Genesee Fire Protection District

Board of Directors’ Meeting 

Minutes of August 21, 2024

Call to Order

18:00 by Director Mefford

Attendance

Board Members in Attendance:   Scott Mefford, Nancy Balter, Susan Eagle (by Zoom), JP Brewer

Board Members Excused: Patti Harris

Also Attending: Christina Jantzef (by Zoom), Max Herte, Dorie Dalton, Joe Auster, Kris Kleiner, Bob Dalton, Stephen Garran, Branch Russell 

Minutes of Prior Meetings

• A motion was made, seconded and approved by a vote of 3 to 1 to accept the minutes 2024 Board meeting with an added addendum that reflects more completely the discussion about the motion to hold a regular ballot election on May 6, 2025 to request a mill levy increase to fund building the emergency access road putting.  The addendum will be approved by the Board at its next meeting or by email before the meeting and will be posted once approved. 

Public Comment & Announcements

• The guests introduced themselves: Stephen Garran is a volunteer firefighter and the office manager for Foothills Fire.  Branch Russell is a retired GFR firefighter.

Financial Reports

• Review of September Financials
  • The August 2024 financial report was presented by Christina Jantzef
  • A motion was made, seconded and approved unanimously to accept the year-to-date financials as presented. 
• 2025 Budget
  • Christina Jantzef and Scott Mefford presented the draft 2025 budget, which had been prepared by Director Harris.  The draft will be revised as property tax revenue for 2025, per our attorney, will be higher than accounted for in the budget. 
  • Questions were raised about whether the administrative salaries took into account the likely increase in the Chief’s salary and whether the cost of our contribution to the JC Mars towers was included.
  • Some of the items which had been cut to meet the lower income figure were discussed, including the need for 2 SBCAs, replacement of 921, and the kitchen remodel.  Max and Dorie will provide Patti and Scott with cost estimates. 

Reports of Officers, Committees, Professional Consultants

• Wildland Specialist Captain Dorie Dalton’s Report
  • The 2024 grants were reviewed.  The grants were awarded to GFR, but shouldn’t be counted as income since they were cost-share grants and the costs were borne by HOAs within the District.  The FRWRM grant for the chipper reduced the amount GFR had to pay for its share of the chipper per the agreement with Genesee Foundation.
  • FireAside assessments continue, many driven by insurance issues that residents are experiencing.  
  • Station cleaning services have begun.
  • Fire billing amounting to about $100,000 are in process.
  • The CO-Lab Governor’s Award for High-Impact Research – Pathfinding Partnerships Award site visit occurred yesterday and went well.  The award was not just for WiRē, but also for its collaborators, which included us.  The gala is scheduled for November 20.  awardee is asked to host a site visit; WiRē has asked Dorie and GFR to host the site visit. 
• Administrator/Training Coordinator Max Herte’s ReportDeputy Chief Joe Auster’s ReportCalls are ahead of last year; 300 to date of which 112 have been mutual aid on FFR calls.  Apparatus Coordinator - all goodRecruiting Coordinator – There is the possibility of one additional recruit (a legacy whose parents were both GFR fire fighters) although she hasn’t been responding to Joe’s emails.Facilities Coordinator (Bob Dalton) – all goodMedical Coordinator - trainings continueWildland Coordinator - No big fires, mostly hurricane responseBranding Coordinator (K Kleiner) – branded clothing is being received and distributed.Mental Health Coordinator - Continue to inform members of events coming up.AuxiliaryOpen House went wellNext event is HalloweenCommunity LiaisonKim worked with Ryan Gaddis to arrange for excess branded material to be donated to Ukraine. 
  • Academy is going well with 2 recruits who are halfway through.  
  • There will be a multi-agency burn day this weekend.
  • Training officers in departments on the I-70 corridor are working on unifying trainings between departments so that firefighters can do the training on a schedule that works for them.
  • Max took the Hazmat Response Specialist class.  He shared some of what he learned with the volunteers, and will be an important area resource in a major hazmat incident. 

Old Business

• Emergency Access Route Update
  • Will Quinby is working on wetlands.
  • There will be some cost associated with printing a handout for Will and Gary to use when making visits looking for money for the emergency access route project.
  • Scott will ask our attorney to review the handout before it is printed.
  • There was a discussion about authorizing Scott to write a letter to Genesee Foundation about assuming the cost associated with maintaining the road and waiting for the road to be paid for before recouping their engineering costs.  There were some legal questions that Scott will discuss with our attorney. 
• Chief Search Update
  • Three candidates were interviewed by the GFR panel on Friday, and by the Chief’s panel today.  The rankings of the candidates were different and a zoom meeting among the panelists will occur tomorrow to discuss the different opinions of the panels.
  • A fourth candidate was to be interviewed by both panels today, but had to cancel due to a personal emergency. 

New Business

• More formal relationship with Foothills Fire Rescue
  • This is being discussed by the volunteers in both departments, who will meet jointly tomorrow evening.
  • The Board has not discussed the possibility of changing our relationship with FFR and it is understood that, ultimately, this will be a board decision.
  • Deputy Chief Auster was asked not only to report on the support from our volunteers, but also to report on why the volunteers felt that changing the existing relationship would be beneficial. 

The meeting was suspended at 20:15 to go into Executive Session pursuant to 24-6-402(4)(f), C.R.S., to discuss matters related to the hiring of the new Chief.  The Executive Session ended at 21:11. 

Meeting Adjournment

There being no further business, the board meeting was adjourned at 21:11.