Proposition No. 1 on the November general election ballot asks if the King County Fire District No. 28 should be increased from three members to five members.

The Board of Commissioners voted unanimously May 4 to place the measure on the ballot.

At the Monday, Oct. 12 Enumclaw City Council meeting, the council approved a resolution in support of the expansion.

The explanatory statement notes, “The Board of Commissioners believe passage would be in the best interests of the District because it would allow a larger representation on the Board, greater citizen participation, and provide more input for the effective and efficient running of the District.”

Adjoining district Mountain View Fire and Rescue/King County Fire District 44 has five and Maple Valley Fire and Life Safety has five.

District 28 Chair Stan McCall said at the May 4 meeting the issue had been raised many times and members of the community requested five. He also said the board members have discussed the issue of expansion and all are in favor of adding two more commissioners.

Fire district Attorney Mike Reynolds said, “One of things a lot of the public doesn’t understand, on a three-member commission two people can’t talk to each other because it constitutes a quorum under the Open Public Meetings Act. It’s very difficult to run an organization when two can’t talk and the only time they can talk is in a meeting.”

Reynolds also noted the reason the board chose to run the measure in November is it didn’t cost the district anymore because McCall’s seat is on the ballot. He is unopposed.

“I think we all recognize as a board members it is extremely difficult to govern and make decisions and that (a) caucus is not possible when we just have three,” McCall said. We are all unanimously in favor of expanding this board to five, not so we can have more financial impact to our budget, but simply so we can govern better, and more reasonably and caucus together and make decisions individually and collectively that are smarter and better. Five heads are better than three…. Our hope is the public will also find this to be a smart move and in keeping with our mission of being good stewards of taxpayer money.”

Commissioner Angie Stubblefield said she felt it is important to to educate voters why the board should expand to five.

“It won’t pass if you don’t have education as to why it is important,” Stubblefield said. “It is going to cost more money when you have more commissioners sitting at the table. I don’t want anything coming in that sounds like it’s a great panacea when there other things worthy of considering into it.”

McCall added the cost of more commissioners comes out of the existing budget., “We are not asking for anymore money.”

Commissioners are paid $114 per meeting.

The proposition needs a simple majority to pass.