By John Leggett-The Courier-Herald
During one of their shortest meetings in recent memory (56 minutes), members of the Buckley City Council approved a feel-good ordinance aimed at being mutually beneficial to a pair of local agencies.
The Buckley Fire Department recently took possession of a new, $360,000 fire engine, but was aware there is not space in the Cedar Avenue firehouse to accommodate the city's 1983, 1997 and 2008 fire engines.
That is where the Greenwater Fire District comes into play. The department has two stations - one along state Route 410 and one within the Crystal Village neighborhood - and was one engine short.
With the addition of the new rig, Buckley's oldest fire engine “would have just been sitting outside, exposed to the elements,” Fire Chief Alan Predmore said.
“This is a case of two fire districts working together to solve one another's headaches,” he said, explaining that Buckley will be loaning Greenwater its 1983 truck.
Predmore makes it clear that the three-year agreement is just a loan.
“If one of our trucks ever goes down temporarily, the agreement clearly states that we have the option of going back up there and retrieving the 1983 until either our 1997 or 2008 engine is back in commission,” he said. “That way, we will always have two functioning trucks at our disposal. We sometimes need two at the same moment this time of year, when everything starts drying out and there is more of a hazard of blazes popping up beginning very soon.”
The Greenwater department has agreed to insure the 25-year-old fire engine while the loan is in effect and pay for required maintenance. Additionally, Greenwater must return the truck in reasonably good condition, showing only normal wear and tear, use it only for its intended purpose and not loan it to any other fire district.
In other action at the June 24 session, council members:
€ voted unanimously to make Wanning, Hainan Province, People's Republic of China, a sister city to Buckley;
€ approved a request by Rainier Hills Christian Fellowship to perform July 16 next to the skate park;
€ executed a purchase agreement with Vision Software to replace the majority of the city's budget and payroll accounting software for a little more than $34,000; and
€ renewed a long-standing agreement with Rainier School to provide fire protection services, with an increased fee structure in place.
The intent of the agreement is to assure that Rainier School pays no more, and no less, than Buckley citizens.
For the last year, Rainier School paid the city $67,200 for fire protection. Under terms of the new three-year agreement, the city will collect $80,718 the first year, $84,967 the second year and $86,669 the final year.
