Benton Fire District 1 Commission: Candidates seek efficiency

A retired firefighter and a long-term commissioner are seeking a seat on the Benton Fire District 1 commission in the general election Nov. 3.

Incumbent Scott Carpenter, 57, has served the district since 1993. He was elected during a contentious time when the board had wanted to start a local improvement district.

"Changed needed to be done," said Carpenter, who recently retired from Battelle, where he was a janitor/maintenance worker. "The public wanted somebody who didn't have a conflict of interest."

Carpenter said he's still the only independent person on the board, and still does not favor establishing an LID. It's not an issue now, but there was a time when some members of the commission thought that was the best way to get funding for the fire district, he said.

"We haven't had much bone of contention in the last 16 years that I've been a commissioner and I'd like to keep that running," he said. "I'm just trying to really keep it with no conflicts and be the voice of the taxpayers."

Challenger Jerry F. Morris, 67, has lived in Badger Canyon since he retired after 26 years with the Ventura County Fire Department in Southern California.

He's running because he's "tired of the poor response times" to Badger Canyon and wants to help lead the district as it improves its volunteer firefighter program and finds ways to hire more firefighters.

"Even though they built a station here, it's still five miles away from where we live," Morris said. "Trucks don't get here by themselves. (The fire district has) great equipment, but it doesn't do any good if nobody answers the calls."

Commissioners serve six-year terms and the positions are nonpartisan.

Morris supports consolidating all the fire districts and department in the Tri-Cities -- not just in Benton County; he wants to include Pasco and Hanford fire departments.

Having separate agencies means there's a duplication of staff and services that could be combined to increase efficiencies, and the extra funds could be used to hire paid firefighters, he said.

"That's the main goal for the next five to 10 years. It can't happen overnight," he said. "There are things going in that direction -- departments are going toward that. My feeling is that District 1 has to contribute to the consolidation and not just benefit too."

Carpenter said he supports either a consolidation or forming a regional fire authority, whichever works best for the agencies and the public. He said he doesn't think either approach will save money in the long run because the fire agencies are constantly being hit with unfunded mandates, but it will make things more efficient.

"We're not looking at getting rid of people, just maximizing the personnel we have instead of duplicating all this stuff," he said. "Why can't we work together administratively? ... When there's a fire going on, they work together on the ground all the time. Why can't we do it on the flip side?"

Residents don't care where the fire trucks are coming from when their homes are on fire, he said. They just want crews to show up quickly.

The fire district has taken a first step toward finding efficiencies at the administrative level. The commissioners opted not to hire a new chief when longtime Chief Bob Gear took the top job at the Pasco Fire Department.

Instead, commissioners promoted one of the longtime volunteers, Mike Harris, to division chief, and he's responsible for maintaining the daily supervision of the district. They also decided to have Richland Fire Chief Grant Baynes handle the district's administrative duties.

Carpenter admits response times need to improve, but said only so much can be done as a volunteer fire district. The district is working on ways to retain volunteers, who are often hired away by fire departments that can pay them, and are working on finding ways to get funding to hire firefighters.

Morris said he has the experience to be able to help the fire district grow. When he was a firefighter, his department started with one on-duty firefighter at each of 25 stations and grew to having more than 400 paid on-duty employees.

"I went through that growth period. ... I have total knowledge of fire service," he said. "It's just a matter of readjusting priorities. This is what we have to do and just do it. ... It is a good district already, but I think it can be better."

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