large agave plant in the front yard that went on to bloom in 2023 with a 22-foot stock.
At their Jan. 20 meeting, fire commissioners agreed to table the sale and directed staff to further investigate options for the property again.
No update was available at the commissioners’ Feb. 3 meeting, but commissioner Jeff Nicholas noted that using the house for anything due to its condition would be costly and require improvements, and Mike Mingee said it would require a costly zoning change, too.
Commissioners had previously asked Fire Chief Justin Grider to bring recommendations to them late last year, and he presented on Jan. 6 options to renovate the property for office space, demolish it for a parking lot, sell it, or rent it. District staff recommended razing it as renovations and permits would have been too expensive, with Miano agreeing with the recommendation.
The sale received some pushback at the Jan. 20 meeting with former Fire Chief Steve Vogel, and former fire commissioner James Barnfather writing letters opposed to the sale, and Firefighter/EMT Jon Donahue, representing the firefighters’ union Local 2933, speaking against it, too.
Firefighters also spoke out against the sale on social media advocating for a larger footprint for station 34.
In Barnfather’s letter, he said the board has “an excellent opportunity to pursue the district’s vision of expanding its operation with an on-campus administration building, or enlarging the capacity of the much needed parking lot.”
“This is a bird-in-hand opportunity to accomplish this goal without the prohibiting cost of purchasing another piece of real estate for the same purpose,” he wrote.
Clallam County Assessor’s Office appraised the property built in 1946 at $309,408.
Bond discussion
Commissioners and staff are also exploring potential bond options to help finance construction for the Carlsborg fire station and a new structure for Dungeness Station 31.
All three commissioners agreed on Feb. 3 that they didn’t want to go to voters for a bond, but rather pursue a 20-year non-voted bond.
They’ve discussed using $5 million from a loan and the district’s capital account, now with about $4.6 million, if needed.
Misty Shaw, the district’s finance director, reported that a $5 million loan at 4% interest would cost $7.3 million over 20 years paying approximately $366,000 a year, while 6% interest would cost $8.6 million over 20 years with an annual payment of about $433,000.
Mingee requested a representative from financial services firm D.A. Davidson to speak with them by the end of the month because he wanted to get their “financial ducks in a row and decide what we’re going to do this year so we can break ground next year.”
Shaw said a voter-approved bond could have a lower interest rate than a non-voted bond but it would be a longer process.
Mingee said he didn’t feel good about asking for bond money from voters because he feels people in Washington are taxed a lot.
He said with the district having little to no debt, they’d likely get a good rating and a lower interest rate.
Five member board
The district is also continuing to explore if it must look to expand its commissioner seats from three to five or seven seats based on staffing levels and its budget. Grider did not have a recommendation at the Feb. 3 meeting but according to the district’s legal counsel, the district must follow RCW 52.14.015.
However, commissioners were concerned about some of its wording, as it seems vague to them with a requirement that a “fire department consisting wholly of personnel employed on a full-time, fully-paid basis shall (have) five commissioners as they have volunteer firefighters on staff.”
Their budget also exceeds a $10 million threshold that in the RCW states the district “may have” seven fire commissioners.
Miano said he’d like more information, and Mingee said it is an honorable thing to look into, but might be preemptive.
Recording meetings
In other discussions, the commissioners unanimously agreed to have their meetings recorded via Zoom and made available through the district’s website at ccfd3.org.
