All five seats on the Peyton Fire Protection District board are up for election.Nine candidates are vying for the seats, making the May 6 election the district’s first competitive one.Three seats have four-year terms and two seats have two-year terms.The election is being conducted by mail-in ballot only. Ballots were mailed by April 21 to active voters (those who voted in the last general election) living in the Peyton fire district. If an active voter has not received a ballot in the mail, contact Leon Gomes at 719-359-3242.Voters can drop off their ballots at the Peyton fire station on Railroad Street from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. On May 6, Election Day, voters can drop off their ballots at the fire station from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Ballots that are mailed must be received by May 6.What the incumbent candidates are sayingDavid Stoddard,incumbent president,seeking a two-year termGreat things have been happening at the district and we have plans for more great things. We’re very positive of the way the district has changed from previous problems.We have this retention program that we’ve set up to try to motivate firefighters to stay on board. Part of that program was to buy a new fire truck, which we have done, and we have plans to buy more apparatus using the grant system.We’ve also sent firefighters to Pikes Peak Community College to take courses so they can get their Firefighter I. We’ve had some firefighters already graduate.We recently set up a pension plan for the firefighters, which is run by state statute. If you serve for 20 years and are over 50, you get a pension determined by the pension board.We’re currently working with developers. We’re working with one to get a parcel of land made available to us, so some time in the future we can build a new fire station.I am actually encouraged that there are nine people going for five positions. I like to think that with positive things, we’re not scaring people away and that more people will come on board and help with the fire department.Charles Burnett,incumbent vice president,seeking a four-year termI hope to continue what we’ve been doing … I’ve been [on the board] about a year and a half, and we’ve actually accomplished a lot over this term.I am hoping to get a part-paid staff this next year or hopefully this year if things work out well.We would like to grow the department and add more people to it. We’re looking to add more equipment.We’ve accomplished a lot with the new fire truck. We’ve updated a lot of our equipment and brought a lot of things to a better standard. That’s one of the things we’re hoping to continue. Getting equipment is not an easy process. We’re applying for a lot of grants.We’re just about to finish up our paperwork on the Insurance Services Office rating. They [ISO] did the inspection about a year ago.We’ll maintain our current [nine] rating. Updating our equipment and going to a part-paid staff is part of getting an improved ISO rating. We would like to be able to build more stations so we can broaden our ISO. Once we get going a little bit better here, we’re going to start working towards our eight and working our way down the list.I am hoping the new board will stay focused on accomplishing the goals that are best for the district.John Harris,incumbent director,seeking a two-year termI’ve been on the board five or six months and have really enjoyed the experience.The other board members that I’m serving with are all very dedicated professionals that just want to do what is best for the district as a whole.I’m looking forward to having a paid position for the chief and possibly an assistant in the future.Colorado Springs looks like it is spreading out all the time more and more toward our area. Falcon is just growing like crazy. The fire department is going to have to keep pace with that growth and be able to not only expand where you have paid staff, but expand equipment and expand locations to where you have more than one location servicing the area.We need to get everybody that volunteers trained and certified as Firefighter I.We need to think about how we handle the water situation in the Peyton district. As we grow, it’s going to take more water, and there is going to have to be some sort of system in place to make sure that when these new developments come in they provide sufficient water coverage for firefighting in that area.Steve Whitaker,incumbent board secretary,seeking a four-year termI’ve been on the board for about 22 months. So far, it’s been a lot of work. The board was down to two directors and then the three of us came on [Whitaker, Stoddard and Burnett], so we’ve kind of been establishing trust again with the community and building on improving the fire department itself.We got the new pumper engine in and we had the new brush truck in. At the time we joined the board, there were eight firefighters and now we have about 18, so we’ve been able to recruit.We were also able to pass a mill levy, so we were proud the community supported us on that. These months have been hard but very rewarding. We have a better fire department now than we did 22 months ago.The days of 100 percent volunteers are numbered because we need people to respond during the day, and a lot of the volunteers work. We need to become a paid volunteer fire department and have somebody available during the day.Currently we have the one station in the middle of town. We need to get one in the north side of the district and one in the south side.My goal is to improve the services we can provide by having paid people, plus the volunteers, and expanding stations.Falcon has gone through years doing it, and they’ve done a good job. Given the resources, we should be able to progress that way also.Five people challenging incumbentsThe five challengers are running as a team. For more information about them or to ask them questions, visit www.peytonfire.com.Bob Joly,former board member,seeking a four-year termWe, as a board, promised the taxpayers we would lower their homeowners insurance by getting the ISO rating down to an eight if they agreed to the mill levy increase. Alice Levering (current board treasurer) said in the Ranchland News on April 23 that we didn’t make that promise. We did make that promise, and my goal, if I get elected, is to keep that promise.To get the eight, we have to haul water and pump 30,000 gallons in two hours nonstop. If we look in the training records and find we can go for an ISO six, we’re going for a six, but just getting an eight will save homeowners $150 to $300 on their insurance.Peyton has three water sources and has never used any of them. We have to start sucking some water out of those to show we can do it.If we have the money to do it, by July, we should have a paid fire chief and then we’ll apply for a FEMA grant to pay the chief’s salary.It’s important to have a fire chief who lives within our district. We need the leadership a paid chief would provide. We need a chief who has certifications, someone who can take command of the fire department and keep us moving forward. We [the board] are going to help the chief do it.I would get three paid firefighter/EMTs on the day shift. The volunteers would take care of the evenings and weekends. There are grants to hire firefighters.There are grants nobody has looked at since I left. Right now, the state has a grant we can get to build a fire station.Some people want to be board members for the title and some people want to get the job done. Being board president didn’t do anything for me. All it meant was more work. I’m not here for the title. I’m running to get something done.Jody Heffner,real estate broker,seeking a two-year termI’ve been semi-involved in the district for the last three to four years. I thought we were pretty well on track when we got the mill levy increase, but then things changed, so I decided to run because I think it’s important for our community.I think it’s going to hurt us if the developers keep opting out because we’re not able to meet their needs. I’m not trying to promote huge development. I’d love to see Peyton stay rural. We also have to look at the fact that growth is going to happen no matter what.It’s difficult for people living in the Peyton fire district to get insurance because of our rating. When the ISO rating is high, it creates a problem for people’s ability to buy a house. Their insurance rates are high and some insurance companies are not favorable on insuring them.Why is it that we have this rating? Well, it’s because every time they [ISO] came out to do their inspections, the district wasn’t hitting the requirements of the things that were needed. Why is that?I don’t think things are being handled like they should. We promised the people if we agreed to this mill levy increase that things were going to change. We would use the money to do what was needed. Well, that was two years ago. Where is that money being used? They’ve gotten one new truck.I really want to focus on working hard to get the right people on the board to get the grants we need and the things we need in order to get the best equipment to help these guys that are doing volunteer firefighting.I hate to see people who know exactly what they are doing but they don’t have the equipment to take care of things. That puts people in a dangerous situation, and I don’t want to see that.Troy Anderson,former Peyton volunteer firefighter,seeking a two-year termWe need board members with fire service knowledge. I have been working for the Colorado Springs fire department for three years.We need personal alert safety system devices. They are essential for firefighter protection – they sound an alert when a firefighter stops moving.A rural town in Ohio lost two firefighters who fell through a floor. Their PASS devices didn’t go off. It took 40 minutes to get them out. They were DOA. I would hate to see it happen to us.Falcon just got a grant to replace all their self-contained breathing apparatus. Peyton didn’t put in for it. Why aren’t we putting in for these grants?I would like to have a fire station where volunteers can do a 12-hour shift after they get off work and come out and stay the night. That would bring up our response time. On a cardiac arrest, that’s huge.When Jack Rauer and I talked to the board about training, they wanted to send them to another volunteer department. I said, ‘No, we’re going to send them to good training.’We sent them to Pikes Peak Community College where Colorado Springs Fire Department firefighters trained them. They learned a lot and they were raring to go. But now the board isn’t spending money on training.I would like more people to do hazardous materials training. Hazardous materials run up and down Highway 24 and we need to be prepared for that.The best thing about Peyton’s fire department right now is that they have a good core group of firefighters who are willing to do the training. They’re not asking for anything in return. They just want to be able to help out. For us not to take advantage of that would be robbing the taxpayers of what they deserve.This job as a board member is not a two-hour-one-night-a-month job. It’s going to take time to get the district running properly. We may spend four or five nights a month down there.My dad’s a volunteer firefighter and when I was growing up, he said, ‘Give back to the community because they give to you.’ To me, this is just a way of giving back.Rob Finley,Peyton volunteer firefighter,seeking a four-year termI am a retired firefighter, and I have been the assistant El Paso County fire marshal for three years.One of the first things I would do, if elected, is an internal audit of the Peyton fire district. I think it’s important that we establish where we are at, what the needs are of the firefighters in terms of training and equipment. We need self-contained breathing apparatus with integrated PASS devices, which are a requirement nowadays.Safety auditing is identifying those things. I would sit down with the fire chief for eight hours and go down the list, line by line.As a board, we have to establish criteria … we need to set policy and procedures and then figure out how we are going to get to those goals and help the firefighters get the training they need.I have to see where the money is going and what’s going on. I have to understand the fire district’s budget.With the resources we have, we should be able to get an ISO seven or eight and then shoot for a six. I know we can certainly do a lot better with the resources we have in the district.We should have specific board member assignments. For example, we need someone to be a liaison with the developers and attend their meetings. When we come to the board meeting, each board member needs to be prepared on their specific assignments. Another assignment would be to act as a liaison with the volunteer firefighters.We need to build a second fire station and bring on part-time and full-time paid firefighters.We’re (the five challengers) going to come to the table and be honest with the people out there, and we’re going to get things done.Jack Rauer,Peyton fire district volunteer,seeking a two-year termI am running for the board because ever since Bob Joly left in August last year, the board has done practically nothing.When Bob was there, he got a lot accomplished. He spearheaded getting the new brush truck we have now. Troy, Bob and I spearheaded getting the new engine that we have now. The only way that engine would have ever made it to us is thanks to Bob’s hard work. This board is paddling along upstream going nowhere, and we need to get some people in there that want to see things happen.The board’s policies used to say in your first two years with the fire department, you had to get your Firefighter I and EMT Basic certification. The current board has taken that out of the policy.This board doesn’t take training or certification seriously. The fire chief should be certified for Firefighter I, if not Firefighter II. He should be certified for CPR and hazardous materials. He can’t tell his employees to take a class if he isn’t willing to do it himself. He has to lead by example.We had over 300 calls last year, and 75 to 80 percent of them were medical. We had 50 traffic accidents in Peyton last year. Out of 20 volunteers, we have three EMTs, and they all work during the day. If there is a medical emergency on a workday, it’s handled by AMR out of Colorado Springs or a rig out of Calhan. The taxpayers are paying for this service but they aren’t getting it.This is the district’s first election in 20 years. We want to be the new board. We’re hoping the people of the Peyton fire district will see that and do the right thing on election day.
