The public is invited to the April 4 meeting of the Maple Valley Fire and Life Safety Board of Commissioners where the Board will discuss a contingency plan if efforts to pass a maintenance and operations levy fail in April.

The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. at Station 81, 22225 S.E. 231st Street, in Maple Valley.

Fire Chief Brad Doerflinger will present the Board of Fire Commissioners with a range in number of Firefighter/Emergency Medical Technicians who will receive layoff notices in late 2013 if the levy is unsuccessful. These cuts in emergency personnel would be in addition to the five Firefighter/EMT positions the department is already down since 2009.

“No one likes to talk about laying-off firefighters, but we need to be prepared,” said Chief BradDoerflinger. “We have cut our budget to the bone, and the only place to go now is emergencypersonnel.”