Members of the Estes Valley Fire Protection District Board discussed but did not take action during Wednesday’s Board meeting to approve a proposed five-year strategic plan prepared by Chief Paul Capo.
One of the reasons given for deferring action was the upcoming board election. While two of the current board members are running for election, all five seats are up for election.
Outgoing board members Dave Hamrick, Mike Lewelling, and Brian Tsang told Capo that a new board would be charged with overseeing the implementation of the strategic plan and those board members should be allowed to review the proposal and approve or adjust it as they saw fit.
The report, which is posted on the District’s website, was developed with the help of the Center for Public Safety Excellence, a consulting firm in Reston, Va., hired to facilitate the strategic planning process.
Invitations were sent to hand-selected members of the community to participate in a 35-minute lunch meeting on Feb. 18, held at the Community Center. Some 50 participants representing community stakeholders were asked to rank the priority of seven issues, and provide comments about their expectations, concerns, and what participants saw as strengths in the fire department. Those responses were used to inform the plan’s development during a three-day meeting.
At the beginning of the Wednesday Board meeting, a statement by Mark Igel was read into the record by Capt. Rick Spear. Igel, a volunteer firefighter who has been a member of the District for 30 years, is also a Town of Estes Park Trustee.
Igel’s statement indicated that he was unaware until reading the proposed plan on the District’s website earlier in the day, that the strategic plan had been finalized and that the Board would be taking action to approve it.
“I’m a little surprised at how broad the language is in the plan, and I cannot find the implementation guide to review, which likely has specific objectives. I’m concerned that if I can’t find the information to review, the public hasn’t, and other members haven’t. And I would have to ask if the board has reviewed a document that they are going to approve.”
According to Igel’s statement, “if the board approves this without buy-in, it will create additional stresses and challenges. There are a lot of questions right now about how the district is operating, and rushing this through may be counterproductive.”
Board members acknowledged that with the upcoming board election, it would be “respectful” to allow the newly elected board to review the plan and vote on whether or not to approve it as written.
Dave Hamrick, who chaired the meeting, indicated that the members of the Board had “limited time to review the plan” and that it would be “fair to say” that board members shared concerns expressed by Igel.
According to Hamrick, who said he talked with two other board members prior to the meeting, “we agreed that it would probably be respectful and prudent” to defer approval to a later meeting.
Steve Ferrante, a newly appointed member of the District’s Board of Directors, concurred and said it would be best to allow the newly elected Board to take up the matter after the May 6 election.
“I think it should go to the next Board, because it is going to be a new fire Board, and rather than have them with the sense that they’re inheriting something, I would like for them to be able to take ownership of something and feel that they have input into it,” said Ferrante.
Mike Lewelling commented that he would like to see specific, measurable goals in a strategic plan, and the plan as written did not contain those timelines or metrics.
Chief Paul Capo appeared upset that the report was not adopted and said he had been hired five months ago with the mandate to produce a strategic plan, and he felt he had delivered on that goal. The District had not had a strategic plan in place for 12 years.
Recognizing that this was the last meeting of this board, Capo thanked the board members for their service to the District. The next meeting of the EVFPD will be on May 22. After the results of the May 6 election are certified, the new board members will be sworn in before the May meeting.