At the regular meeting of the Falcon Fire Protection Districtís board of directors, Dan Kupferer, board president, said he received a letter of resignation from board director Greg Heule, who had been the subject of a recall initiative. Heule did not attend the board meeting.Heule said an imminent move to Arizona prompted his resignation.ìI am moving to Arizona, and itís due to entirely personal issues,î Heule said. ìIt was not something that I had anticipated happening for a long time but it just came to fruition in the last month or two. Itís a new chapter in my life that just so happens to coincide with the recall stuff.îHeule said his move had nothing to do with the recall effort, which was initiated because the people ìobviously disagreed with the ways I was headed.îAccording to the May issue of The New Falcon Herald, the recall effort began in response to Heuleís involvement in an investigation in March and April 2013 that centered on Trent Harwig, fire chief; Jeff Petersma, battalion chief; and Cory Galicia, battalion chief. The chiefs were put on paid leave April 24, 2013.Harwig and Petersma were subsequently reinstated to their positions without disciplinary action, but Galicia was demoted; and, after a $13,600 pay decrease, he decided to leave the FFPD. Galicia has recently been elected to the FFPD board.Terry Reed, the sole member of the committee to recall Greg Heule, said, ìIím happy that Mr. Heule has decided not to cost the district any more money (recall election). Iím happy that heís voluntarily resigned, and I wish him well.î If a recall election had been held, the cost to the district could have been as high as $6,000, according to the NFH article.ìI do not judge the man or question his reasons,î Reed said. ìIím just happy that he did. He had personal reasons he gave, from what I was told; and I accept that and have no reason to challenge that.îHeule said he had a visit from an El Paso County Sheriffís deputy the day before the FFPD May board meeting. The deputy told Heule that Crime Stoppers had received an anonymous call on its tip line claiming that Heule was a potential threat to the safety of those attending the board meeting. ìHe said they got a Crime Stoppers tip that said, ëIf things do not go the way Heule wants them to go tomorrow at the board meeting, he is going to shoot up the meeting and escape to Arizona,íî Heule said.ìI was speechless. I said, ëYouíve got to be kidding me. Theyíve stooped to that level to harass me on the last day Iím in town.í I told the deputy that I have some suspicions of who might have done it but it was anonymous. It was strictly harassment by somebody trying to get me in trouble. That is the method of harassment that people have started using.î Sgt. Greg White, public information officer for the EPCSO, wrote in an email to The New Falcon Herald that the anonymous tip had been investigated. ìAt the conclusion of the investigation, it was determined that no further law enforcement action needed to be taken,î White wrote.Reed said he heard about the anonymous call when he arrived at the board meeting and talked to the sheriffís deputy in attendance. ìI think itís a sad thing that someone called that in, unless they had personal knowledge about something,î Reed said. ìI had no idea what happened or why.î
