The process to select a new fire chief for the Estes Valley Fire Protection District moved forward Tuesday and Wednesday with an open house at the Dannels Fire Station Tuesday afternoon for the community to talk with the three candidates vying for the job
The three candidates, Lt. Ron Bruchwalski, Interim Chief Paul Capo, and Assistant Chief Jon Landkamer were each stationed in separate rooms of the fire house to meet with the public between 4 and 5:30 p.m. followed by an open house for members of the fire district. Comment sheets were available for people to provide feedback to the fire district board about the candidates.
The board met Wednesday afternoon for executive session interviews with the candidates before meeting to discuss the interviews. According to Ryan Bross, president of EVFPD, the board then returned to an open meeting to select a negotiations committee.
During Tuesday’s meet-and-greet, Chris Busar, an EVFPD board member, said a public announcement of the selection was not expected until contract negotiations with the new chief are completed.
Late Wednesday afternoon information surfaced that one of the candidates learned they had not been selected to serve as chief. It was unclear if the decision to eliminate one of the candidates had been made during the executive session or if the board had come out of executive session and gaveled in to a public meeting to take a vote on who to hire or to eliminate.
According to Colorado open meeting laws, boards of public organizations, including taxing districts, cannot make decisions in executive sessions.
Internal problems
The EVFPD has experienced turmoil over the past 18 months after the board and former Chief David Wolf came to terms on a separation agreement in May 2023. Wolf received a severance payout of $84,645.79 plus six months of benefits worth $27,545.40.
Capo was appointed to serve as the interim fire chief until Richard Lasky was hired at the end of January this year. The search process to hire Lasky cost the District $31,000. Lasky came on board in April but abruptly stepped down from his role less than four months into the job.
In an interview with the Estes Valley Voice the day after resigning, Lasky said there were circumstances within the administration of the fire district that he was not at liberty to discuss and that the board did not empower him to fix.
At a July 31 board meeting, Jami Lasky, the wife of the former chief, addressed the fire district board during the open comment period and said there was a “cancer” inside the administration of the fire department. “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 told the board.
Following the sudden resignation of Lasky, Capo again served as the interim chief.
At an Aug. 14 board meeting the directors decided not to conduct a national search for a new chief but to look internally with the aim of selecting a new chief by Oct. 9.
Prothman, the executive search firm retained during the search for a new chief a year ago, agreed to provide consultation to the EVFPD in interviewing the internal candidates at no additional cost, other than expenses, since it had been less than a year that the EVFPD contracted with the company.
Issues facing the EVFPD
Beyond personnel and related morale issues that have troubled the EVFPD for more than two years, one of the significant issues the district will have to address this coming year is decreased revenues due to a bipartisan property tax reduction measure struck by the legislature during a special session in August. The measure, House Bill 24B-1001, was signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis on Sept. 4.
Additionally, there will be a reduction in local property tax revenues as the 90 units at Fall River Village resort complex, 19 units at Beaver Brook Crossing and some of the 16 units at Grand Estates Apartments come off the property tax rolls and become workforce housing rentals owned and operated by the Estes Park Housing Authority.
The Town of Estes Park has also seen a reduction in local sales tax collections in 2024 which will impact the EVFPD’s budget. The district receives a portion of the Town’s 1A sales tax, an additional 1% sales tax that is earmarked for street maintenance, stormwater management, trails expansion, wildfire mitigation and powerline wildfire mitigation.
One of the philosophical debates taking place in the fire district is whether it should remain staffed primarily by volunteers, if it should transition to a full-time career staff, or if some kind of a hybrid staffing model should be adopted.
Because wildland fires are a significant issue for areas such as the Estes Valley there are people who advocate that the district move toward hiring career firefighters. It would be cost prohibitive to do this without a significant increase in the mill levy collected by the EVFPD. While there has been public discussion about the possibility of hiring additional full-time staff, voters turned down a ballot question about increasing the mill levy in May 2023.
Of the nearly 30,000 fire departments in the U.S., 64% are staffed by volunteer firefighters, 18% are staffed mostly by volunteers, 8.3% are staffed mostly by career firefighters, and 9.4% are staffed by all career members. The majority of fire departments that are composed of mostly career and all career departments are located in major urban areas.
Whether firefighters are full-time career or volunteer members, they all receive rigorous training to gain national, state, and local certification.
The EVFPD has 55 members, including eight paid staff members, two of whom are administrative staff and not firefighters, plus eight auxiliary members. The motto on the side of the EVFPD trucks is “professionally staffed by volunteers.” Volunteer firefighters are paid when they go out on a service call but are not salaried members of the department.