North Bend City Council discussed the city’s options for future policing services amid a full house at its meeting April 15.

North Bend put out a request in March seeking proposals for future policing services. The city has contracted with Snoqualmie for policing since 2012, with the most recent contract having expired at the end of 2024. Both the Snoqualmie Police Department (SPD) and the King County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) submitted proposals and presented them to the North Bend City Council at a work study meeting April 8.

At the meeting April 15, several citizens spoke during public comment, practically — or literally — begging the council to continue contracting with SPD. They say SPD has done a good job, and they don’t want to lose the relationships that have been built.

“Our local businesses are happy with the service they are getting right now,” SnoValley Chamber of Commerce CEO Kelly Coughlin told the council. “Trust and consistency matter.”

While council members will not make a decision until May 6, those who spoke April 15 did so in favor of KCSO’s offerings.

North Bend’s Finance Director Martin Chaw gave a summary of the presentations at the April 15 meeting, though the summary wasn’t clear about the cost comparison of SPD versus KCSO.

Chaw’s presentation said that the 2025 rate for SPD services would be about $3.98 million, not including dispatch. For comparison’s sake, Chaw removed dispatch from KCSO’s 2025 rate, leaving it at $3.66 million in his presentation.

But the $3.98 million for SPD services does, in fact, include dispatch, according to Snoqualmie communications coordinator Danna McCall. The correct comparison is $3.98 million for SPD services versus $4.1 million for KCSO services. Both services would cost a bit more each year in line with inflation.

Chaw’s summary highlighted other important differences in the two proposals. SPD would provide eight dedicated deputies to North Bend, while KCSO would provide 10. KCSO has its own speciality units, while SPD receives speciality services from mutual aid partners, such as KCSO, Washington State Patrol and other local cities.

Additionally, the SPD officers in North Bend report to the SPD chief in Snoqualmie, but KCSO would allow North Bend to pick its own chief and have North Bend-labeled patrol cars.

Councilmember Mark Joselyn said the service KCSO is offering would be like what it provides its contract city of Sammamish.

“The police services in Sammamish are King County deputies. All of the cars say Sammamish,” he said. “The patrols are King County deputies, but it feels like a Sammamish police department and the people who work there work only in Sammamish.”

The four North Bend directors who evaluated the proposals and presentations gave SPD a score of 121.25 and gave KCSO a score of 117.3. Scores were based on how well the entities met the requirements outlined in the request for proposals.

Numbers aside, the citizens who attended the April 15 meeting, many of whom are business owners, are concerned with losing the relationships they have already established with SPD officers. In a 2023 North Bend community survey, 74% of respondents said they were satisfied with SPD’s services.

North Bend was the first contract city for the King County Sheriff’s Office in 1973, and some longtime North Bend residents who spoke at the meeting don’t have fond memories of the service KCSO used to provide.

Council members responded to those concerns by stating that KCSO is not the same organization it was back then, nor is North Bend the city it once was — both have grown and evolved.

Kelly Coughlin asked the council to wait to make a decision until after the Snoqualmie mayoral and King County executive elections in November, saying those leaders will have a large impact on future policies and agency relationships.

But a delay in the vote doesn’t seem likely, as council members say they’ve already spent a disproportionate amount of time discussing this issue.

“We are not taking this decision lightly, and I just want the public to know that,” said Councilmember Errol Tremolada. “This is not a knee-jerk decision. This is as thoughtful as I, frankly, think any government agency could be.”