Golden Gate Canyon - The Golden Gate Fire Protection District Board approved a pest control contract during a regular meeting on September 6, 2024. All Board members were present: Deb Curlee, President; Niffy Ovuworie, Vice-President and Treasurer; Marith Reheis, Secretary; Steve Green, and Dave Primmer. About seven members of the public attended.
Under conflicts of interest, Ovuworie said that Green would have to declare a conflict of interest regarding the agenda item on Station 83 because he is a neighbor to the property. Primmer said his motion on that item will address not wasting money.
Regarding pest control at fire stations, Chief Kyle Benson said during his report that there has been a lot of investment in the district including new bunker gear. However, that gear has seen damage from mice, and there also have been problems with mice in bunker gear and trucks even though the buildings are sealed.
The trucks can’t go out, he said, if they have mice. So Benson would like to approve a contract for all stations. “We are the custodian of tax dollars. We should protect it the best we can.”
Ovuworie moved to approve the pest control contract, which was quickly seconded. Primmer said the mice will disappear if you put out what he uses and put bunker gear where mice can’t get to it.
Green said all the mice are gone at his house since he did what Primmer suggested. Benson responded that the fire department has tried everything and even had a cat at one point. The problem occurs at all stations.
Ovuworie said the price quotes are posted online. Using a home remedy, he added, may set up the district for damages. Secretary Reheis said professional pest control would cost $1,000 for a set-up fee and $330 a month for a total of about $4,000 per year.
Ovuworie asked if we want our firefighters setting traps and putting down poison. “We should pay a professional to do it,” he suggested. Reheis said we could try that for a year. Primmer said it takes five minutes to put out the poison.
Ovuworie reworded the motion to include approving a contract with Orkin, and the Board approved, with Green and Primmer voting against it.
Primmer asked to see 12 months of credit card statements. Curlee said to do so must be in response to a CORA request. Primmer cited an expense for cast iron and one for a beer at a tavern. He moved to look at this a lot more closely, and Green seconded.
Chief Benson responded that he was providing lunch at the Tavern, and that they can’t buy alcohol with the credit card. Primmer suggested that they are trying to hide something. Curlee said the credit card statement has credit card numbers and is not part of the public record. It’s a CORA request. Nobody sees them – even she doesn’t see them.
During his treasurer’s report, he said they are not hiding expenses. It had been a request to produce credit card statement, which are available in the transactions list.
“I’ve taken an oath of office,” he said. “My job is to record. To have all the credit card statements reviewed, it would take four hours to produce the credit card statement. It will cost $90 to produce.”
After the motion, Ovuworie said to look at the transaction list. He pointed out earlier in his report that the transaction list is our transparency.The transaction list has been satisfactory for years. Since 2017 it has been posted regularly. It has much more available online, but never included credit card transactions. It is not a good use of time to pull individual receipts, he added.
Three Board members voted nay, and Primmer and Green voted yes.
Ovuworie proposed a motion to amend meeting rules for Board efficiency. In order to encourage efficient use of time, if the Board votes on something, it can’t be discussed again until a new board is elected. Curlee seconded the motion.
Green said that this is another attempt to take board members out of the loop. “Dave [Primmer] and I won’t be able to speak.”
Curlee said that “you have the opportunity to talk about it when the motion is made.” Primmer said that there is a free speech amendment in this country.
Reheis said the concern is that once a decision has been made and a motion approved, it comes up again and is revisited. “We’re going around in circles,” he noted. The proposal, he added, does not limit free speech.
The Board approved the motion, with Green and Primmer voting Nay.
Primmer moved to resolve Station 83 drainage and just discuss it. At that point, Green left the meeting.
Reheis said they should just go out to the station and talk about it. Remedial work could be done with the County. The problem was created when the owner of the neighboring land put in the culvert. The previous board went through all of this, and looked at how to deal with the situation. Green didn’t create the problem. It would be a very minor fix, he said. “I don’t understand why it is such a big deal.”
Ovuworie said they have the Station 83 drainage engineer’s report. The critical issue is when the culvert was installed. “Mr. Green wants us to take taxpayer dollars to fix it,” he said.
Primmer said not to waste money on lawyers. Ovuworie said that “we haven’t spent money on lawyers. We are not suing anyone.” There is no resolution from the County. We all voted to get an engineer, he added. “That’s all we’ve done so far.”
The motion was to stop legal proceedings and work among themselves, and Reheis said to work together with the County. The Board approved the motion.
Primmer moved to be allowed to ask the Chief questions, and the Board agreed.
During his treasurer’s report, Ovuworie said financials are on the web site. Right now, the District has $523,000 in savings.
The budget committee met and will have the 2005 budget to the Board on October 15 for presentation at the October 24 meeting and then approval on November 21. They will file it in January.
Chief Benson reported that Golden Gate Fire District was awarded a $155,000 grant for full replacement through the DFPC direct distribution grant. They also received their allocation of funds to update the website.
Chief Benson met with our contractor, Cob-Web Designs, for initial project kick off in mid-September. These grant awards bring our total grants received to $212,000 between September 2023 and September 2024. This figure does not include the value of durable operational equipment given to the district at no cost during this period.
The bunker gear awarded in the 2024 Firefighter Safety and Disease grant was delivered to the district. This marks the complete replacement of all structural PPE for GGFPD firefighters.
Benson reported that the district was on track for seasonal averages, with 82 calls to date. Of particular importance is the Goltra fire, which was discussed verbally during the last board meeting, but occurred after the August Chief’s report was submitted.
Goltra Fire Statistics: 205 acres burned, 0 structures lost, 0 injuries or casualties, 15 emergency response agencies in attendance over three days, including air support from two helicopters.
This fire was in very challenging terrain and was further complicated by unexpected erratic weather on the first night of operations.
“I am exceptionally proud,” he stated, “of our GGFPD firefighters, and very thankful to our partners in emergency response who assisted us in achieving a favorable outcome. In no particular order, I would like to thank: Golden Fire, Fairmount Fire, Foothills Fire, Arvada Fire, West Metro Fire, Genesee Fire, Evergreen Fire, South Metro Fire, Elk Creek Fire, all of the DFPC assets (James Peak Module, Overland Module, Lone Pine Module, Flatirons Helitak, and the regional Battalion Chiefs), Douglas County Helitak, Jeffco Open Space (OSWFT and Ops), Stadium Medical, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, and Jefferson County OEM/Fire management.”
The next regular Board meeting will be on October 24 at 7 p.m. at the Grange, 25231 Golden Gate Canyon Road, Golden CO, 80403. For more information, go to https:// MAIN - Golden Gate Fire Protection District.
