City Council approves EMS contract for Echo Glen center

Published 1:30 am Friday, July 12, 2019

As part of the consent agenda, the Snoqualmie City Council on Monday approved a contract between the city and the Echo Glen Children’s Center in Snoqualmie which will result in continued city revenue generation.

The contract, from July 2019 to July 2021, has an annual revenue agreement of $16,578. The revenue helps to offset the cost of expenses for providing service to the facility.

Since 2003, the Snoqualmie Fire Department has provided fire and EMS services to the Echo Glen center — a medium to maximum security detention facility for male and female youth.

While the facility is in the Fall City Fire response area, it can only be accessed through City of Snoqualmie routes and the Snoqualmie Fire Department is the closest station to the center.

The first agreement charged the Department of Social and Health Services $5,000 annually for emergency responses to the center. And that remained unchanged until 2014, when the state developed a new funding formula that would eliminate the flat-rate payment for services, changing it to a cost-per-square foot model, bumping it up to $14,134 annually.

Had the city opted to discontinue providing services to the city, the burden would have shifted to King County Fire District 27 of Fall City. It would require the Fall City Fire Department respond via city streets, passing a closer staffed fire station and increasing response and distance times.