MONROE — At the June 3 special joint fire board meeting between Snohomish Regional Fire and Rescue (SRFR) and Snohomish’s Fire District 4, SRFR’s board decided that the potential of having FD4’s chief act as SRFR’s interim chief on a temporary basis would not be beneficial right now for SRFR and FD4. SRFR is searching for its next chief to succeed retiring chief Kevin O’Brien. He previously announced he will retire July 15.
The SRFR board did agree that if Fire District 4’s chief Don Waller wanted to still “throw his hat into the ring” for the SRFR opening, he would be considered. Some members of SRFR’s board also openly discussed figuring out a future path of merging the larger SRFR with Snohomish’s smaller FD4, even if hiring O’Brien’s replacement results in both fire services having a fire chief in the meantime.
“We’re continuing past the discussion (of an interim chief) and (we’re) continuing on with the chief search,” SRFR chairman Troy Elmore said at the meeting. Other SRFR board members nodded in agreement. Final interviews of the five finalists were scheduled for this week after press time.
Fire District 4 initiated talks to “share administrative duties” in a May 13 proposal letter to SRFRs board The letter suggested FD4 would share its chief, Waller, with SRFR for an interim period of five months.
When asked about the idea, Waller said, “this is not about me,” and emphasized the importance of doing what is best for the community and both SRFR and FD4.
Brian Mills, chairman of FD4’s board, said the potential merger of SRFR and FD4 “makes sense,” and the board should weigh the “opportunities that exist right now.”
The board brought up the 2020 merger of Lake Stevens Fire and Fire District 7, which created SRFR, when discussing the potential administrative join-up between SRFR and FD4. O’Brien, Lake Stevens Fire’s chief who was chosen as chief for the newly founded SRFR, talked about his experience during the merger.
O’Brien said the new chief must be “committed to a merger process” and “leave their ego at home.” A big part of what makes a merger so challenging is combining the cultures of two districts into one.
O’Brien also added, “these districts need to do this, it totally makes sense for the community.”
Just like the search for a new fire chief for SRFR, the board decided that it would be best to move forward with the potential merger process with a third-party consulting group. The board also agreed to split up into sub-committees to make the process of a potential merger more efficient.
Other news from the meeting included the narrowing of six candidates to five, not including Waller, for the open fire chief position at SRFR. The sixth semi-finalist candidate withdrew from the process due to another opportunity in his hometown.
On Sunday, June 8, there was a fire chief candidate meet and greet open to the public at SRFR Station 31, 163 Village Court, Monroe.
SRFR’s board continued its conversation Monday, June 9 after press time.
