The Falcon Fire Protection District held its regular board meeting April 16. All directors were present except for Kelly Starkman, who participated via conference call. Attorneys Richard Shearer and Alan Call, legal counsel for the district, were also present.CorrespondenceFFPD Fire Chief Trent Harwig said the district received preliminary notification that Mountain Valley Engineers, the developers of Hannah Ridge (in FFPDís District 4 near Marksheffel and Constitution), are planning to submit a proposal to exclude the Feathergrass property from the Falcon Fire Protection District. The developers have already received preliminary approval for inclusion in the Cimarron Hills Fire Protection District. Harwig said he is in the process of obtaining property values from the county assessor’s office.Treasurer’s reportHarwig reported that with 25 percent of the fiscal year complete, 43 percent of anticipated revenue has been received. Total expenses stand at 33 percent. The district is about $8,000 over budget for tax abatement refunds. Harwig said there is no pattern to tax abatements so there is no way to accurately budget for them.Chief’s reportFFPD received a $4,600 grant from the El Pomar Foundation to purchase 14 next-generation fire shelters for wildland firefighting. FFPD firefighter Amy Webb spearheaded the grant proposal.The Mountain States Employers Council annual contract expires April 30. The board did not budget for renewing the $3,172 contract, and said it would not be renewed.Fire preventionDivision Chief Vernon Champlin, FFPD fire marshal, reported that about 100 businesses have been entered into the districtís pre-incident planning system. He has been working with Falcon School District 49 on 2014 inspections and also meeting with representatives from Black Forest Reserve on the cistern installation.Champlin has been coordinating with the Spirit Lakes Homeownerís Association for the May 3 mitigation event. Donald Wescott Fire Protection District is loaning their wood chipper, and the HOA is paying for two FFPD firefighters to operate it so there is no cost to the district.FFPD is launching a new program for poorly marked rural addresses. For a $20 donation, district residents can order a durable fiberglass signpost with reflective numbers; installation is included in the cost. These address markers have already been installed at FFPD Station 2 and Station 3 so residents can see what they look like.Champlin said the Insurance Services Office has announced it will grant extra credit to fire districts for fire prevention programs. He said ISO is ìembracing community risk reduction conceptsî and how those concepts can positively affect homeowner insurance rates.FFPD agreement with AMRThe board voted to ratify the agreement between FFPD and American Medical Response for ambulance transport service in the district. Under the new agreement, AMR will provide full staffing for the ambulance housed at Station 1. Harwig said AMR will study response times for the next 90 days, with a goal of eight-minute responses 90 percent of the time to the areas closest to stations 1 and 3.North Group automatic aid agreementThe board approved an automatic aid agreement with the North Group of fire agencies (Black Forest, Wescott, Palmer Lake and Tri-Lakes/Monument). The Air Force Academy, Larkspur and Cimarron Hills were invited, along with Falcon, to formalize automatic aid agreements with the North Group. Harwig said Falcon didnít have formal automatic aid agreements with any North Group agency, although it does have mutual aid agreements. Automatic aid means that fire agencies will be dispatched automatically on major incidents. Mutual aid means that the agency receiving assistance must specifically request a response from its mutual aid partners.Board election updateLeon Gomes, the districtís designated election official, said that Kelly Starkman withdrew his name from the May 6 board election. Starkmanís name will still appear on the ballot since ballots were already printed, but any votes received for him will not count.The polling place (FFPD Station 3 at 7030 Old Meridian Road) will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. May 6. Gomes has appointed five election judges.Director Dan Kupferer was appointed to serve on the canvas board, which will meet May 15 to reconcile the ballots.Gomes reported that 6,000 ballots were ordered at a cost of more than $9,000. He said the amount was based on the number of eligible voters in the district, as well as experience with elections in other districts. Starkman asked how many voters turned out for the previous two FFPD board elections, and Gomes said it was ìless than 500.îìSo basically the taxpayers of the fire district are going to be stuck paying a huge printing bill for a bunch of paper thatís going to end up being recycled?î Starkman said.ìPotentially, that could happen,î Gomes said. ìI would not anticipate that you will have 6,000 voters. We were just making sure we didnít run out of ballots, and we have no idea. With this election, with the activity thatís going on, we thought there would be significantly more. But in retrospect I think weíre way off in the numbers, way too high.îHarwig said the 2011 county coordinated election for a mill levy question on the November ballot generated about 6,300 votes, He said the 2010 and 2012 board elections had 243 and 117 voters, respectively.Starkman said, ìWe should not pass that (cost) on to the taxpayers, and I think that someone needs to take responsibility because the people who have experience with the amount of turnouts were not consulted before that order was placed.îFire chief expired contractThe board discussed Harwigís contract, which expired Nov. 1, 2013. Richard Shearer said, under the terms of the agreement, the chief has been working on a day-to-day basis since the end of the contract term. Director Greg Heule asked about the options related to the contract.Referring to an email he sent in response to Heuleís request, Shearer said a fire chief can be employed with or without a written contract. Some fire chiefs have written contracts, some do not. He said an expired contract doesnít usually terminate the employment relationship. ìIn our experience, many fire chief employment contracts expire before a new contract is negotiated and approved,î he said.Shearer explained the terms of the contract regarding voluntary or involuntary termination, separation pay and the options available to the board regarding Harwigís contract.The options available to the board: renew the chiefís contract, continue on a day-to-day basis or terminate the chief. Shearer said there were specific procedures and legal precedence involved in terminating the chief, as well as a potential risk of a counterclaim if such action was taken. ìIt doesnít mean this chief would ever do something like that … but this has been a bizarre year and a half in this district,î Shearer said. ìThis district has been the subject of a lot of hard feelings, and a lot of difficult things have been going on.î Shearer said a termination without just cause, whether right or wrong, could pose a problem. ìIt doesnít mean you need just cause, but you do need to follow procedures,î he said.ìWhat would we need to do to start that (termination) procedure?î Heule asked.Shearer said the board would have to agree to the action and give the chief notice. He also said the board would have to determine whether it violated any terms of the contract in taking such an action because the chief did not get his evaluations. ìThere are a lot of things in here that both sides have rights on, and I strongly suggest that you look at all that before you continue this discussion,î he said.Heule said the board was entitled to this discussion, but Shearer said Heule had asked for options to handle the chiefís expired contract, not how to terminate the chiefís employment. ìIf you wanted to put ëletís terminate Chief Harwigí on the agenda, letís put it on the agenda,î Shearer said. ìDon’t fool around by saying ëletís talk about his contract.íîAllen asked the board to keep discussions focused on the district. ìIf itís personal, we need to get past these personal things and stay within the guidelines,î he said. ìThe chief doesnít have an attorney here talking on his behalf. The board has an attorney to give the board advice.îShearer responded, ìAnd Iím trying my best to protect you, Director Allen. The agenda item ñ and you must follow your agenda ñ is to talk about the chiefís contract.îìWhy is it important for this board to take any action on the chiefís contract since nothing has been done since November?î Kupferer asked. ìNobodyís even brought it up except to see what the contract is. Why does this board want to take any action? It doesnít make sense to me. Two members of this board arenít going to be here again; one member is up for election; and another member is possibly going to be recalled. So that leaves me. Why would we want to have this discussion?î He then asked Heule, ìWhy do you want to terminate the chief?îHeule said issues had surfaced that necessitated termination, but he would not elaborate. Shearer asked Heule to clarify what he wanted in order to provide appropriate legal guidance.ìI wanted to know what we needed to do to terminate the contract,î Heule said.Shearer said, ìTerminating his contract is one thing. Terminating his employment is an entirely different matter. If you want the chief out the door, you have to terminate his employment.îHeule said he misunderstood that terminating the contract was not the same as terminating employment. He then asked, ìWhat is the process to terminate employment?îShearer said the process was spelled out in the contract and district policies, but he offered to send an email to the entire board outlining the specifics.Heule said, ìWe cannot start this process tonight?î Shearer said if it isnít on the agenda, it cannot be discussed.The board then adjourned into executive session to discuss a different personnel matter.
