October Board Meeting Recap
Firefighter equipment, GLO Park news, and the future of Pleasant View!
The Pleasant View Metro District held its regular monthly board meeting at on October 21. Keep scrolling to find out more about what happened!
The next board meeting is November 18 at 4 p.m. and is your opportunity to provide feedback on the 2026 budget! Please join us at 955 Moss Street.
If you’re new here, I’m Laura! I’m the Vice President of the Pleasant View Metro District board of directors. You can find out more about me and this newsletter here.
The Short Version
The board voted to use up to $400,000 of reserve funds to purchase new self-contained breathing apparatuses (SCBAs) for the firefighters. These are a literal lifeline and some of the most important equipment they need. The current SCBAs are old, constantly breaking, and need to be replaced.
The state says they now have four housing proposals and zero lab proposals (previously 3 housing, 1 lab) for the GLO Park but will not share those proposals and do not have a timeline for when they will share them. Keep scrolling for more info on how to get involved!
We’re going to try a new system of approving minutes (basically notes from the board meetings) so they can be posted to the district website faster for better transparency.
The district’s expenses are growing faster than our tax revenue is. We started the discussion about what the best options for Pleasant View’s financial sustainability are, but there is much more research to be done.
Join me at Barrels and Bottles on Saturday to raise money for Pleasant View families! The fire department buys gifts for local families in need with the proceeds from the event.
The Long Version
Pleasant View Fire Department Updates
The fire department has responded to 1,433 calls for help this year, with 166 calls in September. Firefighters work a 48-hour shift, so that’s about 11 responses per shift while trying to sleep, eat, do chores, and train.
Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus Purchase
Every firefighter uses a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) to stay safe on the job. Pleasant View’s are old, constantly breaking, and badly need to be replaced.
You might be more familiar with SCUBA gear - the U stands for underwater. It’s a pretty similar system - an oxygen tank, connected by a tube to a regulator that’s connected to a mask so the person wearing it can breath.
Firefighters use SCBAs to breath in smokey and dangerous conditions where the air isn’t safe to breath. Fires release a lot of carcinogens even after they’re out, so wearing an SCBA keeps firefighters safe in a fire but also helps decrease cancer risks (firefighters are at a much higher risk of cancer because of their job).
In the photo below, the red arrows point to the air bottle, mask, and regulator that are all part of the system. It’s all connected in a backpack-like system.
Originally, we thought Pleasant View could place an order with a larger department to get better bulk pricing. But our current SCBAs won’t last long enough to order with another department.
The board approved up to $400,000 to purchase new packs, masks, and regulators (the piece that connects the mask to the tank) for every paid and volunteer firefighter. The air compressor to fill them also needs to be replaced, but the bulk of the expense is for the SCBAs themselves.
This is coming out of the district’s reserve funds. This type of purchase is exactly what the reserves are for, and I was glad to support a really critical equipment replacement. It’s obviously a LOT of money, so I’m happy to answer any questions or concerns you have - just reach out!
Agreement with Golden Fire for Inspections
Golden has officially adopted the inter-governmental agreement (IGA) with Pleasant View to provide us with fire inspection services. The 2026 contract provides just over 83 hours of services and will prioritize inspecting the highest-hazard buildings, like hotels and other large buildings.
Firefighter Testing
The fire department hosted a promotional testing day on October 25th to consider candidates for firefighter and engineer positions.
The engineer is the person who drives the fire engine and is in charge of pumping water that goes out to the hoses.
Everyone at the fire department is certified as a firefighter, but that specific title is used the entry-level paid positions at the station. Pleasant View has one officer (a lieutenant), one engineer, and at least one firefighter on every shift. Volunteers typically fill the second firefighter position.
The department will likely have an engineer position open in December. Internal candidates went through testing for that position as well as backfilling the firefighter position when someone is promoted to engineer. We have so many great people at the department and I’m excited to learn the results of testing!
Pleasant View Parks Updates
Camp George West
Illegally Removed Trees
Jefferson County Open Space is in charge of working with the developer to replace the trees illegally cut down last month, so I need to reach out to them for an update instead of our district manager. Stay tuned!
GLO Park/Housing Development
Lu Cordova with the Governor’s Office’s latest communication was that there are four housing proposals submitted for the former GLO Park site. However, she did not share the proposals or a timeline for sharing them.
I asked Lu today to provide an update and will share any additional information I get. She is providing an update to the state legislature on Thursday, October 30, at 9 a.m. Our board president, Adrian Waller, is providing community feedback after Lu’s update. You can find more information about the meeting here. I’ll be watching online and will provide a recap.
2026 Budget and Beyond
The district has budgeted for $3.3 million in revenue in 2026, with just over $3 million coming in from your property taxes. This number will likely change once the county assessor provides its final number in December. (This system admittedly does not make sense to me, but it’s just how the county does it)
I’m working on a survey with the board and district manager to better engage the community about what 2026 park maintenance and projects are important to you. I’ll have a draft survey at the November board meeting.
Bigger picture, the district staff expressed concerns about expenses growing faster than property tax revenue. The board and staff talked a lot about what our options are, ultimately deciding that we need to do more research to really understand our financial sustainability as a district.
In my personal opinion, this first means doing our due diligence to understand our current financial position and what the options are before presenting all of that information to the community to help guide our decisions. Nothing gets decided right away, or even in the next few months. Any major changes to the district will take a long time to figure out so we need to start that work now to make an informed decision.
If you have specific questions and concerns please reach out to me - I want to keep you informed without making anyone panic over uncertainty. If you don’t think I’m doing a good job of that, I want to hear that too!
I’d like to have an extra “study session” (basically a meeting of the board without voting on anything) to discuss this, or discuss it at the next board meeting. I’ll let you know what the board decides once I hear back from the other board members.
There were also some minor corrections and clarifying details we had for the draft budget proposal that will be changed for the November 21 board meeting. I asked the district manager how the public can view the draft budget now that the board has seen it. I’ll post it once I know! But please mark your calendar for the November 21 board meeting to share your feedback.
Community Events
The Orchard Park Picnic was awesome!!
Thank you SO SO much to Rachel and Steve, two neighbors who wanted to bring our community together. I was blown away by how many people showed up on Saturday! It was a really wonderful confirmation that neighbors want to get to know each other, be there for each other, and build community.
People willingly spent their Saturday afternoon hanging out with strangers - people came on their own, with a partner or a friend, brought food from the store or made it from scratch. I brought the random snacks in my cabinet and added them to the community food table, set up a blanket, and watched my son run around with tons of other kids while meeting a bunch of new people!
Thank you again Rachel and Steve!!
Santa on the Truck Fundraiser Saturday November 1 at Barrels and Bottles
Every year, Barrels and Bottles makes a special beer to celebrate the Pleasant View Fire Department and raise money for Santa on the Truck! Pleasant View uses the funds raised to buy Christmas gifts for local families who need help affording presents for their kids. One of my first days at the fire station, I got to help wrap all the toys the department bought and it’s a really special event!
A percentage of sales from Saturday will go directly to Santa on the Truck, so please join us on Saturday at Barrels and Bottles! (They just got a new brunch menu that I’m very excited to finally try!)
If you’re on Facebook, you can RSVP here.
Ok, that’s it!
September was a long board meeting, and this was a long recap. Thanks for making it this far! Reach out any time with questions/comments/concerns and I hope to see you on November 18 at 4 p.m.!
Email me at lauraforpleasantview@gmail.com or call or text me at 720-675-8093.