JW, I spoke with the Fire Chiefs of both cities at great length. We had a beneficial and civil conversation that resulted in changes in some (but far from all) of the egregious aspects of the formula and shared data and documents with officials from both cities. Based on their emails and comments, I believe we all felt the conversations were helpful.
I was also the only non-uniformed, non-city employed person to attend the RFA Townhall held at the Tumwater fire station and had an opportunity to ask questions and interact at great length (I was the only member of the public there). I was also able to talk with many of the fire fighters who attended.
I also watched ALL of the RFA meetings and read the materials they made available.
I also talked with and exchanged emails with several other RFAs. I spoke with state legislative staff on the committees that have purview over the RFA law. I reviewed the legal opinions on the MSRC website (the link that is currently broken posted by Rep. Dolan goes there) and discussed with their staff the current practices and law relating to RFAs.
I have also been on calls and zooms with the city managers and the RFA consultants.
JW, you say ‘I've found every one of their [fire departments] claims to have merit.” Is your conclusion based on the same standard as former Rep. Dolan which, I hope fairly, characterize as “trust”? If not, would you be so kind as to share the research you did to determine the merits of their claims?
If you have the facts, please share them. Like Churchill or Maybe Keynes said, “When I find new information I change my mind; What do you do?
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