Evergreen Fire Board Recall info....

The Current EFPD Board Members Biographies

Under the leadership of the existing Evergreen Fire Protection District Board of Directors a rating of AA from financial analysts has been maintained. This is a testament to both the fiscal responsibility and foresight of these five men and of the board members who preceded them in office.

George Kling – President

George Kling started his firefighter training in 1983. George has volunteered for 4 departments as a firefighter and while earning a Bachelor of Aviation Management from Auburn University he was employed by the City of Auburn, AL, as a “tillerman” on the ladder truck.

Current community time is well occupied as President of the Evergreen Fire Protection District (Director since 2008), and teaching CPR and Wilderness First Aid. George served on a School Accountability Committee, as well as chaired the Bergen Meadow Field Committee raising funds to improve the field behind Bergen Meadow.

Professional life has included owning small businesses, being employed by a large global company, as well as state and local governments. Each of these opportunities has yielded personnel, project and fleet management as well as fiscal responsibilities.

You may find George biking or hiking in Elk Meadow, on a raft trip or trying to hang with the kids and wife on the slopes. The Kling’s have been an Evergreen family since 1988.

Charles Simons – Vice President

Mr. Simons was appointed to the Board in 2008 to fill a vacancy and was re-elected in 2010. Mr. and Mrs. Simons moved to Evergreen in 2000 to be closer to their daughter and her family. Mr. Simons brings several skill sets to his tenure on the EFPD Board. He served in the navy as a pilot for four years followed by 30 years with Delta Airlines. During his time with Delta he acted as a line pilot, an instructor, as assistant chief pilot, and as chief pilot. While living in Texas Mr. Simons served as president of the water board for their suburban community and as mayor pro-tem with the city council. His knowledge of the intricacies of instructional training for specific skills sets as well as his experiences with managing people, their interests, biases, and needs is a great benefit to the EFPD. Mr. Simons brings passion for community to Evergreen and the hope for continued growth and improvement in the services EFR offers.

Vacant Seat – Secretary The Board interviewed four candidates to fill the remaining term. I believe this was announced last night.

Jeff deDisse – Treasurer

As a member of one of the founding families in Evergreen Mr. deDisse is a lifelong resident who continues the tradition of raising cattle on land passed down through the family. Mr. deDisse has been an active volunteer with the Evergreen Volunteer Fire Department for the last 14 years with several years spent as an officer and a fire investigator. He was elected to the EFPD Board in 2007. For the last 10 years Mr. deDisse has been employed with W.L. Contractors traveling the Colorado and the country to oversee installations. His experience with personnel issues, budgets and time management make him an asset to the EFPD Board of Directors on top of his first hand knowledge of the community and the volunteer fire department.

David Christensen – Director

Mr. Christensen was elected to the EFPD Board in 2010 for a four year term. After receiving his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, a visit to Vietnam with the Army, and receipt of his Master’s degree in City Planning, Mr. Christensen joined Pacific Gas and Electric to perform air and water quality testing and to manage research. In 1994 the Christensen family came to Evergreen and he joined the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to work with licensing and business negotiations. Mr. Christensen became a volunteer firefighter with EFR and retired after 11 years of service in 2008. In 2011 Mr. Christensen retired from NREL. He brings a wealth of knowledge to the EFPD in business negotiations and research.

Source: http://www.evergreenfirerescue.com/efpd ... d-members/




The Evergreen Fire Department Board recall candidates and the experience they would bring to
the board are listed below -

Candidate: Jodee Kesten

Jodee has been with the New York City Fire Department for 6 years as a professional EMS (Emergency Medical Technician) firefighter. She's trained in interior, as well as, exterior firefighting, is certified for rescue operations, including use of jaws of life, and has obtained her emergency medical education at a New York hospital. Jodee has also worked in Advertising/Marketing for a well-known magazine. As a long-term resident of Evergreen, Jodee has served the community in various roles; working for the Senior Resource Center, the Life Care Center and serving on the PTA board of local schools. She currently devotes her time to her family and raising her children.

Candidate: Barry Pier

Barry holds a Bachelors of Science in Civil Engineering and a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering (Business Administration & Project Management). He is a Registered Professional Engineer with 35(+) years' experience as a Service Provider. He is currently the CEO of Idaptic, a Denver-based start-up SaaS Business Process Management solutions provider. Barry has previously held board positions in homeowners associations and has been active in the Evergreen community for the past decade.

Candidate: Paul Peil

Paul holds an Associate Degree in Industrial Electronics. He has continuously expanded his education during 35 years with Lockheed Martin Space Systems Division. Now retired, he has worked the last ten years of his professional career in Systems Engineering as Development Manager for several large scale projects with as many as 300 specialists on staff. Paul has served for 7 years as the Architectural Review Committee Chairman for a large homeowners association. He was involved in defensible space mitigation, coordinating with Jeffco Planning and Zoning, Roads and Bridges and the Evergreen Fire Department. He volunteers his time to solve technical issues for members of the community.

Candidate: Daniel Koller

Dan holds a Masters of Computer Science with Minors in Finance and Business Administration and is also a Certified Project Manager. He has 23 years experience in software development, project management, and financial controlling in management positions in banking, retail, and the communication/media industries. He is now an independent Consultant with international clientele. Dan has served in the Swiss Army (Infantry) and the Swiss National Guard (Atomic and Chemical Protection Service). He has previously held board positions in a homeowners association and non-profit organization involved in planning issues on a city and county level. Dan is an active member of our vibrant community and serves in several volunteer roles..

Once again in an attempt to mislead and to provide false information to the community, the Recall Board has embellished the bio of one of the candidates to make the candidate appear that she has more fire service experience than she really has…..

Jodee Kesten

Jodee has been with the New York City Fire Department for 6 years as a professional EMS (Emergency Medical Technician) firefighter. She's trained in interior, as well as, exterior firefighting, is certified for rescue operations, including use of jaws of life, and has obtained her emergency medical education at a New York hospital. Jodee has also worked in Advertising/Marketing for a well-known magazine. As a long-term resident of Evergreen, Jodee has served the community in various roles; working for the Senior Resource Center, the Life Care Center and serving on the PTA board of local schools. She currently devotes her time to her family and raising her children.

In today’s candidate bio in the Canyon Courier it states, “As a candidate in the recall election of four Evergreen Fire Protection District board members, Evergreen resident Jodi Kesten brings more than six years experience as a volunteer firefighter and EMT with the New York City Fire Department.”

The article and bio makes you believe that this candidate was a firefighter/EMT with New York City and in reality she was not an EMT / firefighter with New York City Fire Department as clearly stated in the Recall bio because the FDNY does not have EMT / firefighters. You are either an EMT / Paramedic working in the EMS division of FDNY or you are a firefighter NOT both..…FDNY does not have any volunteer firefighter they are all paid. And yet the Recall group portrays her to be an EMT / Firefighter that spent six years on the New York City Fire Department.

And to embellish even more the article in the Canyon Courier states:

“While serving with the New York rescue squad in the 1990s, Kesten said she went on 2,000 calls a month and kept up-to-date with her training.”Two-thousand calls per month!!?? Holy cow….that comes to running 66.66 calls per day if she worked every single day of the month. This is SUPER EMT / FIREFIGHTER WOMEN!!! And she had time to train…..

So my question for Kesten is which department was Kesten a firefighter on…because it was certainly not FDNY as clearly implied in the Canyon Courier article and the Recall group’s bio.

And here in Evergreen, the bio and the article states she worked at the Senior Resource Center and Life Care. I checked with the Senior Resource Center and Life Care…..they don’t have her ever receiving a check by the name of Kesten at either place.

More lies and misinformation by the people who want to oversee our fire department.

THANK YOU.......for posting this information. We, as a community on the mountain,have a VESTED INTEREST in the ability to protect
our property and abode from wildfires........I have been following this issue for several months when it FIRST came on the radar. It appears that the "recall" effort is a NIMBY ISSUE (even tho the group vehemently denies that.) (JMO)......THIS wildfire season is
shaping up to be equal or worse than LAST SEASON......we are NOT out of the woods for moisture,even with this most recent storm.....
PLEASE pay attention to this issue and IF you live in Jeffco.....VOTE to retain the present board.......this recall effort is mind-numbing,
when you take the MACRO view of our EXTENDED DROUGHT.

I lived in Evergreen for over 10 years. I have spent many years ease dropping via scanner to hear Evergreen in action.
I have never heard a more professional group of individuals.....period.
This sort of thing rips a community apart.
Very sad stuff coming from these recall folks.

evergreencitizen wrote: For those interested in the candidate Jodee Kesten:

An updated profile and some additional documents have been published at http://efpdboardcandidates.org/Candidat ... Kesten.php


The 2000 calls/day as quoted in the Canyon Courier seem to be a misunderstanding during the interview. Jodee clarified that her company responded to up to 2000 calls per day. Her company consisted of about 25 people organized in 5 teams.

This still does not excuse the fact that Ms. Kesten lied about her being an EMT / Firefighter for six years with THE New York City Fire Department. I am sorry Mr Koller, it was blatant outright lie and for her to pass herself off as a member of the FDNY. Also she is still lying about the number of calls the LBFD runs per day – as this is a direct quote from the LBFD website: http://longbeachfd.com/

The organization of the LBFD is comprised of 7 volunteer companies and 1 uniformed company. In total, the members of the LBFD respond to over 1200 fire alarms, and over 3,100 EMS runs annually.

That breaks down to 11.7 calls per day....a far cry from 2000. And you MR Koller as a "response" times expert should have been able to do the math and realize that number is far off.

Mr. Koller what other lies have you been feeding the community and how much more can we expect? And you want to oversee the Evergreen Fire Department.

This is just stupid crazy these folks are not qualified please vote No-Recall

A good summary of the recall situation - http://pinecam.com/forum/viewtopic.php? ... 9#p1458949

I hope the residents of the district inform themselves and vote NO on the recall, for the benefit of both the residents of the district and all surrounding districts.

It goes WAY BEYOND this dated thread.....WeatherGeek brought it forward in Q4 of last year............posting the problems and
LACK OF COMPROMISE by this faction and the dept.'s continuing efforts to be reasonable and address THEIR issues........to NO avail.
THIS is a NIMBY recall and time and time again THIS RECALL group has NOT addressed the communities concerns in a DIRECT AND
COHESIVE MANNER.......deflection and mis-information is the NORM by the recall faction......BE EDUCATED,GET INVOLVED BECAUSE
THIS CONCERNS ALL OF US ON THE MOUNTAIN. (FYI, at the end of last year a "back door" was attempted by WeatherGeek,to break
the impasse and move the issue forward in a "bi-partisian" way......THAT effort was futile because THE RECALL GROUP REFUSED TO
COMPROMISE, so the "door" was slammed shut and "we" are here at THIS juncture because of the inabililty of the recall group to
COMPROMISE........do the research and the facts will be verified.

With all due respect, I have an extremely difficult time following your posts homeagain.
I think I agree with you though.

frogger wrote: With all due respect, I have an extremely difficult time following your posts homeagain.
I think I agree with you though.

I'm pretty sure I do too. I saw NIMBY and " because of the inabililty of the recall group to COMPROMISE"