Mountlake Terrace Council deadlocked over new fire station

Published 7:36 am Friday, February 29, 2008

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — As it stands now, the proposed Mountlake Terrace fire station is at a halt.

Six of the seven City Council members voted Nov. 1 whether or not to send the construction of the new fire station out for bid; the vote was 3 to 3 — so the process stopped.

The seventh council member and swing vote, Michelle Robles, was absent from that meeting and was unable to be contacted for comment.

But, according to the city’s interim city manager Scott Hugill and its mayor, Jerry Smith, the issue is planned to come back up for another vote at its next City Council meeting Nov. 15 when all seven members are present.

The architects estimated costs for the total project was nearly $2.5 million—about $1 million more than the city staff first projected three years ago.

The stall in the process has perked the ears of the Mountlake Terrace fire union 1996 and according to its union president Buck Preuninger, they’re now concerned.

“(With this vote) they’ve made a statement to us,” Preuninger said, “we’ve been standing aside all along—letting them do their jobs. And it slowly has been moving forward but now its not.”

He added, “and so now the local is going to be more proactive here.”

In the meantime, firefighters at Mountlake Terrace station 19 still live in a trailer, because the apparent dilapidated fire station is unchanged.

“(Sleeping in the trailer) is a major inconvenience, plus adds to the response time —which isn’t good for the people,” Preuninger said. He added, he thinks this negatively impacts the possibility of an official merger with Fire District 1, which still hasn’t been implemented in either Mountlake Terrace or Brier.

The three who voted against going out for bid are City Council members Angela Amundson, Douglas Wittinger and John Zambrano.

Amundson and Wittinger have traditionally been against a new fire station from the beginning. Zambrano was unable to be contacted for comment.

Amundson and Wittinger have expressed they want the city staff to look into other options when dealing with the fire station, such as a remodel.

Regardless of the vote on Nov. 1, Smith believes the new fire station will be built. He said, according to findings from city staff, if the station was remodeled it would cost nearly $2.5 million as well.

“The council members who are against this don’t take into consideration we also have to pay for sales tax, permit costs and more.”

According to city officials, the official expenditures proposed by Lawhead Architects (this official proposal cost the city $82,000 to receive) stated the construction estimate alone was $1,860,858 (for October of 2004) then other monies include original architect and engineering fees would be $256,050, 8.9 percent sales tax, $43,000 worth of permits, $35,000 of inspections, one percent for public art plus money for contingencies.

“If you know you’re 50 percent over budget why would you go out to bid—what’s the point?” Wittinger said regarding why he voted no.

“I would pay the $300 a month it costs to rent the trailer all day rather than build a fire station I’m against,” he said.

Wittinger said the firefighters will eventually need a new fire station, but for now the council needs to take this up for a full reconsideration and or come up with a much more humble design, maybe on different or flatter land.

Wittinger added, he would vote for a new fire station if it was within $1.5 million TOTAL cost.

The lease costs to date for the trailer used for sleeping quarters at station 19 total $5,891, according to Hugill. This doesn’t include costs associated with running power to the trailer, or other similar site-related improvements.