With voters receiving ballots in the mail during the first week of April it’s critical that we recognize that this may be the most important election to support our outstanding fire district in well over a decade.

No doubt the rejection of three operations levy propositions since the last successful approval in 2006 was fueled by severe hits to the economy and the corresponding drop in property values. Having served on the Citizens Advisory Committee for the past several years, I’m convinced that the fire district has done an excellent job in “stepping up to the plate” through belt-tightening measures to adjust to declining revenue and using limited reserves to maintain critical emergency services and rapid response times.

Most of these measures have not been visible to the general community, including the reduction of eight administrative and firefighter positions (13 percent of total staff), program cuts, and reduced on-duty emergency response personnel. The approval of Proposition 1 will ensure continued rapid response times for fire, health, and other emergencies by our highly trained and experienced first responders. We do not want to find ourselves increasing our reliance on mutual aid from surrounding communities as a result of our failure to meet this basic community need. Time for us to “step up to the plate” by voting “yes” on Proposition 1 for our fire district and our community.

Bruce Zahradnik

Maple Valley