The Nederland Fire Protection District (NFPD) Board of Directors met on Wednesday, June 21, 2023, at 7 p.m. to officially recognize a new Board President and Vice President, as well as to address how to fill the two vacant seats left on the Board within 30 days.

On May 24, then-Directors Guy Falsetti and Todd Wieseler simultaneously reached the end of their terms, ran for reappointment, and were re-elected to the Board. President Iain Irwin-Powell also reached the end of his term but did not run for reappointment and instead stepped down as Board President.

At that meeting Director Jess McElvain was elected as the new President, with Falsetti elected Vice President, Wieseler named Treasurer, and newcomer to the Board Samantha Ames named Secretary.

During a discussion about the search for a new Fire Chief, McElvain was accused by some fellow Directors of having violated the Board’s bylaws by having made a unilateral decision to remove paramedic experience from the list of requirements in the Fire Chief job description.

After a heated disagreement, McElvain stepped down as President and handed in a written letter of resignation. Falsetti took over the duties of President and continued to lead that meeting.

On June 1, the NFPD held a special meeting to officially recognize McElvain’s resignation, as well as that of new Secretary Ames, and to remove their names from the organization’s ColoTrust financial documents.

On June 21, the Board officially recognized Falsetti as Board President and Russ Panneton as Vice President.

The Board first discussed forming a group consisting of members of a search team to identify candidates for Fire Chief, including at least one member from the NFPD Board of Directors, to narrow the choices by reviewing candidates based on whether they meet the district’s desired qualifications.

Former Fire Chief Michael Scott had resigned from the Nederland Fire Department on March 4, 2023, and on March 7 Charlie Schmidtmann was appointed as Interim Chief, while the Board approved Lucy Zamarripa of Smarter HR Solutions to begin the hiring process for a replacement Fire Chief.

The NFPD agreed that having a group filter the pool of candidates would be beneficial and agreed to appoint Zamarripa and Captain Conor Moran to assess candidates. This will begin after June 30, the deadline for applying for the vacant Fire Chief position. Moran and Zamarripa were to report their findings to the Board during their meeting on July 19.

Members also discussed the future event to be held at the Backdoor Theater featuring a showing of the film Elemental: Reimagine Wildfire, with the intention of raising awareness while also raising funds for the NFPD. A panel will be formed to discuss the film and the impacts of wildfires. The event is on Sunday, July 9, and is free for all first responders and open to all.

The Fire Chief’s Report for June noted several calls of significance within and around the Town of Nederland regarding medical emergencies, an attempted recovery of the body of a dog, and the recovery of a human body from a car in Middle Boulder Creek on Boulder Canyon Drive. The call reporting a car in the creek came early in the morning, though unfortunately the car had been in the creek all night.

On May 24, the NFPD purchased and received a $7,000 used SCBA compressor from Castle Rock. The Board approved the use of $12,000 for the compressor and for the necessary installation of a three-phase power converter during their meeting.

After the unexpected expense of $187 was required to rent equipment to lift it onto a trailer, heavy machinery is expected to be needed to lift the compressor off the trailer once room in the station is made. However, there is a concern that the new unit, because of its size, will not fit in the location where the previous unit was installed.

The current contract with Daniel Murphy of Murphy’s Garage in Rollinsville to provide mechanic services for the NFPD’s vehicles is underway, with Murphy committing eight hours of labor to the NFPD every Monday. Logistically, Murphy will need to take online courses for his CDL license and become a member of the fire department in some capacity in order to be permitted to drive the NFPD’s vehicles to and from Rollinsville.

The main areas of focus for firefighter training during the month of July involves gaining the required biannual “competency sign-offs,” which involves the testing of basic firefighter and EMS skills, including stretching a fire hose and managing several different structure fire and wildland scenarios.

The Chief’s Report highlighted that a high fidelity training simulation mannequin has been generously donated to the NFPD. The advanced mannequin contains a realistic pulse, can emit sounds to mimic the lungs, and will be used by EMS for critical skill training.

The NFPD’s EMS services also received new backup Intraosseous (IO) drills, which are devices that send a needle through cortical bone in order to infuse fluids or administer medications to critical patients in situations when EMS can not do so intravenously. The new drills cost roughly $170 per unit, do not use batteries, and are meant to replace the “EZ-IO” battery-operated drills. Battery-operated drills have reportedly failed during an emergency call in the past and the batteries are not replaceable. The NFPD, expecting more impending battery failures, ordered the better drills as a permanent replacement.

The Chief’s Report also mentioned that another county-wide “skills rodeo” is planned to be held within the district, giving county first responders an opportunity to compete together in hands-on challenges, testing their overall knowledge and expertise. The rodeo is in its early phases of planning and a date has not yet been set.

Fire Marshal Andrew Joslin delivered his report detailing that his building inspections within the district are being compiled using the Fire- and EMS-specific operational software First Due. Joslin specified how the software has streamlined the inspection process, as elaborate pre-plans, which involve the location of utilities, fire suppression systems, and any potential hazards, can be uploaded prior to inspections.

With the new software, once an inspection is completed and submitted, an email containing the report’s results is automatically sent to the building’s owner, as well as any information pertaining to the fire code that may have been labeled as violations.

Joslin also noted that he is currently working on uploading more pre-plans of the district’s commercial and government buildings to further expedite the inspection process, and is dedicated to learning more about the capabilities of the First Due software.

The NFPD briefly discussed the two vacant seats on the Board of Directors. Board members have only 30 more days to review and appoint any interested parties; otherwise, an application process would be opened and a special election would have to be held.

The Board decided to vet any interested parties and require them to provide a résumé as well as a short personal biography stating their reasons for wanting to serve on the Board of Directors. The NFPD, preferring not to have a special election, will review any candidates and vote to appoint during their next regular meeting.

Board members discussed the idea of creating a new line item to the NFPD budget, allocating a proposed $8,000 to be used for “Board compensation.” The proposal is aimed to ease perceived tensions between the Fire Chief, NFPD leadership, and the Board of Directors concerning the limitations of serving as a volunteer.

Falsetti stated that language about Board compensation currently exists in the NFPD’s bylaws, though no action to employ such compensation was ever made. Falsetti also explained that his concept of compensation would not come in the form of a paycheck, but rather would be awarded for appreciation during a yearly NFPD party or ceremony.

The discussion did not yield any results and may return to the NFPD’s agenda for future consideration.

The Nederland Fire Protection District Board of Directors meets on the third Wednesday of every month and can now be attended in person or online on Microsoft Teams. Their next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, July 19, 2023, at 7 p.m. For more information go to: https://www.nfpd.org.