The Golden Gate Fire Protection District agreed to study tax impact fees during a regular meeting at Station 2, 7181 Crawford Gulch Road, Golden. Present were Deb Curlee, President; Niffy Ovuworie, Vice-President; Dave Primmer, and Steve Green.

Fire Chief Kyle Kociemba-Benson introduced a proposal for a tax impact fee study. Impact fees are assessed by special districts specifically to address the effects of new development on the district. The one-time impact fee is designed to defray the additional cost of capital infrastructure required to address the service increase caused by the new development.

Impact fees are an important step for a diversified approach to special district finance. Impact fees are separate from fees for service or general operations and must be used exclusively for expansion of capital infrastructure with a service life of more than five years.

Following discussion of impact fees in the July 2023 meeting of the GGFPD Board of Directors, the Board looked for a cost-effective method of producing an impact fee study for GGFPD. After reviewing several studies from other metro-area districts, GGFPD sought assistance from BBC Research & Consulting.

The BBC proposal for third-party oversight includes a project cost not to exceed $4,000. The Chief asked that GGFPD retain BBC Research & Consulting for third-party oversight and start a volunteer-led impact fee study.

BBC has agreed to provide professional oversight and professional review of results for the impact fee study. Resident Jan Snyder has volunteered to lead this effort for GGFPD, based on her professional experience as a technical writer and researcher.

This is a long-range measure they are now taking. Steve Green asked, “Why do you feel the need to collect more taxes? It seems it is a grab.” Proponents of the study said it has multiple benefits and goes hand in hand with the operation of the district, and what is on the table is the study.

Curlee said they would spend $4,000 on creating a plan, what an impact fee would be, and the final amount itself. It could not be used for anything else. This is the first step for examining an impact fee. The Board approved adopting the study with Primmer and Green voting against it.

Kociemba-Benson reported that the district has 17 personnel, and needs to make sure they are included in the examination of fire services, calculation of uniform items, and included on email. Volunteer hours and those hours donated by the Board will be included.

The radios are in service and are pretty good. The Chief continues to work with Ember Alliance on their portion of the County Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP). The County is looking to use individual CWPP plan units for operational planning, including evacuation planning.

The Jeffco/Adams hazmat authority that currently serves as the advanced hazmat resource may be undergoing some significant changes. Several of the municipalities that are a part of the authority have indicated that they will be pulling out of the agreement.

The impacts of these changes to GGFPD remain to be seen. However, mutual aid relationships with districts that house advanced hazmat capabilities remain strong.

Administration Station 83’s Community Clean out and Cleanup is currently scheduled for August 20. This event will coincide with a “Touch-a-Truck” event allowing community members of all ages to get up close and personal with some of the District’s equipment.

As summer continues, call volume remains at a typical level for summer, but on the lower side. Weather patterns remain higher energy and with higher moisture, keeping fuel moisture high, particularly relative to prior years, and have kept some of the typical summer heat-related and lightning-caused fires from their typical volumes.

As of August 11, the firefighters have responded to 59 incidents. No notable incidents have occurred since the last report, with calls principally routine responses to backcountry rescues, medical emergencies, and motor vehicle crashes. Ongoing work to strengthen and build relationships with mutual aid partners shows good and strong outcomes, and work continues particularly with Chief Jones, Golden Fire’s new Operations Chief.

The key operational issue for attention is a region-wide shortage of paramedics, which is experienced by Stadium Medical at perhaps a higher level than others in the area. This has resulted in some irregular periods when one of the three ambulances assigned to the Central Fire system being staffed with EMTs only.

Discussions with all agency partners confirm that Golden Gate is a priority for receiving an ALS Ambulance for all calls, a plan Stadium confirms. Operational guidance has been provided to GGFPD members and officers to consider staging or balancing resource needs, as well as recommendations for how to address an ALS shortage.

This is an area of ongoing attention for operational staff and leadership among all of the agencies involved, and will be updated as they proceed. The organization is conducting interviews for eight operational candidates on Sunday, August 13.

The Board welcomed Joy Gockel to the support services position of Family Informational Officer. Firefighter McDaniel will be moving into Station 82 on August 31.

Upon graduation from the Fire Academy, Firefighter Nick Meyer will be officially assuming the ancillary position of Chaplain for GGFPD. This is an important role for the district as they look toward the future of holistic support for their responders.

Meyer has completed training with the Rocky Mountain Police and Fire Chaplains and is excited to bring his expertise in this role to GGFPD. Support services’ onboarding meeting occurred on August 14.

Firefighters attending Golden Fire Department’s fire academy will be graduating on August 26.

GGFPD will be hosting a FFII academy in conjunction with the Timberline and Golden Fire Districts starting on October 28. The academy will last over four weeks, with skills days on Saturdays including days at each fire district. GGFPD will be the host agency and Kociemba-Benson will be functioning as the academy coordinator.

All vehicles will begin to rotate down to Arvada FD for their annual inspection starting this month. There are several small issues with apparatus that will be addressed at that time.

On August 9, the district experienced a short communications outage due to their domain being tied to an expired District credit card. They were able to have the domain re-established with updated payment credentials and no critical failures were experienced during the outage.

The Board discussed moving the monthly meetings to the fourth Thursday of every month and other Board members suggested the first of the month. Board members will look at their calendars and discuss whether they want to change the meetings.

The next regular Board Meeting will be on September 21, 2023, at 7 p.m., at Station 83, The Grange Hall, 25231 Golden Gate Canyon Road.