As fire chief of North Highline Fire District, I want to thank all the citizens of the fire district for your vote of confidence with your overwhelming "yes" vote on our Proposition 1, which was on the Aug. 21 ballot. As you know the passage of Initiative 747 in 2001, caused us to go to the voters each year to renew our $1.50 per $1,000 assess property valuation, even though this is the same rate we have been collecting for approximately the last 18 years.

With the passage of Engrossed Senate Bill 5498 this year, the fire district was allowed the ability to seek such a proposition once every 6 years. Now that you as the citizens have passed this proposition, the fire district has the ability for long-term planning and will save the annual cost of elections that may have cost tax payers over $250,000 in a six year time frame. You have sent the message for our fire district to spend your tax dollars on needed resources not on elections.

North Highline Fire District personnel strive to provide you with the best possible service and care, and we work daily to provide you with the most up-to-date firefighting, rescue and medical techniques available for your tax dollar. We understand that this is your tax dollars, and in return we provide the outstanding service you have come to expect.

The success of the fire district in the service to our citizens has been validated many times. Recent validations include being awarded "Fire Department of the Year" in 2005, improving our insurance rating from a Class "4" to a Class "3" in 2003. Additionally, the fire district strives to obtain additional resources and was successful in receiving an $88,000 grant from the Federal Homeland Security Department to train our personnel in advanced rescue procedures and a second $50,000 federal grant to train our elderly citizens (the fastest growing population in the United States) in fall and fire prevention.

We, the personnel of North Highline Fire District, truly appreciate the partnership we have with you. We are there to help in your time of need, but most importantly, we are there for you in non-emergency situations with the vast amount of community functions we participate with in our great community. We truly understand that we belong to the community and in return you have shown your support by providing the fire district the needed resources to serve you.

North Highline Fire District values our relationship that we have with you and we invite you to continue to drop by and visit, call us when you need training classes, and notify us when you have a community event.

Thank you once again for your continued support throughout the years!

From your personnel at North Highline Fire District,

Scott A. LaVielle

Fire Chief

North Highline Fire District