Yakima County to draft support letter for Fire District 11; staff to retrieve prior draft

Yakima County commissioners on Thursday agreed to pursue a letter of support to promote coordination and possible investment for Yakima County Fire District 11, which serves areas that fall outside some special taxing districts.

Commissioner Jamie McKinney said the district “supports a lot of the bridal area that is not included in their taxation district” and asked staff to locate a previously drafted letter to use as a starting point. Commissioners asked staff to help convene stakeholders and to explore federal funding avenues as appropriate.

“I'm in favor of anything we could do to offer our support for this district,” McKinney said, describing interrelated needs for fire response, homelessness services and law enforcement across jurisdictional lines. McKinney said the board previously sent a letter to the congressional delegation on the issue a couple years ago and suggested a similar, respectful approach that recognizes each party’s budget constraints.

Commissioner Curtis asked county staff to retrieve the earlier draft. “Do you think, Julie, you could find the old one that we drafted up? And then maybe, Commissioner McKinney, I can take a look at it and then modify it and then bring it to a future work session,” Curtis said. Julie Lawrence, Clerk of the Board, agreed to locate the earlier draft.

The board also discussed recommending a direct line of communication between the county and the fire district and offered to facilitate convening the right stakeholders. McKinney mentioned federal avenues as a possibility but did not identify a specific program or source; the work session discussion did not establish a formal request to a particular federal agency.

Action taken at the work session was procedural: staff were asked to retrieve a previous draft letter and commissioners planned to review and revise it for discussion at a future meeting. No formal vote to send a letter was recorded on May 29.