GOLDEN GATE CANYON — The Golden Gate Canyon Fire Protection District Board discussed TABOR regulations for the upcoming election during a regular meeting on August 27, 2026.

Board members present for the meeting were Deb Curlee, president; Marith Reheis, vice president; Mike Sever, treasurer; and Dave Primmer. Secretary Karla Grahn was excused.

An Intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with Golden was added to the agenda.

Reheis introduced a discussion on the Tabor notice for the upcoming election on November 3 and proposed beginning work on pros and cons to submit before the September 18 deadline. She read a statement from the DEO. Pro or con statements must be returned by noon, Friday, September 18. and can be up to 500 words. The statements must be short. 

She wanted to inform the community that the designated election will provide the TABOR material. The Board is not part of this.

The community needs to organize a group and follow the rules or its opinions will not be included in the blue book for the election, Reheis said. It is not up to the Board to organize a community meeting, although the Grange or firefighters could propose such a meeting.

Chief Kyle Benson said that information has gone out to the members list on Friday, August 21, at 3 p.m. and was attached to a notice for this meeting. The ballot language approved at the last meeting was final.

One person indicated they had received the email. Those who didn’t receive it should sign up again on the website.

Tender replacement

Chief Benson introduced a concept presentation for a tender replacement. "This is important," he stressed. "When we started this effort to look at our apparatus, we looked at problems from all angles to the right size and fit for the apparatus."

Benson said that he has really intelligent people on the fire squad. He indicated that Daniel came through with a presentation that shows what Golden Gate Fire will need in the future.

Daniel said they need a water delivery apparatus that is safe to operate. The District has the green tender, which is 42 to 46 years old. It’s for large fire events, and it has to be shuttled up and down.

"Water tenders are long, tall and heavy, and it makes it difficult," he said. "We drove on one property and the tender got stuck," he added. "It’s so heavy, only the most trusted officers are authorized to use it. We need a mini tender for about 1,250 gallons and much lower to the ground. Baffle balls will contain the water.

"It is like driving a big Ford truck," he continued. He showed a rather rough concept of what it would look like. It would be easy to drive. They have two vendors who have provided quotes. One would do all the plumbing work but the other wouldn’t do that. Operationally it dramatically improves what they currently have.

To get a new water tender would be in the $250,000 to $750,000 range, but the District needs to have a great size for difficult to reach places, he continued. "It’s a significant concern," Daniel said.

Daniel said he is proposing that if the mill levy passes, they would like to use $130,000 for the apparatus, They have a $115,000 balance in the budget. Should the mill levy pass, funding from the existing tender would go toward a cistern placement at both stations.

Benson clarified that replacing Truck 1 is the top priority.

IGA with Golden

Benson then introduced a new IGA with Golden. Having an expert available to the district who is familiar with the district will be helpful, he noted. "We need to define that resource for the district. We are thankful for Golden Fire to be available for this. During the last six months, people have applied for more housing permits than in the past three years."

According to the IGA, “The District and the City currently maintain and equip fire departments and the District is bordered by the City, and the fire departments for the District and the City have a recent history of working in close harmony on matters of mutual concern, such as through a Mutual Aid Agreement providing for extraterritorial fire suppression aid;

“and the District and the City could enjoy greater efficiencies and economies of scale, while preserving the high level of fire service each Party currently provides its citizens, if the City assumed primary responsibility for building construction and plan review, limited building inspections, fire investigations and certain other fire-related services to the residents and visitors within the jurisdictional boundaries of the District;

“and intergovernmental agreements to provide functions or services, including the sharing of costs of such services or functions, are specifically authorized by Section 29-1203, C.R.S., and the City Charter; and the District has determined that it is in the best interest of the public that each entity enters into this agreement by which the City will provide building construction and plan review, limited building inspections, fire investigations and certain other fire-related services to the District, subject to and conditioned upon the terms, conditions, payments and other consideration set forth herein."

Reheis said she understands the need for this, but asks who defines high risk infrastructure, or wants to build a new radio tower? It’s a delineation to work with the city of Golden, she stated.

Benson said this is about fire resistance and safety. This is for new construction. "You can sign the resolution, but it needs to be approved by the city."

The whole Board approved the language in the IGA with the City of Golden.

Other issues

Benson reported that the district is going to have another truck with problems. They did a bigger overhaul. It was functional, but making noise. Technicians have gone through every single truck.

The slash yard and material processing are being moved to the Grange. They will move it all here at the Grange on October 3, he said.

The District was awarded a grant match for just over $10,000 for wildland firefighter replacement. The District has received 71 calls for the year, a couple of motorcycle and car accidents. In October and September we get hammered, Benson said.

The firefighters got a lot of training in the burn trailer. There was a real fire in there. "We had it for six weeks," he said. Deb Curlee said she, was standing and watching. It was terrifying.  Benson said that yesterday they were training on basement fires. It got very hot and some non-essential things melted.

 Following the action items, Curlee adjourned the meeting.

The next Regular Board Meeting will be on September 24, 2026, at 7 p.m. at the Grange, 25201 Golden Gate Canyon Road, Golden.