Local meeting participants agreed to proceed with an informal advisory committee to advise on dispatch and emergency-management priorities and to review dispatch protocols, citing upcoming grant deadlines and recent wildfire response.

The group plans to meet at the firehouse and will operate as an informal advisory body rather than a formally appointed public board, participants said.

Why it matters: Participants said the advisory committee is intended to coordinate police, fire and dispatch practice, prioritize grant applications that have imminent deadlines, and bring outside technical expertise to evaluate radio and dispatch options after recent fires tested local response capacity.

Participants discussed the committee structure and duties early in the meeting. "First thing on the on the docket is discussion of the advisory committee," said Speaker 2, meeting participant. Speaker 3, meeting participant, said, "We think we should go forward as a committee. Just informal advisory committee." The speakers emphasized that no formal resolution would be required to begin the work.

On membership and voting, attendees described an internal voting approach for the advisory group: two sheriff votes, two fire votes, and a dispatch vote to serve as a tiebreaker if necessary, according to Speaker 3. Meetings are planned at the firehouse; "We're gonna meet at the firehouse. And anybody's welcome to come," Speaker 3 said, while also noting the organizers did not plan to advertise meetings as public hearings because the committee is advisory.

Participants said the committee's immediate work includes setting priorities so emergency-management staff can meet grant application deadlines. "We're gonna meet again tomorrow. Our agenda would be to go over the priorities out of this, alliance evaluation of the and come up with because emergency management has some deadlines to get in some grants this year," Speaker 3 said.

The group also plans to review dispatch protocols with police and fire to determine whether existing protocols are current and relevant. Speaker 3 described the next meeting: "The next week, we're gonna go over dispatch protocols with the police and fire department and dispatch and go through those and see. We don't know when they've been revised, how old they are, whether they're relevant or not. So we're gonna start right there." A meeting volunteer said they would chair the group and did not plan to cast a vote but would keep meetings moving.

Discussion included reflections on recent wildfire incidents that participants said tested interagency coordination. One participant credited the broader local response and state mobilization for limiting damage: "If anybody asks you why we, called for state mobilization, we were thinking the rest of that in the town being burned down if we didn't get a stop," Speaker 3 said. Speaker 3 also said crews that came to fight the fire included crews from Spokane and that a helicopter "pretty sure it came out of Yakima," described as recollection rather than a formal dispatch log.

Decisions and next steps described by participants were procedural rather than formal: the group agreed to proceed informally, set immediate meeting agendas to set grant priorities and to review dispatch protocols, and to invite outside technical experts as needed. Participants emphasized the group's problem-solving purpose and the desire to avoid duplicative or sales-driven procurement conversations by bringing neutral technical expertise to evaluate radio solutions.

The meeting record shows no formal motion, ordinance, or resolution establishing the committee; participants characterized it as an informal advisory arrangement and said they would complete any formal steps later if required.

The meeting moved on after scheduling; an executive session for personnel was announced separately later in the agenda.