Mayor Brown Statement on SREC Board Decision

Mayor Brown Statement on SREC Board Decision

Erin Hut, Communications Director, 509.625.6740

Thursday, January 16, 2025 at 9:05 a.m.

Mayor Lisa Brown released the following statement regarding the Spokane Regional Emergency Communications (SREC) Board's decision to force the City of Spokane out of the regional public safety answering point model:

"I am disappointed by the SREC Board's decision to force the City of Spokane out of its regional communications system in the midst of productive conversations about how we can move forward in a way that best serves our residents.

"As my team has been assessing SREC's governance and financials over the past year, SREC has consistently provided us with unreasonable deadlines, an artificial sense of urgency, and answers to our questions that underscore their own lack of certainty behind parts of their user-fee model. This has complicated our review and created unnecessary tension between regional partners.

"On multiple occasions, the City of Spokane has offered solutions - like jointly identifying a neutral facilitator - intended to move us collectively toward a resolution, but SREC has been disagreeable and unwilling to consider our recommendations. SREC also rejected our request to maintain the status quo for another year while we ascertain clarity around user fees and craft service-level agreements to ensure the needs of City of Spokane residents are met.

"Community safety is my top priority and I want to support good-faith efforts to improve services for people everyone across the region, but as a representative of the City of Spokane, I must perform my due diligence for our taxpayers."

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