[{"_1":2,"_87":-5,"_88":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,75],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},"mediaId",6172357,"mediaKeyId","5389671-99537d333b5fcb41e42494355250a516","parentId",5389671,"title","Sumner and Bonney Lake negotiate three‑year interlocal for municipal court services; community court stays grant‑dependent","audioSeconds",1538,"startMs",1490000,"endMs",3028000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=5389671-99537d333b5fcb41e42494355250a516&start=1490&end=3028","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/5389671-99537d333b5fcb41e42494355250a516/thumbnail_1490000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6172357/Sumner-City/Pierce-County/Washington/Sumner-and-Bonney-Lake-negotiate-threeyear-interlocal-for-municipal-court-services-community-court-stays-grantdependent","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6172357-8e4c07951d01acffcd51b471c034d9aa/orig.mp4?Expires=1771154036&Signature=QJueVwkRTSNlk8KJbSapVsqWKYW8fDQv2baMvsxDr9sg-qvie7gdhM4DU6Hq47BCJYkrB6WYQHsMdUnsMnWGfq6TG1znXDcz860OgJJtgUbfgQDw3441fqCyW3Ab-odnWBV8Dwr0CEfbjdmmhKYuH53XxjyfCXVStYydkcp1yuefMRls1L4d4C4VqZDM5hiJU1bf1N7pwCv9MYHhedmSUSyFDVwVJMJWtbLysU5Rm8qaHAVjwqTNtnf0vIVXiP0PvPQUUjie-ZUwhfTL1Kb1hMfh1yAQTa4dvG6aAH66EetLpmFP-WSz-Zk3M4--ECs0i2MvX3jvCDVY7PHiRWjbhw__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","City of Sumner, WA","date","2025-07-15T15:41:59.24Z","article","Sumner city staff presented a negotiated interlocal agreement with the City of Bonney Lake for municipal court services (Resolution No. 1726) during the July 14 study session. Staff said the proposed agreement sets a three‑year initial term, automatically renewable, with an 18‑month termination notice and a cost allocation based on courtroom usage rather than case count.

Andrea, the presenting staff member, said Bonney Lake has provided court services to Sumner since 2015 after Sumner closed its in‑city court. \"Bonney Lake has been providing municipal court services to the city of Sumner since 2015,\" she said, and Bonney Lake served Sumner with a notice of termination on Dec. 30 of last year, prompting renegotiation.

Why this matters: The agreement affects court processing, staffing and Sumner's budget. Staff estimated a net budget increase for Sumner of about $43,000 in 2026 under the new cost allocation and separate probation charges, and warned that community court is currently fully grant funded and may end if grant funding stops.

Key provisions and costs
- Cost allocation: The proposed agreement assigns Sumner 30% of courtroom service costs and Bonney Lake 70%, based on courtroom days used; Sumner staff said that better reflects resource use than a pure case‑count split, which had recently been roughly 50/50.
- Service fee impact: Staff estimated the change will raise Sumner's annual court service costs by about $25,000 in the service fee line and, with separately billed probation and miscellaneous fees, result in an estimated $43,000 annual increase to Sumner's budget in 2026.
- Probation and miscellaneous charges: Probation services will be billed separately at $600 per case (staff estimate $18,000 annually based on historical use). Miscellaneous charges (interpreters, witness fees, jury notices, trial copy costs) were estimated at about $6,500 annually.
- Term and termination: The draft agreement runs three years to align with the cities' biennial budgets and increases the notice period for termination to 18 months; staff said the longer notice aims to avoid the scramble Sumner experienced after the December termination notice.
- Community court: The community court program is in its second year and fully grant funded by the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC). Staff said the program currently supports a small caseload (about five active participants after recent graduations) and that the interlocal will explicitly allow either city to discontinue community court if grant funds end.

Alternatives considered
Staff described alternatives they researched and why they were not recommended now: bringing municipal court back to Sumner (estimated nearly $500,000 upfront to hire 3–3.5 FTEs and retrofit facilities), contracting with Pierce County District Court (logistical and legacy‑case transfer challenges and Department of Assigned Counsel capacity limits), or partnering with nearby cities for a regional court (financial modeling showed Sumner costs would not decline). Staff also noted examples of disputes over legacy cases when partners separate and said the draft agreement commits the parties to \"negotiate in good faith\" about legacy cases if Sumner ever departs.

Process and next steps
Andrea and Jeff said the community court grant acceptance has passed the finance committee and is slated for the consent agenda at an upcoming council meeting. Bonney Lake will publish an RFQ for a joint judge; Sumner staff will sit on the selection panel. Staff outlined an anticipated RFQ timeline: publish in August–September, interview October–November, with a new full‑time joint judge expected to start Jan. 1.

No formal vote on the interlocal took place at the study session; staff said the interlocal and related grant acceptance will move through the finance committee and appear on the council consent calendar for formal action.

Concerns raised
Council members asked about the precedent and handling of legacy cases should Sumner move to a different court; staff said the draft leaves legacy‑case handling to negotiation at the time of any departure and pointed to past litigation between Bonney Lake and another partner where the agreement was silent. Staff also described a prior grant practice that temporarily supplemented salaries for community court personnel and said the current grant application does not include additional salary for judge, prosecutor or public defender positions.

Items staff flagged for future council consideration include the community court contracts (which expire at year end), the judge recruitment and any decision about continuing community court should grant funding change.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","July Council Meetings","oneSentenceSummary","City staff presented a proposed three‑year interlocal agreement with Bonney Lake to provide municipal court services, reallocating costs by courtroom usage (30% Sumner/70% Bonney Lake), adding an 18‑month termination notice and keeping community court contingent on state grant funding.","taxTitle","Sumner City, Pierce County, Washington","taxId",71857,"location","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":76,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":77,"_41":78,"_43":79,"_45":80,"_47":81,"_49":82,"_51":83,"_53":84,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":85,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":86,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6172362,"East Pierce Fire and Rescue details staffing, station expansion and call trends in Sumner update",619,81000,700000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=5389671-99537d333b5fcb41e42494355250a516&start=81&end=700","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/5389671-99537d333b5fcb41e42494355250a516/thumbnail_81000.jpg","/articles/6172362/Sumner-City/Pierce-County/Washington/East-Pierce-Fire-and-Rescue-details-staffing-station-expansion-and-call-trends-in-Sumner-update","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6172362-d91cb19026e31744263427d7297c76b0/orig.mp4?Expires=1771154036&Signature=hcMEGvDnKwEnYql5DCT7riHuE3Mx0u8rC1E~LYFvVB7fifHRDgeL1q1vDr1TZckUIr-a5CRzxTEIndHvqWmaVujYhg4gZC03oQOFqyGau9Np49oFA6N2FcWMW9M8wPtNBgbLRaloyWnRsOWSvRn97e-YH-yHuiRQz9kVRN9qzorMQ2ZwA5UWtFbqLuMg0gg80kfDkXHS7NXot9h3-9V5RPVJS7VEt90VofsTWQ0sR98P295SzbylGTbvt6uEzyYWNJd59Nl4sRddsFH0Ak7KNEASdSzDnSPTqXg-o4xEoRw~bfWtKfZilglbO6~uZICEZEpdlbuO0~8FIAmscJOZDQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","East Pierce Fire and Rescue Chief John Parkinson gave an annual update to the Sumner City Council on July 14, outlining the district's staffing, capital projects and incident trends in 2024 and plans for 2025–26. Parkinson spoke during the council study session at 6 p.m.

Parkinson said the district's coverage area includes Milton, Edgewood, Sumner, Bonney Lake and several smaller towns, covering roughly 153 square miles and about 100,000 residents. \"We responded to over 13,009 911 calls,\" Parkinson said, and because multiple emergency units typically respond to a single call, \"over 30,000 emergency units were traveling down the roadways last year from East Pierce.\" He said the district's 2025 operating budget is just shy of $49,000,000 and that about 85% of expenses are wages and benefits.

The chief said East Pierce is largely funded by property taxes from within the district, noting a combined tax rate currently equal to $2.09 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. Parkinson said the district employs 198 full‑time staff, staffs eight stations 24/7 and keeps 36 personnel on duty at all times. \"Over 85% of our expenses each year are wages and benefits, meaning people,\" he added.

Why this matters: Sumner residents and the council heard specific operational measures — response times, staffing and new facilities — that affect emergency coverage, local budgets and planning for future growth.

Parkinson gave city‑level figures for Sumner: 2,388 incidents inside city limits in 2024 and about 5,500 unit responses in the city, reflecting that an incident often involves more than one vehicle. He said medical calls are the largest category of responses nationally and across the district — roughly three‑quarters of incidents — though Sumner's share was closer to 70% because of increasing commercial and warehouse development in parts of the city.

Parkinson provided travel‑time metrics for Sumner: a median (50th percentile) response time of 5 minutes, 28 seconds and a 90th percentile of 8 minutes, 50 seconds. He said the district tracks unit‑hour utilization and reliability metrics to monitor capacity, aiming for unit utilization under 30% and a reliability target of greater than 80% (the percentage of time a caller gets the closest available station).

On capital projects, Parkinson said East Pierce recently completed a new headquarters (Station 111), opened Station 114 (West Lake Tapps) in mid‑June and opened Station 117 (Tehaleh) on June 30. The district is constructing a similar design for a Prairie Ridge station and is in pre‑application with Milton for another station, with Prairie Ridge expected to finish in mid‑2026.

Parkinson said the district is negotiating to acquire just over five acres behind Station 116 for a training center and logistics campus and has leased 20,000 square feet of warehouse space on State Route 410 (the Peak 410 development) on a five‑year lease to consolidate supplies and shop functions. \"We've leased, on a 5 year lease, 20,000 square feet of warehouse space there, and that's to basically consolidate our warehouse,\" he said.

Council members and staff asked about population and incident trends. Parkinson said the district's population has grown substantially over the last decade — \"I believe we're looking at about 20,000 increase in population\" — and that Tehaleh alone accounts for about 12,000 new residents compared with roughly a decade ago. He said call volume has risen in line with growth: \"If we rewound around 5 years ago or so, we'd see a couple thousand less incidents per year.\" He attributed local changes in incident mix to commercial growth and warehouses in and near Sumner, which bring different risks and resource needs.

Council questions also covered mental‑health and critical‑incident support for firefighters. Parkinson described a peer‑support program developed over the last five years: teams of trained peers check in with crews after traumatic incidents and escalate to outside resources when needed. \"Over the last decade or so and really for us over the last 5 years, we've developed a peer support team,\" he said. Parkinson said the district also uses outside mental‑health providers when additional services are needed.

Parkinson closed by pointing councilors and residents to the district's public communications: a quarterly newsletter, a website, social media channels and a real‑time incident app, PulsePoint. He said the district will continue station construction, open the consolidated warehouse in September and advance the training center acquisition in August.

Parkinson answered council questions during the presentation; no formal council action was taken on the update itself.","Fire Chief John Parkinson told the Sumner City Council on July 14 that East Pierce Fire and Rescue has expanded stations and staffing, is responding to growing call volumes tied to population growth and commercial development, and is investing in a training center and consolidated logistics facility.","actionData","errors"]

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Sumner and Bonney Lake negotiate three‑year interlocal for municipal court services; community court stays grant‑dependent

East Pierce Fire and Rescue details staffing, station expansion and call trends in Sumner update