Explaining annexation

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East Jefferson Fire Rescue Chief Jim Walkowski and Commissioner David Seabrook answered questions about the annexation of the city of Port Townsend into the Jefferson County Fire Protection District 1 during the Jefferson County Democrats’ April 1 meeting. Walkowski explained to the audience at the Tri-Area Community Center in Chimacum that the voter-approved annexation was the first step toward affording residents of Port Townsend representation in the fire protection district that has provided service to them since 2007. According to Walkowski, state law ensures the process is incremental, so the fire district’s next steps will be to run a ballot measure to expand the board of commissioners from its current roster of three members in August, followed by another ballot measure to designate five new commissioner districts within the expanded service area. When asked whether the fire district’s taxpayers would have to pay for the ballot measures, Walkowski confirmed this was true and noted the fire district’s measure is the only item on the ballot in August. A question about qualifications for prospective commissioner candidates led Walkowski to suggest that strong administrative and financial skills would be welcome, while Seabrook added that “good listeners” are needed as well. A question was raised about how the new commissioner districts, if approved, would be distributed, which Walkowski explained would be based on a number of factors. “Part of it will be based on their population numbers,” Walkowski said. “And part of it will be based on their population demographics, from race and ethnicity to gender. We want those to be as equal as possible between all five commissioner districts.” Walkowski agreed with one questioner who pointed out this would mean that certain districts would be significantly geographically larger, to capture the same numbers of people as the other districts. At the same time attendees asked about criteria for commissioner candidates, Walkowski and Seabrook encouraged more volunteers to serve in other positions in the fire district, from firefighters to administrative personnel, and referred those interested to the East Jefferson Fire Rescue site at ejfr.org for further details. “We’re all short on people,” Walkowski said, referring to the county’s emergency response and law enforcement agencies. After the meeting, Jefferson County Election Coordinator Betty Johnson confirmed that the fire district measure is the only one on the ballot for August, but the deadline to file is May 10, so there could be other measures.