North Bend council continues review of police-service proposals; public urges more time

North Bend city council on April 15 continued its review of competing proposals to provide police services to the city, hearing public comment, a staff summary of scored proposals from Snoqualmie and King County, and receiving introductions of two new North Bend police employees.

The discussion matters because the city must decide whether to continue contracting with the Snoqualmie Police Department or move to a King County contract when its short-term extension ends; council members and residents said the choice affects local visibility, response times and long-term cost.

Finance Director Martin Shaw summarized the evaluators’ scores and high-level differences in the two proposals. Snoqualmie’s written proposal scored higher overall (121.25 points) in the packet scoring; King County scored higher on the presentation portion. Key figures Shaw presented from the proposals: Snoqualmie’s 2025 cost as presented was $3,980,000 (dispatch excluded in that figure); King County’s comparable cost after removing dispatch and specialty units was just under $3,700,000, plus a King County one-time startup/hiring cost cited by county staff of about $1,200,000 that can be amortized. Snoqualmie proposed eight dedicated North Bend officers and 15 shared staff with a department-wide average tenure cited at 4.5 years; King County proposed 12 dedicated North Bend deputies…