A pivotal moment can be defined as a time in the life of an organization when significant changes can alter its trajectory and impact its future.
At our fire district, we’re facing two such moments right now. Both are receiving significant attention from our board of directors, volunteers, and paid staff.
Both also require your input.
First is the search for our next permanent fire chief. I described the process we’re using in my May column. We recently reached a major milestone and selected four finalists. They were announced at our June 1 Board of Directors meeting.
Their names and brief biographies are posted on our website at www.estesvalleyfire.org.
In the next step, they will come here on June 17 and 18 for interviews with many internal and external stakeholders. There will be an opportunity for you to meet them at a community meet-and-greet event at 6:30 pm on Wednesday, June 17, at our main fire station, 901 N. Saint Vrain Ave.
This is your opportunity to provide input. A major emphasis of our selection process is to bring us a fire chief who can provide leadership stability, support our organization and its members, be a productive participant in our larger community, and help us improve our services in the future.
The second pivotal moment concerns our future funding. When we were formed as a fire district in 2009, we used a unique strategy to share the cost of fire protection and emergency services between a small property tax paid by all property owners in the district and a sales tax allocation from the Town of Estes Park.
In this way, a portion of our costs is paid by visitors who generate a significant percentage of our responses. In 2009, fire districts could not assess their own sales tax.
This changed in 2024, when the state legislature allowed fire districts to have their own sales tax, subject, of course, to the approval of the district’s voters. In recent years, the town has indicated it would like to use the sales tax allocated to us for other critical public safety needs, primarily the construction of a new and badly needed public safety facility.
This would not only house our police department but also provide a new dispatch center, emergency operations center, and training spaces.
The new financial strategy we’re considering is to establish our own sales tax to replace the sales tax allocation currently provided by the town and to fund several needs critical to continuing the services we provide to the community.
We call this financial independence. This will require a vote of all district residents and property owners.
In May, our board directed me to hire a consultant to administer a survey to a representative sample of district residents to determine whether an election would be feasible this year. In the next few weeks, you may be contacted by our consultant and asked to complete this survey.
Please do so. It will provide our board with valuable information on how to move forward with our financial independence strategy.
Seeking a permanent fire chief and achieving financial independence are truly pivotal moments in the life of our fire district. I hope you’ll help us make these important decisions. For the new fire chief, please attend our meet-and-greet event on June 17.
On financial independence, please complete our survey if you’re contacted.
As always, you can contact me directly at any time at chief@estesvalleyfire.org or 970-577-3690. You can also provide input directly to our board of directors during the public input portion of any regular or special meeting.
These meetings are always posted on our website at www.estesvalleyfire.org.