GOLDEN GATE CANYON - The Golden Gate Canyon Fire Protection District administered Oaths of Office to new board members and elected officers during a Board meeting on May 22, 2025. New and old Board members attended.

The Golden Gate Canyon Fire Protection District conducted an election on May 6, 2025. At that time, three directors were elected to serve four-year terms.

Six candidates were nominated for the three positions: Deb Curlee, Karla Grahn, Steve Green, Niffy Ovuworie, Mike Sever, and Brian Voss. Brian Voss withdrew from the election but, with his name still on the ballot, garnered a few votes.

Mike Sever, Karla Grahn and Deb Curlee won the election. Secretary Marith Reheis said that 297 total ballots were counted, 30 more than in 2022. Reheis and Dave Primmer remain on the Board for two more years.

Reheis ran the meeting since current President Deb Curlee was not yet seated. First, she swore in the new Board members, Mike Sever first, then Karla Grahn, followed by Deb Curlee.

Reheis recognized outgoing Board members Steve Green and Niffy Ovuworie for serving on the Board for three years. She said that Ovuworie had done a good job as treasurer, and Green was very good at asking questions.

Green said, “I want to thank the voters for my third term on the GGFPD Board. It was an honor to represent those who voted for me.

“It is unfortunate that two of the existing board members and the two new board members could not acknowledge that my third term was improperly cut short by one month. I guess they wanted me and Niffy out really bad.

“However, I will still be here, and I will try my best to honestly inform our community of what is going on with the GGFPD board. Again, thank you, and I wish the new Board the best of luck.”

The Board then elected officers. Primmer offered himself as president, but did not receive a second. Seaver nominated Curlee, which was seconded and approved with Primmer voting no. Reheis was elected Vice President, Seaver Treasurer, and Grahn Secretary.

Chief Kyle Benson introduced a resolution to activate the new website. “The State of Colorado has agreed to host the District website. According to the resolution, the website has been revised, updated, and reviewed, and most previous information has been transferred to the new website.

“The new website is hereby adopted and will be hosted at the following URL: Home | Golden Gate Fire, effective June 1, 2025, and the old website hosted at: MAIN - Golden Gate Fire Protection District will be deactivated.”

The Board approved the resolution.

Later in the meeting, Chief Benson said that on July 1 they have to change the format of items being posted so it is ADA compliant. He needs direction.

Items can be posted as web pages or docs, but not PDFs. “They have to have it in narrative form or as a table,” he added.

Primmer said reports don’t have to be on a website, but could be brought to the meeting. Seaver said they have to be creative and have copies here and find a way to make a full report.

“I’ll be working with the report and find out the best way,” Seaver said. Benson noted that other fire districts don’t post anything. It’s a board decision.

Seaver said they could have a “cliff notes narrative.” Reheis said to bring copies to the meeting and experiment.

Regarding an audit exemption and financial review, Reheis said that at previous meetings going back to February, the Board had been promising an audit to see if the District’s bookkeeping is transparent.

This dragged on for two more meetings and had not been finalized. In the middle of April, Reheis contacted the company with the lowest bid for an audit, who said the quote they gave is still good, and they have been waiting for us.

The deadline was May 15. GGCFPD received the list of information needed to complete the audit. It was 80 pages long and had 70 questions. According to Reheis, “There were a whole lot of things not relevant to us but what the state requires.”

With only 10 days until the deadline, the bookkeeper asked “Why are we doing this?” He doesn’t know of another Front Range fire district doing this, saying that the District qualifies for an exemption.

The District can decide what report they want for an hourly charge, Reheis said. “We can do an audit exemption, and they [the accountants] will review it and provide a report. We need to make a list and what is estimated, and then the Board will have to authorize it.

“Tonight, the Board needs to authorize the exemption. We are already past the deadline. If we want to do an audit, we need to start in February,” Reheis said. Seaver said we need to understand the priorities.

“We still want to have an audit, but we should move ahead with exemption,” Seaver said. Chief Benson said the threshold for a government audit is three times our budget to receive tax funds.

Seaver moved to approve the exemption, which passed. He said he will put together a list.

Benson’s report noted “We are currently in our project planning phase of the CWPP and have completed the initial mapping. We are planning work for the recommended physical treatments. A huge thank you to all the partners that participated in the project prioritization and mapping process.”

Benson requested spending authorization for $7,175 to purchase two 20-foot containers to be placed at stations 81 and 82. These will function as UTV garages, dry storage, and future training props. The price of these two containers will be offset by sale of the old UTV and trailer.

The Board approved the budget authorization and said it will create some operating room. Benson is partnering with Bonnie Allen to host a July 12 CPR training.

Seaver asked if the Jeffco mediation team will work on public lands or private. Benson said the County mitigation efforts are not set up for private work but rather for collective or public use, roadways, and egress protection. The District will do home assessments for people but won’t do the work.

Benson said they will be hosting a one-day slash collection on June 28 at station 83 and at The Grange from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. They will be accepting slash only, so no pinecones, pine needles, or logs over 6 inches in diameter.

Benson said they are in the beginning phases of starting up the mitigation and risk reduction division. “I have been in contact with the initial parties interested in forming a committee to help us stand up the division. I hope to have them begin meeting in June 2025, with the intent of officially standing up the division by August 2025.”

The Auxiliary will have an open house on June 26 at Station 81, at 32360 Robinson Hill Road,
Golden. Benson said the intention is to combine an open house from 5 to 6:30 p.m. and then have the Board meeting.

For more information, go to https://goldengatefire.org. After June 1, go to Home | Golden Gate Fire.