Woodinville Firefighters Union and Board Clash Over Annexation Layoffs

Monday night’s Woodinville Fire & Rescue Board of Commissioner’s meeting lasted 22 minutes: That was all the time needed for board chair Tim Osgood to blast International Association of Fire Fighters Local 2950 for trying to dictate policy and for union spokesman and firefighter Greg Garat to ask the board to stop adding administrative staff at the same time district is losing .

“While the Board appreciates the Local’s position in trying to protect the jobs of the firefighters that ultimately had to be transferred to Kirkland, it is not the place of the Local to dictate levels of service to the public,” Osgood read from a prepared statement. “That responsibility falls with this Board.”

He also stated that the union had plenty of time to oppose the annexation at the time it was being decided. “The Local supported this annexation by its failure to oppose it publically,” Osgood said.

The union claims it did try to meet with district leadership and was ignored. It further questions the need for more administrative staff when six firefighters are being transferred to Kirkland. As part of Kirkland’s annexation of Kingsgate, Fire Station 34 will close on June 1, and Woodinville Fire & Rescue will have cuts in both its revenue (about $1.4 million) and in the area it covers.

“Beginning June 1, there will be more people in the administration than there will be firefighters protecting the community,” the union’s Garat told the commission.

Osgood made the board’s position clear at the end of his statement: “To sum up these comments, the Board is quite happy to work with the Local in areas where the Local wants to work with our staff, however it is not the role of the labor group to dictate managerial decisions or make policy. This Board and the Executive Team of the District are united in our goal to move the District forward.”

At the center of the conflict between the board and the union is Fire Chief I. David Daniels, whom the board hired 18 months ago. Daniels contends that when he arrived he found a fire district with good operating practices but inadequately trained administrative staff.

“There was no budget, no one knew who much money was even in the bank,” Daniels said. “Even the board didn’t know how much money was in the bank.”

Daniels said it was necessary to bring in better-educated administrators in order to run the district in a professional manner. He said he didn’t have the talent and experience on staff to fill administrative positions he felt were needed.

The union contends that there were people in the district who could have been tapped for those positions, if indeed those positions are needed. Specifically, the union questions the need for an executive assistant to the fire chief, a deputy chief of operations, deputy chief of safety and risk management, a chief administrative officer and a finance officer.

“Stop increasing the administrative overhead until it can be shown that the positions being hired will not result in additional deficit spending,” Garat said.

The district’s current budget forecasts an estimated $1.8 million deficit by 2016. Garat called out commissioners Osgood and Clint Olson for supporting the chief’s administrative hiring, when he said that both stated in November 2009 that a reorganization and reduction in administrative staff was needed because of reduced revenue in the economic downturn.

The board did not address Garat or have any further discussion on administrative staffing. Other issues raised in Osgood’s statement include complaints regarding the conduct of a senior staff member, which resulted in an outside investigation commissioned by Daniels. Patch is investigating the story.