Black Forest Fire/Rescue Protection District, Jan. 15: Board pursues study and citizen input to determine future

District needs analysis
Command staff models
Fire chief position advertisement
Correction

By Natalie Barszcz

The Black Forest Fire Rescue Protection District (BFFRPD) Board of Directors held a workshop on Jan. 4 to discuss alternative service delivery models, and the steps needed to consider formal solicitation of alternative delivery models, and the status of the fire chief solicitation. The board received an informational briefing from retired Oregon Fire Chief Dan Patterson, a consultant representing AP Triton LLC. Vice President John Hildebrandt, Director Mark Gunderman, Division Chief of Community Risk Reduction Jonathan Bradley of Monument Fire District, and Fire Chief Andrew York of Cimarron Hills Fire Department (CHFD), offered advice to the board about their past experience with fire department mergers.

At the Jan. 15 meeting, the board approved the hiring of a consultant to perform the district needs analysis study, discussed command staffing models to fill gaps within the executive staff branch, and discussed advertising for a fire chief.

This reporter attended the meetings virtually via Zoom technology.

District needs analysis

At the regular meeting on Jan. 15, the board entered into a lengthy discussion about conducting a short study to determine the needs of the district and the potential for a different service model. The board ultimately agreed to hold several public meetings to gather information, with Patterson in attendance before the study could begin. The meetings are scheduled as follows:

Friday, Feb. 24—open community meeting (time TBD.
Thursday, Feb. 27—Workshop with community participation (time TBD).
Friday, Feb. 28 from 3 until 9 p.m.—Board workshop.

The board unanimously approved up to $15,000 for Patterson to complete the district’s needs analysis study.

Note: Please check the website for updates before attending the meetings. The information contained under Transparency on the district website at https://bffire.org was not up to date when this article was published. Under normal circumstances and in compliance with the Special District Association and the Department of Local Affairs, the district is required by law to post the most current audit, budget, and transparency notice stating the mill levy to be collected in 2025, a board meeting schedule, and the fees schedule.

This reporter reached out to three executive staff to request a board packet and other information from the Jan. 15 meeting but received no response. The board packets containing the financial report and previous meeting minutes were missing for December and January at the time this article was written.

Command staff models

Interim Fire Chief Josh Bartlett said the department needed to fill two or three positions with existing staff with temporary acting captains to assist the department with administrative work to help with plan reviews and inspections, a firefighter and full rescue training officer, and an EMS coordinator to help with billing, training, and continued education. The opportunity would allow the staff to build a resume and allow staff to make more money. If the department moves to an alternative delivery service, the staff would laterally transfer in the permanent rank, said Bartlett.

The discussion paused and resumed after the lengthy discussion about advertising for the fire chief position advertisement.

The board asked about shift hours and other details.

Bartlett said the budget allowed for funding the three positions, and no decision from the board was necessary.

Fire chief position advertisement

Treasurer Jack Hinton said, “For two meetings and a work session we sat down and busted our ass trying to formulate the right wording for a job description with the qualifications necessary for hiring a permanent fire chief. Given the time frame to work everything out with the study, we are prolonging the misery. The department does not have a clear direction until the study is complete and it is making me insane, and the taxpayers deserve better,” he said. Hinton made a motion to conduct a search for a permanent fire chief, with a statement that the position could be temporary.

Chair Nate Dowden seconded the motion. Vice Chair Kiersten Tarvainen said she disagreed with the motion, and the firefighter survey indicated no urgent need to hire a fire chief, it was the last option stated by the firefighters. The board needs better direction, and waiting until the study is completed will show where we need to go, whether it is a different service model, said Tarvainen.

Director Jim Abendschan said he agreed with Tarvainen and “hiring a fire chief right now is just muddying the water and will add to the problems further down the road. We should wait for Patterson’s analysis that will give the board direction to take a methodical approach toward the future,” said Abendschan.

Director Chad Behnken said he recognized all the work done by Bartlett and Battalion Chief David Rocco to “right the ship” and uncover a lot of the issues the board did not see. “Although it feels like the board is kicking the can down the road, it is imperative to complete the study and maintain the status quo until the report is received,” said Behnken.

Hinton said we could solicit for resumes and have them ready when the study is complete.

Tarvainen said the district is still uncovering information and it is operational with Bartlett and Rocco and coverage from Colorado Springs Fire Department (CSFD) and Monument Fire District.

Dowden said that regardless of which model the board pursues, he is skeptical that if a contract for services is chosen, that it could be expedited in less than six to nine months. “Do we still want to continue with a dual interim fire chief model?” he asked.

Bartlett said the board has the option to fill the fire chief position from the department immediately with a full-time 40-hour week interim position.

Patterson said reaching out to a narrow field would be confusing for candidates given the uncertain future of the department. Either you are looking for an interim or a permanent fire chief, and maybe a fire chief could be detailed and contracted full time from CSFD. Patterson, having spent the last year working with South Metro Rescue District on a large organization’s search for a fire chief, said it took a year. The pool was large but narrowed down quickly in a department that knew exactly what it wanted.

Candidates will not be quick to apply if the future is uncertain unless they are running from somewhere else, Patterson said. “Keep it simple and pursue one of the enrolled interim battalion chiefs for a true, full-time 40-hour-a-week interim fire chief position that would return back to CSFD (Bartlett and Rocco are also maintaining battalion chief positions at CSFD and assisting at BFFRPD). Hiring one battalion chief might give the district more stability during the decision-making process, and I can feel your pain on the leadership part,” said Patterson.

A line staff member in the audience said, “I have seen it, and know exactly what you are going through, because I watched it the last time. The board made the mistake of hiring somebody they should not have, and it ended up costing the department hundreds and thousands of dollars in lawsuits, because they wanted to put somebody into that role. I know you want to help the line staff out and it is appreciated, but you need to do what is right and not get someone into that role right away. The person hired was because the board were desperate. If you solicit for an interim role for a year, it would unlikely be a quality individual that the firefighters want to follow; we need strong leadership, and I do not want to follow someone who should not be there,” he said.

Several line staff with previous experience in executive roles threw their hats in the ring to be part of the executive team.

The motion to advertise the fire chief position failed in a 2-3 vote with Abendschan, Behnken, and Tarvainen voting nay.

Note: At the Dec. 4 meeting, after another lengthy discussion regarding the minimum level of education and the amount of progressive fire service experience needed, the board unanimously approved a job specification and a posting to invite people to apply for the fire chief position, but downgraded the minimum college level of education from a bachelor’s to an associate’s degree. However, the board did not approve advertising the position.

The meeting adjourned at 9:21 p.m.

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Correction

In the January edition of OCN, in the BFFRPD article, the sentence at the end of paragraph six under the heading “Future operations explored” should have read “and actually, doing less than what I am doing, said Herdt” instead of …”and end up doing less, said Herdt.” OCN regrets the error.

Note: Herdt has additional responsibilities as an acting captain at BFFRPD.

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Meetings are usually held on the third Wednesday of the month at Station 1, 11445 Teachout Road, Colorado Springs. Meetings are open to the public in person or via Zoom. The next regular meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. For joining instructions, updates, agendas, minutes, and reports, visit www.bffire.org or contact admin@bffire.org, or call 719-495-4300.

Natalie Barszcz can be reached at nataliebarszcz.ocn.me.

District needs analysis

Command staff models

Fire chief position advertisement

Correction

Other Black Forest Fire/Rescue Protection District articles