EVERETT — Leaders at Snohomish County’s largest fire agency are looking at a major political reorganization.
The shift is required under a merger voters approved last year to combine Fire District 1 with the Lynnwood Fire Department.
The resulting fire authority, South County Fire & Rescue, serves about 250,000 people.
A proposal scheduled for a hearing Tuesday would create five election districts for commissioners, with two other commissioners elected at large. The system would replace a transitional board in place since last year.
Under the plan, commissioners would be directly elected by district starting in 2019. Elections for at-large commissioners would start in 2021.
The merger voters passed required at least two commissioner districts to include portions of Lynnwood, along with the unincorporated areas served by the fire authority. Three of the proposed districts would include parts of the city, South County Fire spokeswoman Leslie Hynes said.
The districts are for elections only. They would not directly change 911 response, the deployment of resources or the collection of taxes.
Brier, Edmonds and Mountlake Terrace are not included in the election districts. Those cities contract for service, but are not part of the fire authority itself.
Maps of proposed district boundaries, comment forms and more information can be found at southsnofire.org/electiondistricts.
Additional information is available at all 14 South County Fire stations, at Lynnwood City Hall (19100 44th Ave. W.), the Lynnwood Library (19200 44th Ave. W.) and at the Mariner Library in south Everett (520 128th St. SW, Suites A9-10).
The fire authority will accept written comments on the election districts through 5 p.m. Monday. People also can comment the day of the hearing.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465; nhaglund@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @NWhaglund.
Public hearing:
The South County Fire board has scheduled a hearing at 7 p.m. Tuesday about forming districts to elect commissioners. The location is the agency’s headquarters at 12425 Meridian Ave. S., Everett, WA, 98208.
Informational open houses:
Saturday noon to 2 p.m., Lynnwood Fire Station 15, 18800 44th Ave. W.
Tuesday 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., South County Fire headquarters, 12425 Meridian Ave. S., Everett.
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