I have to say how embarrassed I am on the actions of some of my city of Kirkland elected officials and how they have been acting in the media this past few weeks. Specifically, the fire station siting process.

I sit back and shake my head as I watch the ping-pong gang on style of politics. The last communication was by Mr. Toby Nixon (Amy Walen and Penny Sweet included recently), a “Guest Editorial.”

Mr. Nixon makes many accusations in the article and one specifically states: “One of Bryan Vadney’s jobs as president of the local firefighters union is to maximize the number of firefighters hired, apparently without regard for whether it is in the city’s overall best interests and without balancing the cost against other important priorities.”

As a 36 year fire service professional, who has no association to Mr. Vadney other than I live in the city of Kirkland and work for an Eastside fire department, I couldn’t disagree more. A fire union operates for three things; wages, hours and working conditions. Fair wages, for fair hours, for fair and safe (as much as our career allows) working conditions.

Firefighters put the lives of those for whom we work above our own on each and every emergency we respond. We, as professionals, understand the complexities in how a municipal fire service organization operates and how it interfaces with other city departments. Firefighters champion every day to be good “stewards of the public’s funds.”

Apparently, in Kirkland’s governing standards, it’s not ok to call the question at a later point in a process. Can you imagine if that were the case at the world redound NASA space program. We have all seen the “last second” shutdown of a space vehicle launch, which cancels a liftoff. I’m proud of NASA’s decision makers who do what’s right and don’t conform to the “normalization of deviance.”

The fire station siting process seems to have come full circle. The Kirkland community is loosing faith in our elected officials, labor relations and rebound taxation. You know, never enough time or money to do it right the first time but always enough time and money to do it over.

The station siting process should reconvene with all stakeholders and a facilitator. Ego’s, reputations and positional power should be shelved to ensure that the final product, a product that maximizes public safety, is delivered to the community. We the voters are watching. All will be held accountable for the open, transparent and purposeful conclusion to this process.

Mike Kavanaugh, Kirkland