Regional Spokane 911 center SREC tells the city of Spokane to go its own way

The “will they or won’t they join” conversation between the city of Spokane and the board of Spokane Regional Emergency Communications, or SREC, abruptly ended last week, as the SREC board voted to tell the city to create its own 911 call center.

During its normal monthly meeting on Jan. 16, the board of the regional 911 dispatch center voted to recommend to the Spokane County Board of County Commissioners that Spokane “separate from SREC,” and that the commissioners give the city permission to create its own primary public safety answering point by Jan. 1, 2026. (State law requires counties to designate 911 answering centers.)

Created as a public development authority in 2018, SREC provides 911 and nonemergency call services and dispatch for 21 of the 22 law and fire agencies in the county, including the Spokane Fire Department.

Last April, the SREC board gave Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown one month to decide whether the Spokane Police Department would finalize the regionalization of 911 in the county and join the center. Months of negotiations and arguments ensued as the city expressed a desire to have the police department join, but questioned the finances and governance of the center.

The SREC board’s 7-2 vote (Spokane’s board representatives, Deputy City Administrator Maggie Yates and Assistant Fire Chief Tom Williams, were opposed) not only ended those negotiations, but sent a message to the city that Spokane Fire Department needs to exit SREC by next year.

SREC framed the vote as a move to “allow the city of Spokane to establish its own primary PSAP (public safety answering point)” in an emailed announcement.

Mayor Brown, however, said in an emailed statement that she was “disappointed by the SREC Board’s decision to force the City of Spokane out of its regional communications system in the midst of productive conversations about how we can move forward in a way that best serves our residents.”

For some on the SREC board, it feels like negotiations have been ongoing since 2019, after the Spokane City Council voted to separate from the regional center before it even started taking calls.

But two mayors later, Brown’s administration was brand new to the topic. A transition committee formed to answer the city’s questions and draw up an agreement with the Spokane Police Department met just four times before last week’s vote to end the conversation.

While it’s not entirely clear what was the final nail in the coffin, members of the SREC board, including Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels, said that a Jan. 10 email from the city requesting another year to negotiate an agreement was not something the board could agree to.

SREC is currently working to update computer-aided dispatch, or CAD systems, countywide, figuring out plans to renovate and retrofit a building that it purchased in December, and planning to upgrade its phone system. Each of those projects has been delayed while the city negotiated with SREC, and the cost of each upgrade is likely to change with or without the city’s participation.

Additionally, SREC board members noticed state House Bill 1258, which was requested by the Spokane City Council as a legislative priority on Dec. 9 and prefiled with the Washington Legislature on Jan. 10. Board members expressed concerns the bill would change how 911 excise taxes are shared only in Spokane County.

“We were passing a decision point where everything gets more expensive for all the taxpayers,” said Cody Rohrbach, the SREC board chair and fire chief for Spokane County Fire District 3.

“Today’s not a ‘no’ forever,” Rohrbach told the Inlander on Thursday. “It’s just that hey, for right now, we’ve got to move forward.”

Spokane Fire Chief Julie O’Berg told the Inlander on Friday that the communication following the vote was confusing. She still believes a regional model is better for economies of scale and for everyone to work together.

“I think that was a shortsighted and emotional motion,” O’Berg said. “I’m seeing mixed messages that the door may not be closed. … It’s an interesting approach to take, to force us out, and say, ‘You can come back in.’”

Yates said the deadlines from SREC throughout the process felt somewhat arbitrary, and affected the transition process.

“We really just wanted the ability to work diligently and collaboratively to address the outstanding items without this artificial pressure to make a decision,” Yates told the Inlander on Thursday. “I think we have come again and again to the table with solutions and proposals and trying to identify ways forward that support a regional model, while also addressing the needs and constraints of the city. Unfortunately that was not the position of the SREC board today.”

Nowels said he would’ve supported Thursday’s board motion even before knowing about HB 1258.

“It was because of the years of prior back and forth between the city, full well knowing that not many people in the city ever wanted to be a part of it,” Nowels told the Inlander. “You can’t force someone to love you. You can’t. And it’s been clear from the beginning that we will not be able to make the city love us. They’re suspicious.”

Indeed, multiple SREC board members commented before the vote that they felt the trust needed between the city and the regional center isn’t there.

Nowels said the introduction of the tax sharing bill only deteriorated that trust further. He and other board members repeatedly said they did not want Spokane County taxpayers to subsidize emergency services in the city of Spokane.

But to a degree, isn’t that how many taxes work? People pay for emergency services to be there, even if they never need the fire department to come save their home from a fire, right?

“I agree with you, and I will counter with this: If it’s a good way to distribute those tax dollars, why is it focused solely on Spokane County?” Nowels said. “Why was that bill not drafted to cover every single county in the state of Washington? … Why would you have a relationship with a partner that behaves that way, talking one way at the table, talking one way in a memo to the community about what happened, and then yet doing this stuff in the dark?”

Yates said she didn’t have anything to do with the drafting of the bill, which is similar to a bill proposed last year before the city and SREC started negotiating.

Meanwhile, O’Berg, who was one of the city representatives on the transition team, said those meetings were supposed to address concerns so the city and SREC could reach an agreement, but that’s not what happened.

“There was not collaboration, there was not compromise, there was ultimatums,” O’Berg said.

Rohrbach similarly noted that SREC’s other member agencies did not feel like there was collaboration.

“It feels like endless criticism,” Rohrbach said. “The sentiment is that there’s always another question [from the city] and they’ve been given more clarity than any of the other 20 member agencies that were able to make a decision.”

FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS

The financial costs for the city to operate its own 911 dispatch haven’t been calculated. However, the city currently pays SREC about $2.5 million per year to provide dispatch services for the fire department, while the cost for the city-run police dispatch was about $4.78 million in 2024, Yates said.

SREC is funded by a countywide 0.1% public safety sales tax, a 911 excise tax that charges Spokane County residents $0.95 per month on their phone bills, and user fees SREC charges to each member agency based on its call volume.

In 2024, the sales tax brought in about $15.4 million, the excise tax brought in about $4.98 million, and user fees brought in about $8 million, according to SREC.

The revenues from both taxes were lower than in 2023, when the sales tax came in around $15.7 million, and the excise tax came in around $5.3 million. User fees that year brought in about $7.3 million.

If the city of Spokane gets its fair apportionment of the 0.1% sales tax, that could look like 42% of the revenue (based on the city’s population) or 48% of the revenue (based on where the tax is collected).

If HB 1258 were to pass as written, and SREC were to continue transferring calls to city dispatchers, the city could similarly get about 48% of the 911 excise tax revenue, though it would depend on call volumes.

Over the last year, the city repeatedly questioned why SREC charges user fees when it has built up reserves of roughly $33 million in five years for a new building that could instead be paid for with bonds. SREC maintained that user fees pay for operations, while some of the tax revenue goes into the reserve fund, and at least $14 million of the reserve was transferred over from Spokane County at the end of 2021 and in early 2022 from previous tax proceeds.

One of the concessions to come out of the recent negotiations was the decision to buy an existing building in Spokane Valley for SREC to move into, rather than build a new one. SREC announced the $9.11 million purchase in December. The building at 12809 E. Mirabeau Parkway has more than 44,000 square feet of usable space, and ample parking.

“By selecting an existing facility that met our needs, rather than building a new one, we were able to reduce the overall cost of the project by at least $10 million while still delivering a high-quality, technologically advanced space for our operations,” Rohrbach said in an emailed announcement about the purchase.

Renovations are planned to take place this year, and the move to the new facility is expected in 2026.

RECENT TIMELINE

• April 18, 2024: SREC’s board sends a letter to Mayor Lisa Brown giving her one month to make a decision on whether Spokane Police Department would join SREC
• May 17, 2024: Mayor Brown sends a letter to the SREC board asking for a three-month extension and more details on SREC’s finances and governance
• June 11, 2024: Cheney Police Department joins SREC, leaving Spokane Police Department as the lone public safety agency not covered by the regional 911 dispatch center
• July 2024: SREC celebrates its five-year anniversary of providing services
• Aug. 24, 2024: City of Spokane releases ADCOMM consultant’s report on SREC, recommending adjustments to the board structure (governance) and the organization’s financial model. Mayor Brown says the city would like to work to have Spokane Police Department join SREC, if the remaining questions can be resolved
• Aug. 29, 2024: SREC board agrees to form a transition committee to reach a deal to add Spokane Police Department. The transition committee meets four times from September to December (Sept. 30, Oct. 14, Nov. 25, Dec. 12).
• Oct. 17, 2024: Spokane suggests changing the governance structure of SREC to break out operational decisions, which would still be handled by law and fire personnel under a similar makeup to the current SREC board, and create a new finance committee with seats for elected officials to make financial decisions. Yates says this was meant to be a starting point for discussion, which SREC could counter.
• Oct. 17, 2024: The SREC board recommends the Spokane County commissioners simply add a seat for the Spokane police chief to the SREC board if Spokane Police Department joins, as originally envisioned
• Nov. 12, 2024: Spokane County’s commissioners vote 3-2 to add a seat for the police chief if SPD joins
• Nov. 15, 2024: Mayor Brown sends a letter to SREC asking to hire a third-party facilitator to help the two sides reach an agreement during transition committee meetings
• Nov. 21, 2024: SREC board rejects the request for a mediator or facilitator
• Nov. 25, 2024: Transition committee meets
• Dec. 12, 2024: Transition committee meets
• Dec. 17, 2024: Yates emails SREC to note the city wants to fully join the countywide computer-aided dispatch, or CAD, upgrades
• Dec. 19, 2024: Rohrbach replies to the city, noting that the CAD update is just one of three major projects SREC needs answers for. “For SREC to move forward with the immediate design requirements of CAD, we require your final decision on joining the regionalized model no later than January 10th. We have extended this date due to the holidays.”
• Jan. 10: The city’s transition team emails SREC requesting a one-year extension to continue negotiating a deal, and asks to keep operating under the status quo, with Spokane Fire Department as a part of SREC, and Spokane Police Department as a secondary answering point. The city offers to mitigate potential costs the extension might cause. “We recognize that SREC has desired a clear decision from the City for several years preceding Mayor Brown’s administration. As everyone on this committee knows, however, this is a critical decision for the City’s safety and solvency and is therefore imprudent to rush without necessary and reliable information. We look forward to discussing additional details at our next transition meeting.”
• Jan. 10: HB 1258 is prefiled with the Washington Legislature. It would require Spokane County to share the proceeds of a 911 excise tax with the city based on call volume.
• Jan. 13: HB 1258 read for the first time in the House
• Jan. 16: SREC board meets, votes 7-2 to have the city of Spokane separate from SREC

TIMELINE OF OTHER NOTABLE MOMENTS

• 2008: Spokane County voters approve a 0.1% sales and use tax to fund 911 emergency communications
• April 25, 2017: Voters approve a 10-year renewal (starting late 2018) of the 0.1% sales tax
• March 27, 2018: Spokane County Board of County Commissioners votes to create the public development authority that will become known as Spokane Regional Emergency Communications, or SREC
• June 2019: Spokane City Council opts out of the regional system and decides to handle city dispatch for fire and law enforcement
• July 1, 2019: SREC starts taking calls as the county’s primary public safety answering point
• 2020: Crime Check starts offering online reporting for nonemergency crimes
• 2021: State lawmakers require large counties that levy the 0.1% 911 sales tax to create an interlocal agreement to share that revenue. If they didn't come to an agreement within a year, the city or county could seek "equitable apportionment" of that revenue, retroactive to the 2021 law’s effective date. Spokane hasn’t yet sought equitable apportionment as of January 2025, but has indicated it might. SREC board members have indicated they’re OK with the city receiving its fair share of that tax based on “origination” — about 48% of the tax is collected in the city of Spokane.
• 2022: Spokane Fire Department joins SREC for dispatch services
• 2024: A bill to require counties with regional 911 centers to share the proceeds of the 911 excise tax with municipal 911 dispatch centers that they transfer calls to fails to pass the Washington Legislature. A substituted version of the bill would have only applied to Spokane County
• 2025: HB 1258, requiring apportionment of the 911 excise tax is introduced. As written, it would only apply to Spokane County and the city of Spokane, and calculates the share based on calls transferred from the regional center to the municipal dispatch center. Combined, Spokane police and fire calls make up roughly 60% of the county’s 911 calls each year. The bill says the 911 excise tax should be shared based on 80% of the transferred call volumes, which could result in the city receiving roughly a 48% share of the 911 excise tax.

REACTIONS TO LAST WEEK'S VOTE

Since the SREC board vote, local officials have had thoughts. A LOT of thoughts. Here, we’ll share those issued in press releases in full (if not quoted in part above).

Spokane County Commissioners Chris Jordan and Amber Waldref issued a joint statement:

“We are disappointed in today’s vote by the Board of SREC – our regional 911 service. This
action recommends kicking the City of Spokane Fire Department out of our shared emergency communications system, and ending good faith negotiations to add the City of Spokane Police Department to the regional system. We are disappointed the SREC Board rejected a neutral facilitator or mediator to help resolve the remaining issues and reach an agreement to meet the 911 needs of all jurisdictions and all Spokane County taxpayers. We call on the SREC Board to resume negotiations, led by a neutral facilitator, and work toward a resolution. All Spokane County taxpayers expect local governments to work together on effective and efficient solutions for the health and safety of our entire community.”

As did County Commissioners Josh Kerns and Al French:

“We would like to compliment the SREC Board for their tireless efforts to bring the City of Spokane into the SREC organization. For five years, they have worked tirelessly to create a pathway for the City to become part of a system that has a proven track record of improving response times for our frontline emergency responders. SREC has demonstrated that Spokane County once again is the leader in the public safety arena much like the RIG-9 system, Real Time Crime Center, Co-Deploy Teams, and other programs introduced over the years.

“The City of Spokane’s ‘Our Way or the Highway’ approach has once again destroyed the prospects for a regional approach to local challenges. Membership in SREC would have saved the City of Spokane millions in costs, but more importantly, minutes to respond to emergencies placing their citizens’ lives at risk or loss of property. While Spokane City citizens are crying out for better public safety at the ballot box, both for 2023’s Prop 1 and the Public Safety Levy in 2024, this administration continues to give them a deaf ear as opposed to results.

“This ‘Our Way or the Highway’ approach to regional opportunities does not bode well for the City of Spokane. While the region moves forward, it will be the result of programs that benefit those communities that are willing to work toward the benefit of all. We applaud the SREC Board for not compromising the safety of all for the benefit of the one jurisdiction.

“Further complicating matters is the 3rd District State Representatives’ targeting of our region, and specifically Spokane County, again, to benefit a single municipality over the region’s best interests as a whole through HB 1258. This pattern of the State legislating local jurisdictions is concerning, as well as unethical at best.”

Here’s the rest of Mayor Brown’s statement emailed shortly after the vote:

“As my team has been assessing SREC’s governance and financials over the past year, SREC has consistently provided us with unreasonable deadlines, an artificial sense of urgency, and answers to our questions that underscore their own lack of certainty behind parts of their user-fee model. This has complicated our review and created unnecessary tension between regional partners.

“On multiple occasions, the City of Spokane has offered solutions – like jointly identifying a neutral facilitator – intended to move us collectively toward a resolution, but SREC has been disagreeable and unwilling to consider our recommendations. SREC also rejected our request to maintain the status quo for another year while we ascertain clarity around user fees and craft service-level agreements to ensure the needs of City of Spokane residents are met.

“Community safety is my top priority and I want to support good-faith efforts to improve services for people everyone [sic] across the region, but as a representative of the City of Spokane, I must perform my due diligence for our taxpayers.”

Spokane Police Department issued this press release:

“The importance of a fluid communication link with the Spokane Police Department and its community members is paramount. As the newly appointed Chief Of Police, Kevin Hall has worked closely with committee groups to facilitate integration into the regional emergency communications system. Attending today’s meeting, Chief Hall was disappointed by the motion to recommend that the Board of County Commissioners force the City Of Spokane to establish its own Public Safety Answering Point, PSAP.

“SPD has been an effective partner with the Spokane Regional Emergency Communications system, SREC. Recent discussions with SREC focused on addressing the unique operational requirements needed by SPD as a member of the SREC community as SPD’s operational needs differ significantly from that of Spokane Fire. The decision today made by the SREC board is disheartening, but it will not affect the operations of the Spokane Police Department in the short term.

“SPD would like to reassure its residents that they will continue to respond to calls and provide the high level of service they expect. SPD is committed to fostering regional partnerships, but we must also ensure that the consolidation of emergency communications does not come at the expense of critical public safety operations elsewhere.”

Spokane Valley Fire Department, a fire district overseen by fire commissioners, issued the following statements from two of its fire commissioners:

SVFD Fire Commissioner John Guarisco said: “The decision by the Spokane Regional Emergency Communications (SREC) Board to move forward without the City of Spokane was both necessary and justified, given the city's repeated unwillingness to engage constructively with regional partners. While Mayor Brown characterizes SREC's actions as unreasonable, the reality is that the city's approach has consistently delayed progress and undermined regional cooperation, jeopardizing the efficiency and effectiveness of emergency communications across the entire area.

“Mayor Brown's claim of ‘productive conversations’ is misleading. For over a year, the city has demonstrated reluctance to embrace regional solutions, instead introducing delays and questioning well-established models that other jurisdictions have already deemed workable. SREC's deadlines were not ‘unreasonable’ but essential to ensure the continued delivery of public safety services without unnecessary obstruction. The city's insistence on prolonging discussions only created instability and uncertainty for all parties involved.

“The allegations of SREC's lack of transparency and disagreement with Spokane's recommendations fail to acknowledge that SREC operates within a framework supported by numerous regional stakeholders who trust its governance and decision-making process. Spokane's push for a ‘neutral facilitator’ and an extended status quo merely appeared as tactics to avoid commitment and accountability. These moves effectively sidestepped the urgency of resolving critical issues impacting emergency response systems.

“Furthermore, Mayor Brown's assertion of prioritizing community safety rings hollow when Spokane's delays have hampered efforts to enhance regional coordination. Public safety is not served by prolonging disputes or rejecting fair and equitable user-fee structures designed to ensure all entities contribute their share. Rather than collaborating in good faith, the city's approach has centered on protecting its own interests at the expense of the broader regional network.

“The SREC Board's decision reflects a commitment to operational efficiency, financial sustainability, and accountability to the residents across the region. While collaboration is always preferred, it must be grounded in genuine partnership, not obstruction. By choosing to act decisively, SREC has ensured that public safety will not be compromised by the city's unwillingness to align with regional priorities.

“Ultimately, this decision underscores the need for Spokane to recognize its role as part of a larger community. Regional cooperation is essential for effective emergency communication systems, and it is time for the city to take responsibility for its actions rather than casting blame on its partners.”

SVFD Fire Commissioner Patrick Burch said: “House Bill (HB) 1258, which applies solely to the city of Spokane, unfairly reallocates Spokane County tax dollars to address the City’s financial and public safety challenges. This proposal highlights an increasing divide in priorities, as it disproportionately prioritizes the needs of the City of Spokane at the expense of the Spokane Valley Fire Department, its citizens, and the 20 other fire and law enforcement agencies across Spokane County.”

Spokane County Fire District 9 Board of Commissioners issued this statement:

“Fire District 9 believes in a fully regionalized emergency communications, 911, and fire/law enforcement dispatch center. It's been well established in the Spokane Region and across Washington that a collaborative regionalized communications model provides the most effective and efficient dispatch system that benefits all citizens of the Spokane Region and provides the highest level of safety to our fire and law enforcement responders. Interoperable modern communications has been central to effectively mitigating all regional or large scale emergency incidents that our state and country has and continues to experience.

“However, yesterday House Bill 1258 was introduced in the Washington State Legislature and was a clear indication that the City was not serious about permanently joining our regionalized model as this legislation would only benefit the City of Spokane.

“It's imperative that the history of this issue is clear to our taxpayers. The SREC Governing Board has been working with the City of Spokane for 5 years to establish a modern solution to our regional emergency communications, 911, and fire/law enforcement dispatch center. The Governing Board has extended deadlines on multiple occasions to allow the City of Spokane time to make a decision on their future with SREC. Continued stalling would lead to significant cost increases for SREC, and ultimately to the taxpayers that live outside the City of Spokane. Fire District 9 stands in support of the recommendation from the SREC Governing Board that will be forwarded to the Spokane Board of County Commissioners for action.

“Automatic mutual aid between the City of Spokane and Fire District 9 has provided exceptional emergency services to the residents, businesses, and visitors of both jurisdictions. We look forward to continuing our work together on interoperable communications and emergency service operations for our communities.”

Finally, here’s the letter that SREC Board Chair Cody Rohrbach sent to Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown at 7:14 pm Friday, Jan. 17:

“Mayor Brown,

“On behalf of the SREC Board, I am writing in response to the below correspondence dated January 10, 2025. Following our Board meeting yesterday, I must stress that maintaining the status quo through 2025 is no longer a viable option for SREC. Our users expect continuous service improvements, and the operational advancements required for our continued success demand timely decisions—decisions we have communicated clearly and consistently.

“We must address the City’s ongoing characterization of our deadlines as ‘arbitrary.’ These deadlines are not arbitrary; they are critical to our planning, which began in early 2024, and are essential to the successful operation of SREC.

“Since our first meeting with the new administration in February 2024, we have agreed to multiple extensions on decision deadlines—from May to August, October, December, and now January. Yet, we are now being asked for yet another year-long delay, which is unsustainable.

“While we respect the City’s prerogative to prioritize what it believes is best for its citizens, we also have a duty to prioritize the operations, employees, and services that are integral to the regional community we serve. Key strategic projects, such as:
CAD Integration
Facility Retrofitting
Phone System Upgrade
Daily Operational Decisions
must proceed without further delays to ensure we are adequately prepared to provide the emergency services that our communities expect and depend upon.

“We understand the City’s concerns regarding budgeting and user fees. However, SREC operates within regional agreements and timelines specifically designed to ensure equitable service for all users. These decisions are made transparently, and the City has been actively involved through its participation on the SREC Board and Finance Committee. As emphasized during our Board meeting, without clear direction from the City, it will be impossible for us to meet the ‘certainty’ that the City has expressed as a priority.

“In light of the City’s legislative actions to redirect tax revenue, the SREC Board recommends that we respectfully part ways. We support the City in its pursuit of becoming its own Primary PSAP and propose a final transition deadline of January 1, 2026.

“This timeline provides the City with a full year of ‘status quo’ operations to plan and implement the necessary steps to establish an independent Primary PSAP. To assist with this transition, SREC stands ready to provide any information or contacts the City may need.

“SREC remains fully committed to regional safety and to ensuring that this transition is handled professionally, with the best outcomes for all parties involved.

“Thank you for your attention to this critical matter. We look forward to continuing collaboration throughout this process.

“Respectfully,

“Cody Rohrbach”