Lake Wenatchee Info provides residents with an opportunity to supply guests posts on subjects of broad interest to the community.  The following is a guest post.

I am writing in response to the post on October 6th, 2025 on the Lake Wenatchee Info website entitled “Four Residents file suit against approved fire dept bond issue. . . “ What if it had been entitled “Four Residents file suit against the manner in which the $15 Million dollar bond was presented to the voters? Not as eye catching is it? But this is the truth and shouldn’t we expect our news to give us the facts and not a story?

These members of our community filed a lawsuit to protest the manner in which our Chelan County Fire Protection District #9 (CCFPD9) asked us to agree to pay $15 Million dollars over the next 20 years for fire fighting and emergency operations.

THIS SHOULD GET OUR ATTENTION! “We” are a very small junior taxing district of only 3500-3600 taxable structures. Of that small number, not all are taxed equally. Lands designated as Open Space, Timber or Agriculture are taxed less than Residential. THIS IS A VERY BIG ASK. We should be able to ask questions and get answers before being asked to approve this measure. We should be well informed voters. This is what this lawsuit is about.

Signs asking us to “Vote Yes for Proposition #1” suddenly began to appear along our roadsides. Huh? What exactly was “Proposition #1”? When the signs first started to appear not many of us knew it was about asking us to commit for 20 years to a huge increase in our taxes.

With all the signs we’ve had lately asking us to fund their levies why didn’t these signs state the word “Bond”? Why were there no information meetings to explain what the proposal was and why $15 Million dollars was necessary for us to have adequate fire fighting and emergency operations? Was this the best way to spend our money? Could this money be better spent in other ways? To make matters more confusing, there was no opposition statement included in the voters pamphlet. This is what the lawsuit is about.

I fully support this district and certainly want us to have the fire fighting and emergency operations we need to be safe. But I don’t have deep pockets and if I’m being asked to commit to pay out $15 Million dollars for the next 20 years I need to be better informed. Our CCFPD9 was asking us to make a huge commitment with our wallets without giving us enough information to vote for the measure. This is what the lawsuit is about.

The law clearly states in an RCW that the legislative authority, LWFR Commissioners, “shall” (the legal definition of “shall” is that it conveys a mandatory obligation) appoint a committee to prepare arguments advocating for approval and rejection of the measure. That’s pretty clear.

Why was there no con statement when the board of commissioners knew there was local opposition due to lack of information? There are many studies proving people vote largely with information gleaned from reading the pro and con statements (that is, in fact, how I vote).

But here we all were, being asked to vote in a Special Election (staged at the beginning of what was looking to be a very bad fire season) to commit to the next 20 years to be on the hook for $15 Million dollars with little information and no opposition statement. I need to be better informed before I can agree to such a huge increase in my taxes. This is what the lawsuit is about.

The measure passed by 60% but did you know that it was only FOUR VOTES that got us to 60%? Four people. Would you have voted di?erently if there had been a con statement? Would you have voted di?erently if you were better informed as to why a small number of people were being asked to be the collateral for $15 Million dollars for the next 20 years? This is what the lawsuit is about.

Lisi Ott