ML council updated on fire, water

By PAUL DELANEY

Staff reporter

MEDICAL LAKE — The Medical Lake Council received updates on both the annexation of the city’s fire department by Spokane County Fire District 3 and some changes that will be taking place to water service.

At the Feb. 18 meeting, Fire District No. 3 Chief, Cody Rohrbach spoke to the transition that will replace the fire department that has served the citizens of Medical Lake for 115 years. Work continues on the remodel of the Medical Lake fire station so it will be better able to accommodate housing firefighters.

“We just recently announced the eight new firefighters (who will staff the station),” Rohrbach said.

While the solid timeframe has not yet been established for that full transition it should be complete after the four-month Spokane County Fire Academy, set for April or June to train those new personnel. Some 200 applicants sought those openings.

In the meantime Rohrbach said his Four Lakes station will service Medical Lake.

“We’re at 100 percent of calls answered since annexation,” Rohrback said.

City Administrator Doug Ross updated some recent activity with water, specifically word on the long-anticipated intertie with the city of Spokane.

“The water intertie with the city of Spokane is for the city of Medical Lake to have access to 600 gallons of water per minute for emergency use (as approved by the city of Spokane) and 200 gallons per minute of supplemental water to be used at the our discretion,” Ross wrote in an email.

In order to make the physical connection to the Spokane water main, a new booster station must be built adjacent to the existing well pump house located at the southeast corner of State Route 902 and Craig Road. The estimated cost of the project is around $500,000 and bids close Feb. 28.

Ross also said the city recently completed installation of a much smaller booster station located northwest of the north side of the lake. It will enable the city to operate the water system as a whole instead of in zones, which is done now.

Council also agreed to stay with the Spokane County Consortium for community block grants. The city has been part of that group for the past 20 years. It serves to approve a variety of grants which in Medical Lake’s case help fund programs such as the food bank or Medical Lake Outreach.

The option for the city was to become part of the statewide group, something Ross cautioned against. “So we only compete with Spokane County for these funds,” Ross said.

Finally, council agreed to the return of a spring city-wide clean-up day on May 2 and to continue the interagency agreement between the state Department of Labor and Industries and city of Medical Lake to inspect mobile homes.

Representatives from Avista Utilities gave an overview of its Rural Vitality Mission. The regional provider of electricity and natural gas will be conducting an ongoing study/survey over the next two months that will look to deliver a demographic picture of the city and plan to report to council on what is found.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].