At approximately 6 p.m. Wednesday, July 26, 2023, Timberline Fire Protection District (TFPD) held their monthly board meeting at Station 1, located at 5927 Magnolia Road, Nederland, as well as online via Zoom.

President Rick Wenzel, Vice President John Bushey, Member at Large John Carder, and Member at Large Mary Kate McKenna attended the meeting as well as Fire Chief Paul Ondr, Chief Chris Schimanskey, and Administrative Chief Jennifer Hinderman. Highlights of the meeting included the district audit presentation by the Adams Group, a hearing on the 2022 Amended Budget, and the Chief’s Report.

Ryan Graham presented the independent auditors’ report which says the financial statements were presented fairly in all material respects. The assets exceeded the liabilities by $3.1 million. The revenues were mainly from cash, property taxes, and deployments. The expenses were mainly from administration and firefighting activities. Revenues exceed expenses by about $489,000.

The District is adopting an amended budget for 2022 because of deployment reimbursements, apparatus purchase, and station builds. There have been a delay in reimbursements and a delay in receiving new apparatuses. The DOLA grant for Virginia Canyon was not received until Spring of 2023.

New business included the adoption of the 2022 Amended Budget. The motion passed unanimously.

New business also included a recent board vacancy resulting from Whitney Donoghue’s absence. Three candidates have submitted letters of application, and the applicants introduced themselves to the Board. McKenna offered to speak more with the candidates outside of the meeting. Hinderman said she would email the board member manuals to the potential candidates.

The last item of New Business concerned appointing a TFBD board member to run as candidate for the recently formed Central City Urban Renewal Authority (CCURA). The appointee must be from a special district that collects a mill levy from within the boundaries of CCURA in Gilpin County and serve for five years. They determined their candidate would be either Bushey or Wenzel, and the question remained as to when the meetings will be held.

Old business included progress reports on all the stations and discussion on the Chief’s Annual Review.

Station 3, Fritz Peak, is still in the running to receive a $908,000 grant; the Colorado House has included it in its newest spending bill while the Senate has not.

The Chief’s Report is as follows:

Operations:

• We responded to 65 calls in June. Average response times districtwide was nine minutes 37 seconds.

• Our new brush trucks are complete, and four personnel are in the air as we speak, flying to Dallas to pick them up. They should be in the district Friday afternoon and will be in service very quickly.

Wildland/Mitigation:

• Garth Wagner our Mitigation Coordinator has accepted a new position and is pursuing a new career outside of fire and mitigation work. His last day will be August 2.

• We have interviewed a new candidate who has accepted the position. His start date is still TBD. We are excited about the future of the mitigation program. This position is mostly grant funded through April of 2024.

• Timberline will be providing roadside chipping in Golden Gate Park Estates beginning September 5 and in Corona Heights beginning October 2.

• Boulder CWPP is in progress. The first community meeting will be at the Nederland Recreation Center on July 3 at 5:30 p.m.

• We have had a difficult time finding Engine Boss availability that coincides with firefighter availability. We have one firefighter in an engine with Grand Fire in California.

Administration:

• Volunteer interviews have been ongoing and we plan to bring on seven new volunteers. Two are in district and five are shift volunteers.

• Fire alarm contract for Station 7 has been signed and we are currently waiting on the installation schedule.

Training:

• Onboarding of new volunteers will begin August 12 and run Saturdays through early September. BOD members are encouraged to attend on August 12 at 9 a.m. at Station 3.

• New recruitment ad has been placed in the newspapers, funded by our SAFER grant.

• Lt. Femmer passed the Driver Operator Pumper written exam and is scheduling a practical.

• Nine members enrolled in Hazmat training, scheduled for September/ October.

• FF1 scheduled for February 2024.

• Nine FFs enrolled in FF2 in November.

• Three members are attending live fire training in Clear Creek on Saturday, July 29.

• August training topic is water supply.

The meeting adjourned at 7:49 p.m.

The next regular Board Meeting for Timberline Fire Protection District will be held on Wednesday, August 23, 2023. Open House is scheduled for 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Timberline Station #8, 4611 Smith Hill Road, Black Hawk. The Regular Meeting will follow the Open House, beginning at approximately 6 p.m.