The Estes Park Fire Protection District board accepted the resignation of board chair Ryan Bross Wednesday evening at its February board meeting and unanimously voted to appoint Steve Ferrante to fill Bross’ seat until the May 6 election.
Bross submitted an undated letter which was included in the packet of material known as a board book which directors receive prior to a board meeting. Ferrante also submitted an undated letter expressing his interest in serving out Bross’ term.
Ferrante ran in the 2024 general election as a Republican to represent House District 49 in the Colorado General Assembly. He was defeated by Democrat Lesley Smith who won with 63.8% of the votes cast. Ferrante, who has lived in Estes Park for 12 years, is a retired police officer with 20 years of law enforcement experience. He is currently a pastor and also a property manager.
The EVFPD will hold elections for all five seats on its board on May 6. The names of the eight candidates have not been released to the public. Three of the seats are for four-year terms and two seats are for two-year terms.
Chief Paul Capo reported that the District held a three-day strategic planning session in February. The strategic planning process began with a 35-minute meeting that started at 11:30 a.m. with a catered buffet lunch and ended at 12:05 p.m. where three dozen area stakeholders were invited to fill out a form ranking the priority of 7 items in terms of their importance. The form was intended to provide the community with an opportunity to weigh in on the strategic planning process.
After a report from the facilitator hired to conduct the three-day meeting has been received and reviewed internally by the EVFPD, Capo said the report would be made available to the community.