Sparks flew at the fire district board meeting

As several wildland fires raged Wednesday afternoon near Estes Park, Paul Capo, the assistant chief of operations and training for the Estes Valley Fire Protection District, was appointed to serve as the District’s interim chief in the wake of the unexpected resignation of Rick Lasky two weeks ago.

The regular board meeting which was scheduled for July 24 was postponed until yesterday afternoon. Three of the four board members, President Ryan Bross, Dave Hamrick, and Chris Bucer attended the meeting in person, one member, Vice President Brian Tseng, attended by Zoom, and one member, Mike Lewelling, had an excused absence.

As wildfire smoke filled the air in the Estes Valley, the small board meeting room inside the Dannels Fire Station was filled with more than 15 firefighters and several members of the public. Community members who attempted to join the meeting via Zoom found that the link to the meeting was not operating in order to allow them to watch the proceedings.

During the first 16 minutes of the meeting, which was recorded and is now posted to the District’s website, the board heard public comments.

Justin Kearney, 17-year veteran of the fire District, expressed his concern with the way the board has interacted with the members of the fire District since Lasky’s resignation.

Kearney told the board that at a meeting of the career and volunteer members of the District several days after Lasky’s stepped down only “the new guy”— Chris Buser, who was appointed to the board in June and was sworn in July 8 — attended.

“Board members could have stepped up and been present with us with what happened,” said Kearney. “Not having a representative there that has been on the board more than eight days was disappointing.”

Kearney said that questions were raised at the meeting among the members about whether the fire district, staff, and volunteers did everything they could to make Lasky’s tenure with the district successful. “Comments were made that the board was reminded several times to do its evaluations and they never got them done until his 90-day evaluation.”

Kearney questioned if the evaluations had been done if the problems that led to Lasky’s resignation might have been addressed. “It sucks, right, our membership has been through a lot in the last year.”

In an pointed statement directed at Bross, Kearney said whoever is hired as the new chief will need “the tools to be successful” and that leadership is needed, “like, that’s your job.”

Jami Lasky, the wife of the former chief, addressed the board, “I’m not supposed to be here. My husband is not happy with me right now being here.”

In an emotional statement, Jami Lasky said, “Until there are some changes made here internally—and I am not talking about firefighters because our firefighters here are unbelievable, they give everything they’ve got they work jobs and still make it to all the calls that they possibly can and they protect this community—but the community deserves better than what they’re getting right now.”

Jami Lasky continued, “There has to be some accountability, not just with the board, but internally as well with the paid staff.” She concluded her remarks by saying, “That’s really all I’m going to say, and I’m going to excuse myself for the rest of it because the rest of it is garbage.”

Former board member Mike Kearney also spoke to express concern about how much money was spent in the search process to hire David Wolf who was hired as the chief in 2016, and then Lasky who assumed the job April 1 of this year.

Wolf and the District entered into a separation agreement in 2023 and he received a severance payout of $84,645.79 plus six months of benefits worth $27,545.40. The search process to hire Lasky cost the District $31,000.

Mike Kearney encouraged the board to consider looking at internal candidates rather than to go to the expense of trying to find a candidate from outside the District.

After the public comments, the board went into executive session to talk with the district’s attorney about matters related to appointing an interim chief.

When the board resumed the public meeting, several routine reports on District business were made and the board voted to approve the audited 2023 financial report before addressing the appointment of an interim chief.

Bross asked both John Landkamer, assistant chief of support services, and Capo, about their interest in being named as the interim chief. Both had submitted written statements to the board expressing their interest in serving. One other member of the District, Lt. Ron Bruchwalski, submitted a letter of interest, but Bross did not acknowledge his letter or include him in the public interrogatory.

After both Landkamer and Capo made statements about their willingness to serve, Bross said he thought it would provide continuity to have Capo again be the public face of the District, a role which Capo held during the 11 month interim period between Wolf and Lasky.

The four board members voted unanimously to appoint Capo. The meeting was then adjourned. The next scheduled meeting is set for August 14.