Sequim fire district pauses on sale of house

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, February 18, 2026

SEQUIM — Clallam County Fire District 3 commissioners have paused a decision to sell a home adjacent to a station on Fifth Avenue in Sequim.

Last month, they agreed in a 2-1 vote to put on the market the two-bedroom, 900-square-foot home and 0.18-acre property at 305 N. Fifth Ave. Board President Bill Miano voted against the sale.

At their Jan. 20 meeting, fire commissioners agreed to table the sale and directed staff to further investigate options for the property.

Proceeds would have supported a capital fund to help replace the Carlsborg Fire Station 33 due to its size and condition, and it would be constructed at the Operations and Training Center nearby on Carlsborg Road.

The fire district purchased the home more than a decade ago from William and Isobel Johnston for $142,000 with the agreement they would live at the home until their deaths. They Johnstons both have died in recent years.

Fire district staff previously had planned for the property to be used for district use.

For decades, the home was a popular sight for its large agave plant in the front yard that bloomed in 2023 with a 22-foot stock.

No update was available at the commissioners’ Feb. 3 meeting, but commissioner Jeff Nicholas said using the house for anything due to its condition would be costly and require improvements, and commissioner Mike Mingee said it would require a costly zoning change, too.

Commissioners previously asked Fire Chief Justin Grider to bring recommendations to them late last year, and he presented on Jan. 6 options to renovate the property for office space, demolish it for a parking lot, sell it or rent it. District staff recommended razing it as renovations and permits would have been too expensive, and Miano agreed with the recommendation.

The sale received some pushback at the Jan. 20 meeting with former Fire Chief Steve Vogel and former fire commissioner James Barnfather writing letters opposed, and Firefighter/EMT Jon Donahue, representing the firefighters’ union Local 2933, spoke against it, too.

Firefighters also spoke against the sale on social media, advocating for a larger footprint for station 34.

In Barnfather’s letter, he said the board has “an excellent opportunity to pursue the district’s vision of expanding its operation with an on-campus administration building, or enlarging the capacity of the much-needed parking lot.”

“This is a bird-in-hand opportunity to accomplish this goal without the prohibiting cost of purchasing another piece of real estate for the same purpose,” he wrote.

The Clallam County Assessor’s Office appraised the property built in 1946 at $309,408.

Bond discussion

Commissioners and staff also are exploring potential bond options to help finance construction for the Carlsborg fire station and a new structure for Dungeness Station 31.

All three commissioners agreed on Feb. 3 that they didn’t want to go to voters for a bond. Rather, they would prefer to pursue a 20-year non-voted bond. They’ve discussed using $5 million from a loan and the district’s capital account, now with about $4.6 million, if needed.

Misty Shaw, the district’s finance director, reported that a $5 million loan at 4 percent interest would cost $7.3 million over 20 years, paying about $366,000 a year, while 6 percent interest would cost $8.6 million over 20 years with an annual payment of about $433,000.

Mingee requested a representative from financial services firm D.A. Davidson to speak with them by the end of the month because he wanted to get their “financial ducks in a row and decide what we’re going to do this year so we can break ground next year.”

Shaw said a voter-approved bond could have a lower interest rate than a non-voted bond, but it would be a longer process.

Mingee said he didn’t feel good about asking for bond money from voters because he feels people in Washington are taxed a lot.

He said with the district having little to no debt, they’d likely get a good rating and a lower interest rate.

Five-member board

The fire district is continuing to explore if it must look to expand its commissioner seats from three to five or seven seats based on staffing levels and its budget.

Grider did not have a recommendation at the Feb. 3 meeting, but according to the district’s legal counsel, the district must follow RCW 52.14.015.

However, commissioners were concerned about some of its wording, as it seems vague with a requirement that a “fire department consisting wholly of personnel employed on a full-time, fully-paid basis shall (have) five commissioners as they have volunteer firefighters on staff.”

Their budget also exceeds a $10 million threshold that in the RCW states the district “may have” seven fire commissioners.

Miano said he’d like more information, and Mingee said it is an honorable thing to look into, but it might be preemptive.

Recorded meetings

In other discussions, the commissioners unanimously agreed to have their meetings recorded via Zoom and made available through the district’s website at ccfd3.org.

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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. He can be reached by email at matthew.nash@sequimgazette.com.