Timberline Fire Authority hires attorney and moves toward merger
With target election of 2010
The Timberline Fire Authority (TFA) Board of Directors, composed of Paul Britton, Roger Durham and John Rittenhouse from the High Country Fire Protection District (HCFPD) board and Gail Maxwell, Chris Schimanskey and Rick Wenzel of the Colorado Sierra Fire Protection District (CSFPD) Board met last Thursday, September 24th and interviewed a third attorney subsequent to choosing Linda Alexander who is with the law firm of Collins Cockrel and Cole. Alexander’s law focus is in special districts with expertise specific to emergency services. The attorney will help them get ready for the election needed to merge the two fire districts. TFA had interviewed two attorneys at a previous meeting. The costs of the election range from $30,000 to $110,000 depending on whether the Board chooses the dissolution/inclusion route, the attorney’s fees and how much of the work they can do themselves. Alexander praised TFA for steps already taken, noting they are ahead of the game for this point of bringing in an attorney. “Negotiating your own destiny is a brilliant way to reduce your legal fees,” she told them.
Last spring, the Directors hired Don Taylor to help with consolidation of department operations and guide them through issues such as firefighter pensions. Alexander will handle the legal procedures and those needed to take the question to election. Voters of at least one fire district will need to approve before the merger can take place. TFA hopes to complete all preparations by July 2010 so they have time to get information out to the public and answer any questions prior to a potential November 2010 election.
TFA’s Board had originally thought to take the merger to voters in both HCFPD and CSFPD. They are now reconsidering merging through dissolution of one department and then including it in the other. That would likely mean dissolving CSFPD and making it part of HCFPD. The combined districts would then become Timberline Fire Department and both CSFPD and HCFPD would cease to exist. CSFPD voters would have to approve the dissolution. TFA could also choose to dissolve HCFPD and include it in CSFPD, however that would mean having to conduct elections in Gilpin and Boulder Counties, as HCFPD has coverage in both. CSFPD is contained within Gilpin so would mean a smaller, less costly election. Right now, it’s all about the money.
TFA is funded by equal contributions from both districts. Each contributed $2,500 at the beginning of the process in 2008 and each recently committed to another $2,500. There were no expenses this month, said Schimanskey, who is the TFA treasurer. The main expenditures upcoming will be for Taylor, Alexander and the election. Schimanskey and Rittenhouse had prepared a preliminary budget based on projected expenditures of $115,000 for next year. The Board adopted the preliminary budget but will review and hone it prior to final adoption next month. Coming up with $57,500, their half of that budget, will be a problem for CSFPD, said Schimanskey. In order to maintain CSFPD operations, they could fund up to $30,000. He pushed to have the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) between HCFPD and CSFPD modified so that HCFPD, the larger district, bears a higher portion of the cost. A revised IGA would have to be approved by the individual Boards of both districts. Britton recommended they wait to see what the actual budget needs will be as the preliminary amount of $115,000 may be high. Britton said when the two districts began the merger process they identified the areas of finances and pension as the “deal breakers.” A failure to agree on those two areas could endanger the merger. “Let’s keep going,” Britton said.
Updates on TFA’s progress show the Board is doing just that. In addition to developing the budget, they have created mission and vision statements and identified their core values. Working with Gilpin County’s Community Development Department, they are having a survey of the districts done. An actuarial survey to address pension needs is also underway. The Fire Chiefs and Training Officers are working out differences in training standards between the two departments and developing new firefighter training guidelines. The Chiefs are looking at a schedule rotation to share their duties. An inventory of equipment and assets is at least partially done. Guidelines for the composition of a post-merger TFA Board have been drafted and will be presented formally at the next TFA meeting. The website, which currently has the TFA By-laws and IGA (www.timberlinefire.org), is being updated. There’s still much to be done, the Directors noted, and the push is on if they want to have it all in place by next fall.
TFA’s Board of Directors meets next on November 5, 2009.