Notice of a meeting set for 10:30 a.m. tomorrow of the Estes Valley Fire Protection District, posted on the District’s website, includes two items on the agenda under the banner of “personnel matters.”
The first agenda item reads “action regarding whether to place Chief on paid administrative leave pending personnel investigation.”
The second agenda item is for the “Appointment of interim chief(s) during pending personnel investigation.”
The issue of placing the chief, Paul Capo, on leave was not on the agenda of the public board meeting held last week on Monday, June 16.
However, the EVFPD board did go into executive session on June 16 to discuss two items that were on the agenda. The first was “for the purpose of receiving legal advice concerning complaints alleging discrimination and harassment.”
The other was “for the purpose of receiving legal advice related to outsourcing the District’s Human Resources needs and the risks and benefits related to such action.”
When the board gaveled out of its meeting on Monday, the next board meeting on the calendar was set for June 30.
The EVFPD has experienced turmoil over the past several years since the District accepted the resignation of David Wolf and entered into a severance agreement in May 2023, the appointment of Capo as the interim chief until Rick Lasky was hired in April 2024. Lasky stayed three months and resigned suddenly.
At a board meeting after he resigned, his wife, Jami Lasky, addressed the meeting and said there was a “cancer” in the administration of the EVFPR and that until that was addressed, the Department would continue to have internal administration problems.
After Lasky left, the board appointed Capo again as the interim chief and decided not to look externally but to hire the new chief from within the department. In a closed-door executive session meeting, the board decided to hire Capo as the chief. In a Colorado Open Records Act lawsuit, Judge Juan Villaseñor found that the board had violated the state’s open meeting laws. The court required the District to surrender the recording of the meeting.
Board president Ryan Bross resigned shortly after the court ruled against the EVFPD. Two sitting board members, Christopher Busar and Steven Ferrante ran for election in May, but Estes Valley voters elected a new slate of Directors.
The new board, Sandra Smith, Scott Dorman, Ryan Leahy, Jeff Robbins, and Jon (Hippy) Smith has officially met two times. Tomorrow morning’s meeting will mark their third session.
The EVFPD board meeting will be held on Monday at 10:30 a.m. at the Dannels Fire Station, 901 N St Vrain Ave. It is open to the public.