By the beginning of 2015, the five partners in Eastside Fire and Rescue will be operating as a 501c3 nonprofit organization. The partnership includes Issaquah, Sammamish, North Bend and fire districts 10 and 38 in unincorporated King County.

When the partnership began in 1999, District 10 was the largest members with more employees and money. It agreed to  be the employer of record, which placed extra liability on it.

Deputy Chief Greg Tryon that situation affects voting as well. For example, in collective bargaining, all of the partners could vote yes to a contract, but if District 10 voted no its vote would prevail, giving it unfair power.

Tryon said the new seven-year interlocal agreement, which begins Jan. 1, 2015, will stay the same.

When EFR receives its nonprofit status, it will still be called Eastside Fire and Rescue, but the nonprofit will be the employer of record. That way all the partners will be on even ground.

EFR’s new operations committee has assembled the language for the nonprofit, the attorneys are happy with it, and four out of the five partners have all approved it. Sammamish has yet to take up the issue. Tryon said it has gone through the majority of the red tape — for example with the IRS and the Department of Retirement Systems, but there is still some fine tuning to do.