In the October and November board meetings the Nederland Fire Protection District (NFPD) Board gained two new members, Russ Panneton and Jess McElvain, to bring the board back to full functioning strength. Russ is a previous volunteer of the department and Jess also serves on the Nederland Elementary PTA Board. They bring with them some fresh ideas and viewpoints to help direct the district in the future.

Conor Moran rejoined the department to fill the open shift Captain position. Conor, who worked for NFPD for three years previously, brings a wealth of knowledge and ideas into the department’s full time staffing. The process to select Conor was a department-wide effort with four other applicants selected for interview by a panel consisting of staff, volunteers and board representation. Welcome back Conor!

Two volunteers were promoted and recognized by the board for their achievements. Andrew Joslin was promoted to Lieutenant and J. Hill to firefighter. Joslin has been with the department since 2015 and has always worked toward being a better firefighter and EMT while also developing excellent leadership skills. Hill has been with the department for three years and holds the current record for most hours spent in the department helping, learning and advancing his skills as a firefighter. The board congratulates both on their achievements and dedication to serving our community.

The department received an offer from Black Hawk Fire of a burn building that they are decommissioning. This building represents a massive opportunity for the department to have a local training facility for both Nederland Fire and our neighbors. The building is multi-functional and can be used for live fire, rescue simulations as well as general training that is hard to achieve without going to the county training center. Chief Schmidtmann is currently in discussions with the town regarding potential locations for the building.

The district joined with the town to apply for a grant to update the Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) and agreed to provide $5000 of matching funds for the grant if it is awarded. The grant application is for approximately $70,000 and serves multiple purposes. First, an update of the CWPP and second, it sets up future grant opportunities for fire resilience grant opportunities for the town and district.

The department continues to work on its vehicle maintenance and is having to make some decisions about the cost/ benefit of repairing some of our older vehicles. The board continues looking at replacement alternatives as a longerterm solution and the newer board members brought some new viewpoints to the discussion. This is a constant battle for the department in terms of ensuring that the district has the right balance of equipment that it can afford to purchase and maintain.

The department formed a search board to appoint the new fire chief consisting of the board, staff and volunteer, and town representation. The search process elicited 27 applications that CPS HR filtered to 14 probable candidates. The search board held a special executive session to select six candidates who will be interviewed after the Thanksgiving holiday. After the interviews a short-list of three candidates will be selected and announced before the final selection is made. The board is on target to meet the timeline of appointing a new chief before the end of the year.

The board was presented with the 2022 budget and discussed the changes that 2022 will bring for the district. The budget primarily focuses on improving firefighter safety and equipment standards. The proposed budget is open for inspection at the department and on the website. The board will formally adopt the budget on December 8th for presentation to the County Commissioners.

Fire Marshal Rik Henrikson informed the board of the town’s adoption of the 2018 fire codes and the board agreed to follow suit to bring all parties into alignment. This process is the precursor to adopting the 2020 fire codes, bringing the town and district into alignment with the county, making the building process easier for homeowners and contractors as every entity will have the same expectations. The board thanks Fire Marshal Henrikson for the multiple hours of code reading, meetings and countless other hours of work that he has put into the process.

Our 2021 volunteer academy reaches completion at the end of November and the board congratulates and thanks the 10 graduates for spending their time learning the craft of emergency services. Thank you also to all of the staff and volunteers who participated in teaching and mentoring our new volunteers as they start their careers in emergency services.

The next board meeting is on December 8th at 7 p.m. and public attendance is via Zoom, details can be found on the NFPD website. This meeting is a special to adopt the 2022 budget with a regular meeting also scheduled for December 20.