Regarding Bothell’s possible annexation of the NEWBA (North East West Bothell Annexation) area, Mayor Mark Lamb said the bottom line on the issue in his mind is that the annexation presents no unique problems.

That is, he said, the issues that have arisen connected with the NEWBA are those that are bound to come up prior to the annexation of any area by any city in the state.

“In any annexation, there are going to be service providers being displaced,” Lamb said.

Service-provider protests indeed do seem to be the major stumbling block to at least moving forward with a public vote on the annexation, which affects neighborhoods at the northern end of the existing city in Snohomish County.

On May 28, the Snohomish County Boundary Review Board gathered for what many observers thought might be a key meeting on the NEWBA issue.

After hearing roughly four hours of testimony from residents, city officials and others, the board did not reach any decision. BRB Chief Clerk Marsha Carlsen said the five-member panel planned to reconvene June 2, not to hear further testimony, but to hash the issue out amongst themselves and possibly come to a decision.

If the meeting happened as planned, it occurred after Reporter deadlines for this issue. In any case, a final decision may not have materialized. Carlsen said the BRB has until July 22 to take a final vote.

The upset service providers mentioned by Lamb most notably include the solid-waste collection programs of King and Snohomish counties. Snohomish currently handles the trash coming from the NEWBA and wants to continue to do so, arguing losing that waste stream could them roughly $1.9 million in revenue.

For their part, King County officials argue they have an agreement with the city dating back to 1988 that requires all solid waste collected within Bothell be handled by King County. King officials have said they expect that contract to be honored in the NEWBA if it becomes part of Bothell. Because of the trash dispute, Snohomish County Council officials spoke out against the NEWBA annexation at the BRB hearing.

After speaking before the BRB himself, Lamb reiterated Bothell’s administration is looking to get some guarantee from the Snohomish County Council that the city would be held blameless if the trash dispute should ever end up in court. He said that as of last week, local officials had not heard back on that request from their Snohomish County counterparts. But Lamb also indicated that in the end, the move might not be necessary.

In the meantime, two other service providers stepped forward at the BRB hearing to protest Bothell’s bringing the NEWBA into its fold. Officials from Snohomish Fire Districts 1 and 7 both testified they may be forced to lay off employees, close facilities and that emergency response times would suffer if Bothell took over emergency services in the NEWBA.

“We’re concerned that the city hasn’t done adequate fire and EMS planning for this annexation,” said Jim Kenny, chair of the Fire District 1 Board of Commissioners.

For example, Kenny contends the city seems unsure what it wants to do with Fire District 1 Station 22 in the Hilltop neighborhood. Kenny said that according to written materials provided by Bothell, the city expects the district to continue to operate the station. That’s even though the loss of the annexed area would cost the district roughly $1.4 million in revenue, according to Kenny.

Kenny said Fire District 7 has similar complaints in regard to one of their stations. He said the annexation could lead to the lay off of up to 30 firefighters — 14 or 15 from each district — while Bothell only plans to replace those lost personnel with about six firefighters.

“I guess they must be really great firefighters,” Kenny said. “I’m being sarcastic, but the numbers don’t add up.”

Regarding the fire/EMS flap, Lamb again said such disputes are bound to rise up in the course of any annexation and they are no reason to block any annexation. He added that in the case of the NEWBA, residents there have been lobbying to become part of Bothell. In other words, the annexation doesn’t represent some sort of land grab by Bothell officials, Lamb said.

According to one resident who has pushed incredibly hard for the annexation, city and Snohomish County officials still are working on the language of an interlocal agreement needed before Bothell can call the NEWBA area its own.

“In the end, I’m still optimistic,” said the NEWBA’s Gene Grieve.