During the December 16, board meeting of the Rye Fire Protection District (RFPD) Fire Chief Steve Bennett let the board know about some updates in the works for the department.
The biggest news was that the two ambulances that have been being discussed with Chaffee County have been purchased and are probably sixty to ninety days away from being certified and ready for RFPD use.
An additional power cot has also been ordered and should be arriving in a few weeks. The cot is a certified refurbished model from the manufacturer Stryker. The cot was purchased for approximately $9600, whereas a new one costs approximately $23,000. Six sets of bunker gear will be ordered before the end of the year to receive special pricing. The gear will not be invoiced until March or April, after it is received. Bennett intends to start staggering sets of gear purchases so that it does not all expire at once which will help spread costs out over time.
Chief Bennett shared that he had been devoting a lot of time to compiling information for an open records request. He said this was quite a process as there was a lot of sensitive confidential information and, per legal counsel, there is some information that will not be available as it remains confidential information. The open records request was fulfilled with approximately 2,300 pages plus spreadsheet data and meeting recordings.
Final adjustments to the 2025 budget have been made. The final version was presented to the board at this meeting complete with a three-year budget comparison.
New time-keeping software is being used by nearly all employees and, for those not yet trained and using it, manual input is implemented.
Several Resolutions were presented to the board and passed in preparation for 2025. Resolution 25-001 regarding posting places for notices of RFPD meetings, Resolution 25-002 stating RFPD meeting dates and times, Resolution 25-003 setting the mill levy at 15.536, Resolution 25-004 adopting the 2025 operating budget, and Resolution 25-005 appropriating sums of money to the various finds and spending agencies to achieve a balanced budget were all approved by the board.
The RFPD board went into Executive Session to continue business.
