GOLDEN GATE CANYON - The Golden Gate Fire Protection District Board approved applying for an audit exemption during a regular meeting on November 21, 2024, at the Grange. Board members present were Deb Curlee, President; Niffy Ovuworie, Vice-President and Treasurer, and Marith Reheis, Secretary. Steve Green was absent and Dave Primmer was excused.

Treasurer Niffy Ovuworie said in his report that the Budget is revenue controlled, and the District doesn’t spend more than it takes in. That will be maintained.

The budget will be finalized in January, and the Board will vote on it at the next meeting. The Treasurer’s report is on the website. According to the report, total assets are $1,008,980.96 and total current liabilities are $221,994.47.

Curlee said we were late to apply for an audit exemption and need a motion at this meeting to do so. The District will be budgeted for a full audit next year. The Board approved.

Fire Chief Kyle Kociemba-Benson reported that Jefferson County has lifted Stage 1 fire restrictions, and all fire ban signs have been removed.

Also in the report: “Jeffco Road and Bridge in coordination with CDOT closed the major East/West corridors to commercial truck traffic during the large storm we experienced earlier this month, including Golden Gate Canyon.

“As a result, we had no significant incidents in the canyon during the storm, and no traffic diversions….We have seen spectacular result with ORKIN being in place for 1 month. We have not seen signs of mouse or insects in the stations for over three weeks.”

The District has begun website updates with Cobb Web Designs and have seen some dramatic progress on this project. “I anticipate being able to share the website updates in January,” Benson said.

“We have been working with our central dispatch partners to streamline dispatching protocols for GGFPD to better align with our central partners. This will allow for more dispatchers to be trained on the central dispatch consoles.

“We have seen an uptick in call volume in November and have experienced several high acuity calls in the last few weeks. We are currently at 97 calls for service to date.”

2024 volunteer recruitment effort is going exceptionally well. To date, the District has received 8 completed applications for new FFs or EMTs and have several other interested parties with 10 days left until the application period closes. They will be interviewing applicants the first week of December.

Station 82 had several ponderosa trees that were found to have a new pine beetle infestation. The trees were taken down in a training exercise.

The bay heater at station 81 has failed and is not repairable. The District is working with a local contractor to source a lightly-used propane heating unit to replace the broken unit, Benson said.

CWPP update is moving along on track. Ember Alliance spent two days doing a district evaluation earlier in the month and held the first advisory meeting with their team. Ember Alliance will be hosting the first community meeting virtually on December 2, and all are welcome to attend, Benson added. This meeting is a presentation of the CWPP process and an introduction to Ember Alliance.

Links for the meeting will be posted on the GGFPD website and distributed through community email lists. This meeting will be virtual only.

During Community Organization Reports, DeeDee Ramstetter said they have raised

$4,000 from a letter campaign, and they plan to have a storage session. Benson noted that they have much equipment, and it needs to be organized.

During Public Comment, two members of the public called for Steve Green’s resignation from the Board.

The next regular Board meeting will be on December 5 at 7 p.m. at the Grange, 25231 Golden Gate Canyon Road. For more information, go to https:// MAIN - Golden Gate Fire Protection District.