Posted on: April 4th, 2023

SPECIAL GOLD HILL TOWN MEETING AND FIRE BOARD MEETING

In person and Zoom meeting

Minutes of the March 20, 2023 Joint Meeting

Next Town Meeting is Monday, April 10, 7:00 p.m.

 This Joint Meeting was called to order by Town Meeting Chair Marcus Moench in order to provide an overview of the one-year MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) between the Gold Hill Fire Protection District Fire Board and Chief of Fourmile Bret Gibson and Chief of Lefthand Chris O’Brien after the retirement of Chief Chris Finn.   Thirty-three people attended : Marcus, Maggie Simms, Norm Skarstad, Treasurer Chrissy and Vice Chair Dan Maedke, Richard Roth, Deb and Max Yeager, Nick Martin, Greg Buis,  Leslie Finn, Matt Connery, Kris Gibson, Amy Fortunato, Virginia Schultz, Fire Board Chair Rich Lopez, Marybeth Neal, Chief of Fourmile Bret Gibson, Chief of Lefthand Chris O’Brien, Assistant Gold Hill Chief Whitey Debroux, Fire Board members Chris Dirolf , Kent Coghill, and Boyd Brown, Dave Sturtz, Don Brookhart, Val Crist, Bear Carlson, Torkin Wakefield, Chris Finn, Shivaun Hoyle, Donal Maloney, Kathleen Gilgannnon, and Secretary Gretchen Diefenderfer. Please let me know if I’ve left anyone out.

Marcus reported that the idea for this is to give the two joint Chiefs, Bret  Gibson and Chris O’Brien and Assistant Chief Whitey DeBroux an opportunity to bring out plans for this year, to facilitate broader cooperation throughout the community and the fire department, and to answer questions.  He also wanted to announce that we submitted a concept paper for an AIM grant, it was approved, and we have been invited to submit a formal grant application.  This grant is for up to $75,000 for mitigation work, house hardening, etc., and will require close collaboration with the fire department on establishing our priorities.

         Rich Lopez added that recently questions have come up concerning the Mine and Mill.  A group of people from Lefthand and the GHFPD put together a list of concerns and submitted them to the Mined Land folks

Bret then spoke as “the interim ½ Chief “ and expressed thanks for calling this meeting.  He stressed that the community is not just the town of Gold Hill, but the entire Fire District including Rowena and more of Lefthand, the Gold Run Subdivision and west of town, but we do have a big advantage in that we have a community and a community center  to gather together.

Lefthand Chief Chris O’Brien then introduced himself.  His first fire was the Black Tiger Fire when he was working at the Inn.  He comes at it more from the forestry side and then added structure fire training.  He’s been with Lefthand for 12 years now.  He serves on the Boulder County Fire Fighters Association board with Bret and they’ve made great progress in the last years.

         Part of the team they are bringing is Ellie Crane, an administrator for Fourmile.  She reports that she’s finishing her degree in Environmental Studies at CU, working on the CWPP in Nederland, and is contracted with the USFS. Fourmile, Sunshine, Gold Hill, Sugarloaf are working on a collaborative CWPP as well.

         They wanted to dispel any rumors – Fourmile and Lefthand are not going to take over the Gold Hill Fire Department.  They’ve signed a one year MOU to come in to help assess, come up with plans, and present them.  The objective is to establish our  personnel, procedures and policies, to install a new Chief, and have a successful platform to build on.

         Bret then spoke re: Civics 101 – The Fire Department is a Special District formed with the primary purpose of fire protection.  The Board of Directors (needs to be an odd number) are elected as community members and, by statute, they appoint a Fire Chief, a position of phenomenal responsibility and authority – the authority to commandeer almost anything – land, equipment – and then becomes responsible for them.  He can prevent you from returning (can’t make you leave)  in an emergency situation.  Responsible for creating volunteers, training them and also taking on liabilities. 

         What’s the goal of the fire department?  It’s a community decision with the board.  All Special Districts are the same – only as strong as the community supports.  The firefighters have to be supported with proper training and equipment.

         Chief O’Brien added that Chiefs are always looking at how to do the best job and need to have the support of the Board.  All have to work together and it’s a big responsibility.

         The Chief job is operational director (not planner), implementing the direction provided by the Board, and the board’s mission is to support the operational mission.

         Question in the Zoom chat – It took 9 years to get a call box in Lefthand.  What will it take to get one west of town?  A discussion with the Chief and Board, need to do a cost/benefit analysis and decide whether to pursue it.

         Bear asked how Fourmile and Lefthand were selected for the MOU.  Bret replied that both chiefs asked their boards for advice and got their support.  You guys in Gold Hill are our back door and it’s in our enlightened self-interest to work with you and support you.  Also, both Fourmile and Lefthand have some paid staff, so it’s easier for them in some ways.  Fourmile has the mill levy and an administrative assistant to staff a 3-12 person crew Monday – Friday, so evenings and weekends Gold Hill actually has more volunteers to respond. Our different capabilities are why it’s critical that we break down any barriers and work together  We’ve all made amazing progress in Boulder County over the years, from 16 different independent departments originally to working together well.  So, Chris O’Brien and I would like to help Gold Hill re-imagine itself.

EXERCISE:  Bret conducted an exercise asking those present to write on sticky notes and those on Zoom to write in the chat what kind of abilities everyone would like to see in our Fire Department.  The answers ranged from the ability to respond to fires and medical emergencies, participating in mitigation planning and work, having a strong relationship with the community, to providing education and equipment to all volunteers.  Bret stressed that this requires active volunteers, Fire Board members and the Community  

         Next, he asked us to think about  about what we expect of the Fire Board and gave a little history.  Way back when his father Bob came to town, the question arose about fire protection.  The town had consisted of 2 basic groups of community members: Bluebirds and a few olde miners.  Added to that now were a few newbies.  They decided everyone should have a fire extinguisher purchased by the town, and a bucket of sand. When the school bell (which doubled as our fire alarm) rang, everyone responded.  This was the first Gold Hill Fire Department and Town agreement.  The community came up with the most realistic solution they could make happen.  There wasn’t the Urban/Interface problem we have today.

         The exercise answers centered on supporting the Chief and volunteers. Communication with the community, as well as a lot of focus on mitigation.  Fortunately we now have the Boulder Watershed Collective, the 4 Department CWPP, and IGA authority, so there is pretty good energy to  support home hardening, and mitigation work, with Wildfire Partners providing education and implementation, too. 

         Regarding evacuation plans, we need education – the Fire Chiefs need to train the firefighters and engage with the Fire Board to push the message out to the community.  Go to the Boulder Office of Emergency Management for updates during an emergency, and sign up for Alerts through Everbridge (the County reverse 9-1-1)   https://www.boulderoem.com

         As far as fast response and collaborative regional response, Boulder County is miles ahead of counties that border us.  Boulder County rocks, actually.

         Chris O’Brien added that we’re always working on intercollaborative cooperation.  BCFFA is central to this effort.

         Medical response is huge.  We all face the same things, we’re on our own until an ambulance gets here.  So we work together, practice skills – medical calls are somewhere around 60% to 80% of our calls.  Bret asked Rich Lopez what our expectation is responding to a cardio vascular incident – a realistic response time.  This generated a long discussion. Of course, it depends on where it is, and 20 minutes seems to be the hopeful answer – would be less if it’s close like on Main Street.  Then Bret added that countywide departments are looking at how much money to spend to decrease response times. 

         Questions: What kind of messages does the fire department want to send to the community?  For instance, if you dial 9-1-1, stay in place for certain emergencies – stay put.  But for some others, load and go? To get to definitive care?

         Back to the Exercise, what are our expectations of the Fire Board?  Some answers were: budget and financial management of funds, support the firefighters and Chief with equipment, education and training.  Coordinate with other departments to help provide coordinated response to emergencies, appoint the Chief, interact with the community,  coordinate with the community on long term planning for the department, support mitigation work.

         A question was asked of Bret re board elections in Fourmile.  He replied that they really haven’t had them.  If there are only enough candidates to fill the positions no election is needed and elections are expensive.  Single issue candidates can be a problem.  They had one who didn’t want the department to do mitigation work and spent 4 years taking up time even though outvoted by the rest of the board.  There are 2 kinds of board members – ones who just show up for 2 hours once a month, and those committed people who do lots of work.

         Bret asked Rich Lopez how he sees the board responsibilities.  Rich listed planning and supporting the goals and needs of the department, fiscal management, long term plans for equipment, etc.  He added that, now with the mill levy increase, the will have roughly 2 times as much money to improve our equipment, training, participating in the CWPP.

         Bear asked, now with the mill levy increase, are we more equal to other departments?  Bret pointed out that Gold Hill’s mill levy will now provide around $80,000 a year.  Fourmile’s is the largest mill levy in the County and provides $480,000.  Average home values are higher in Fourmile, so it’s not a direct comparison.  Indian Peaks has the largest square mile area in the County, but it’s mill levy provides only $20,000.  Left hand’s mill levy is 16, Fourmile’s is 24, and Gold Hill’s is now 16, but property values and areas are vastly different.

         Bret emphasized that you get the government you allow so be there and be engaged.  SOPs and SOGs are a collaboration between the Board and the Chief – enforcement is the Chief.  Our equipment is a big issue going forward.  A lot of it has deferred maintenance issues.  Why?  We’ve been a poor department operating on a shoestring and it’s now caught up with us.  So, decisions need to be made. One piece of equipment cannot roll – it’s not safe.  How much of our new money should go into new equipment and/or maintenance? Significant decisions need to be made.  Do we want a paid administration position for grant writing, record keeping, etc.?  We can pass a bond initiative, but that could cost every property owner some money.  He’s encouraged that this many people have showed up for this meeting, although this is a crisis response and we need to have long term involvement.

         The last question of the exercise is what services can we, as a community provide the district.  Fourmile built a $2.5 million Fire Station – the Community came together.  Ellie, their administrator, made a point of community involvement and organization.  We need to connect and utilize people with different skills and foster a symbiotic relationship between the community, the fire department, the board. What is our mission statement?

         Chris O’Brien pointed out that it’s great that we have the ability to welcome the community into the fire station and be together and have these conversations.

Bear added that the space we’re in was built to be the Community Center, but then the Fire Department’s needs expanded and they walled off some of the space and now it can’t function as fully as a community center.

         Bret added some more history.  When the subdivision was built, the town had huge concerns about how it would be part of Gold Hill.  The reality is that the fire district encompasses a lot of small communities outside the Gold Hill platted townsite.  What about Rowena?  Our challenge is to include the whole district.

         Marcus pointed out that the community and the fire department need to attract some good person to be the Chief, someone willing to take on the responsibilities and liabilities.  Bret said that guidelines need to be established and then we need to not step outside them. We already have many and need to fine tune them.  He stressed that the Gold Hill Fire Department is not broken, but that we need to move out of the last 5 years into the next 20.  We need to reevaluate and determine where we want to be tomorrow.

         Please send additional comments to Chief O’Brien at cjobrien_42@nullmsn.com

Bret added that he wanted to leave with the assurance that he has a lot of confidence in the GHFPD and community.  Both he and Chris O’Brien support having strong uphill neighbors.  And, we can all improve.

         Chris Dirolf added that we appreciate everyone coming together tonight.  We need transparency and everyone needs to show up and pull together for our collaboration to work well.

         Bret illustrated this with the story of the Chicago Fire.  Chicago burned down on that night because of the inability of the fire departments to work together – each separate department even used different threads on their hose set ups.  Early on the BCFFA came up with two fittings: 6” draft and 2 ½ “ feed – two standards for the County.  Now, we’re behind the departments on the flats and have more work to do.

Thank you all for coming

         Donal added that the fact that the district has Gold Hill and the Fire Department as a center is a great opportunity to further excellent community cooperation and utilize the opportunity for outreach.  He urged  volunteers to come in and we’ll train you to do what you can do to help – we can always harness that desire to be part of it.  Everyone doesn’t have to be a firefighter.

 

Respectfully Submitted, Gretchen Diefenderfer, Secretary, GHTM