By Jon Huang
The Falcon Fire Protection District held its monthly board meeting Feb. 21 at the Falcon Fire Administration Building on 7030 Old Meridian Road. Attorney Joan Fritsche, Steve Podell, secretary; Dan Kupferer, vice president; James Reid, president; Ray Hawkins, treasurer; and Tom Kerby, assistant secretary, attended. Chief Trent Harwig was absent and excused.
Treasurer’s report
Deputy Chief Jeff Petersma presented the report.
With 8.3% of the year complete, general fund total expenditures were at 6% of the budget, Ambulance Transport Fund at 6%, Capital Projects Fund at 4%; the Rural Water fund had yet to post any expenditures. Income numbers won’t be reported until March.
This was approved unanimously without discussion.
Staff report
Petersma presented operations, reserve and EMS totals. The December call volume consisted of 360 total calls, with District 1 and District 3 leading the way at 121 and 67 respectively.
For 2023, there were a total of 3,964 calls, 3,146 were exclusive to Falcon with the rest involving mutual aid and automatic aid calls. This was a 270-call decrease from the previous year and consistent with the county-wide decreases in calls.
The emergent response time was consistent with previous years at 6 minutes, 45 seconds.
Automatic and mutual aid given did not show significant changes.
In December, three mutual aids were received: one from AMR for a bariatric patient transport; two from Cimarron for a traffic accident due to proximity.
In January, there were 48 reserve hours.
There were 149 EMS transports, with a patient count of 219 — 38 refused evaluation and care.
The 24-month total showed a cash per trip of $606.99, with supplemental reimbursement raising this to $800.08. The department had budgeted $750 initially.
Lt. Curtis Kauffman reported that fire inspections were down for the month, which was not surprising for this time of the year. He said he conducted 18 inspections, 29 follow-ups, three new projects, five fire finals and three EDARP reviews.
As far as an updated international fire code implementation, the department is still awaiting response from the governor’s office.
James Read inquired about the access to the new King Soopers. Kauffman reported that to his knowledge, none of the crews had difficulties getting in and out.
Maintenance building project update
Joe Butler of Hammers Construction provided a status update and introduced MikeFruegel, the on-site superintendent.
The building is expected to be a 7,100-square-foot facility with six bays for maintenance. The plan is to extend the drive past Fire Station 3 to enter the new facility. It will have one office, one restroom, auxiliary rooms for storage, a break room, a mechanical room, a fire sprinkler and a welding room. It will match Fire Station 3 with a stucco and rock exterior and have a 2-foot overhang and colored metal roof.
As far as timeline, they plan to obtain permitting at the end of April, break ground in May, and finish construction in the middle of October.
Tom Kerby inquired about an update on the grade on the sewer outfall leading up to the new construction. Butler reported that they have revised engineering from JPS ,which proposed an elevation finished floor of 6,835 feet with an increase of one foot. As far as what this will mean for the driveway slope, Butler reports that the driveway slope will likely remain the same.
Kerby reiterated Chief Harwig’s concern about having too steep of a driveway at the front of the building, where the bays enter toward the existing station. Butler reported that he does not have the engineering yet from JPS for this but should have that next week and will send that to the chief.
Kerby asked Fritsche about the contract and she reported she had reviewed it with the chief.
The contract with Hammers was approved unanimously without discussion.
Station 1 parcel updates (sheriff substation)
Fritsche reported that she, the chief and Tom Kerby had a productive meeting with county staff, which included several new staff — a new deputy sheriff, a facilities practice manager and an attorney. Sheriff Joe Roybal ran the meeting. There had been no contact since Tom Selzer, the former project manager, had retired. They reviewed the easements they needed, agreements and timing of things. There was little input on the county’s side. In her opinion, Fritsche said most of the information seemed to be new to the county.
Kerby added that the meeting demonstrated how the county wasn’t aware of their own processes, didn’t know what to do next; they were able to educate them on the need for construction easements, design flaws for meeting code and other things that needed to be done. He is hopeful they will be more communicative now that they are back on track.
Auditor’s proposal
Fritsche shared that Erickson, Brown and Kloster had been used for the last three yearly audits. The current contract cites charges up to $17,500 per audit; and, if necessary, an additional $1,200 to update prior records. This is consistent with previous evaluations.
This was unanimously approved.
Stay connected with the Falcon Fire Protection District
- Website: http://www.falconfirepd.org
- Facebook: Falcon Fire Department
- Twitter: @FalconFireDept
