Gold Hill Fire Protection District Board meeting, March 21, 2013

Notes by Gretchen Diefenderfer

Next meeting will be Thursday, April 18^th, 7:00 p.m. at the Community Center.

The meeting was called to order by President Donal Maloney.  Present were board members Donal, Bobby Vrba and Dave Sturtz, and residents Rich Lopez and Gretchen Diefenderfer.

Donal offered a public apology for the missed meetings due to lack of a quorum and encouraged everyone to be aware of the schedule in order to attend whenever possible.

The January minutes were approved as published.

Public Comment Period – Gretchen brought up the new address signs in Sunshine Canyon and suggested that we, the town and/or the fire department, look into getting and installing signs in our district.  Many residences have no visible numbers, which can be a problem, particularly in an emergency response situation.  She volunteered to find out about the county signs and the signs in Sunshine and bring the info back to the next meeting.

Agenda – Donal asked about old business and no one had any.

New Business – On his list, Donal  had the exemption from audit paperwork, the SCBA grant info, and strategic planning.  He also offered an official apology to Rich Lopez for how long it’s taken to get him on the Board.  He, Donal, missed 2 meetings due to what he called the need for spontaneous parenting, plus Rick was called out of town on short notice, and they have been short board members to start with.  He encouraged everyone to make every effort to make the regularly scheduled, 3^rd Thursday of the month meetings

As far as appointing new members, the board members have the option to talk to a candidate and vote to appoint the person they decide on.  Recently they have tried to spread out the representation geographically and Rich lives in Lefthand, so that was one consideration.  Dave moved that they appoint Rich Lopez, and Bobby seconded.  Donal asked for discussion and Gretchen said she thinks it’s a great idea.   She served on the Community Foundation Committee after the Fourmile Fire with Rich and he was wonderful.  Donal added that they really need his expertise, having served on several boards.

Donal administered the oath of office, which basically amounts to swearing to support the constitution of the U.S., the State of CO, and to faithfully perform the duties of office, and gave Rich the floor.  Rich reported that since they moved up here 7 years ago, they have met a lot of people.  and “It’s our community”.  Serving on the Wildfire relief fund committee, he learned quite a bit about the fire departments.  And he has spent a lot of time on boards, including the Boulder City Council, the Denver Foundation Board, and the Boulder Community Hospital board.  He plans to learn a lot on this board.

Donal reported that a year and a half ago, the board was chaotic and there were a lot of resignations.  His goal is to establish a functional, stable board and when they come to consensus, he hopes the board members will be able to respectfully disagree and still accept decisions they might not agree with.   In terms of process, the aim is to learn to dot the I’s and cross the T’s.  Rich volunteered that, if people on the board all want what’s best for the organization, decisions should be good decisions.

Donal reported that he wants to see the board make strategic plans for the next year and then the next 2, 5 and maybe 10 years – to make a little more of a written plan/guiding document.  For this year, they plan to install at least 1 dry hydrant in Lefthand, possibly 2.  The priority is to have one near Rowena – the area of densest population.

They are also looking to replace at least one and maybe 2 of the old trucks in the next few years, and to take care of some needed maintenance on the building, including some electrical concerns (replacing Romex with conduit and upgrading boxes).

Rich commented that it would be advisable to take care of immediate needs first.  He suggested that facilitators can help with long term visioning (they helped BCH a lot) and there might be free resources available.

Donal added that the aim is that with planning they will be less reactive.  They also need officer development and succession planning.  He commented that after the 2010 fire he’s not sure he has another one of those in him, and Chris has been Chief for something like 16 years, so he will want to retire at some point, too.

Exemption from Audit – Everyone needs to sign the form and then get it to the Department of Local Governments.

SCBA – They got the $85,000 grant and Gold Hill had to kick in $5,000.  Chris got proposals from 2 or 3 places – Front Range is probably the best.  Per the grant they need to get 13 sets, plus individual masks for each firefighter, voice amplifiers and 60 minute bottles.  They decided the more air the better, especially if they need to go in and rescue people.  They should be delivered within the next 2 months and then everyone will get trained.  Regarding grants, Donal got an email from Kris Gibson – she and Bear are very motivated to write more grants since they got this SCBA one.  Kris might make a presentation at the next Board Meeting.

Another goal is for each board member to oversee a specific area of the department – like grants, building maintenance, etc.  The chief is in charge of operations and the Board is in charge of the infrastructure, budget, etc.

Rich asked about the site characteristics needed for the dry hydrant, which are easy access, in or near Rowena.  In particular, they want to be able to support fighting a potential structure fire in the Rowena area.   Donal will get with Max Yeager to look at ideas.