Iam tired and beat down about Florissant Fire Protection District and the behaviors of the people who were elected or appointed to oversee important functions it. When citizens don’t attend meetings, write letters or look over the shoulders of our elected and appointed representatives, we are called lazy and apathetic. When citizens try to be involved, attend meetings, ask questions and write letters, they are called bullies, threateners and busybodies.

NoFloCo represents more than 100 hardworking, kind, good people who are doing everything humanly possible to create an environment in our forest that mimics a natural burn, without devastation to wildlife, homes, infrastructure and peaceful living that a wildfire results in. Proper fire mitigation is just that: the results of a fire, without the fire. If a wildfire comes though an overgrown, heavily bio-massed neighborhood it will kill many hundreds of thousands of flora and fauna. It will be hot, fierce and dangerous for firefighters. If that same neighborhood is properly fire mitigated, the fire moves quickly, is not hot, does not climb trees, and firefighters remain safe and in control.

That is why my husband and I fire mitigate every square inch of our heavily forested property in North Florissant. We have worked at it for 15 years and have learned a lot along the way. Folks often asked us why we did what we did, and how could they make their property look the same. Our answer was to begin NoFloCo Fire Mitigation Posse. We tried to get Florissant Grange to be our hub and sponsor to no avail, then asked Indian Creek Property Owner Association for their assistance. They were receptive and encouraging. Not long after that, Teller Department of Emergency Management, Florissant Fire Protection District, and CORE Electric Cooperative reached out to offer their guidance, assistance, equipment, help and money.

NoFloCo wrote and won a grant worth $50K to train 52 of our volunteers in wildland firefighting and 13 to be wildland chainsaw firefighters. As we wrote the grant, we had a great relationship with both the Office of Emergency Management and the FFPD Fire Chief. My husband and myself, along with all the volunteers with NoFloCo, were excited with where we were headed, the collaboration with Teller County, Teller County commissioners, Teller Office of Emergency Management, and FFPD. We had lots of great things lined up, lots of people interested in fire mitigation, lots of support from the county, lots of positive forward motion at the local fire district, and many excited and involved firefighters.

Then it all fell apart. MANY eople believe it was “old white man thinking” … Plain old bigotry and misogyny. I resisted that thought, as I worked for many years in one of the nation’s most integrated counties, Wake County, N.C. I refused to believe that race or gender were the motivating reasons for the decisions that were being made. I refused to believe that the “old white men” in charge were biased. I knew these men, trusted them, respected them, and appreciated their public service and commitment to doing the right thing. I stood up for them, and was attacked for doing so. I wanted to hold on to my belief that they wanted what we all wanted: fair, clear, competent leadership.

After three months of back and forth,

“he said, she said,” and “the lawyer said this, that, and the other thing” ... where are we? Well, the FFPD Chief that NoFloCo had a fantastic working relationship with has been fired. He was allegedly assaulted and insulted. The DoEM chief was fired and has a replacement whom we are not sure we can work with. The FFPD has an interim chief who the volunteers do not support, and many volunteers are threatening to quit. We need the support of the volunteers, the FFPD chief, the commissioners and the DoEM!

NoFloCo is in the middle of a grant application that requires the support of all the people mentioned above. We love Teller County, its flora and fauna, its homes, open spaces, federal and state parks. We love and work hard to serve our subdivision, Indian Creek. We want to work with neighbors to make it the best part of Teller County to live in. We listen closely to our friends and neighbors when they share their opinions. Most all of them want Chief Michael Bailey back. Most all of them think he was fired for racist reasons. Most all of them want whatever the volunteer firefighters want.

At this point, the Bailey family has been through a lot. They have moved a thousand miles from their home to receive a hostile and unpleasant reception in Teller County. Many people love and respect this family, but the “system” here has not been welcoming. The Bailey’s have a school aged child who bears more than a fair share of the weight of all the controversy.

I am not sure what the solution is.

All along I wanted a positive, forward thinking, kind solution that engaged the community, supported our well qualified fire chief, and made the most of the community involvement I had worked so hard for. My understanding is that

Chief Bailey and his family are tired of the struggle and feel that moving on to a new location makes sense at this point. How shameful for our community.

At the July 7 Teller County commissioners meeting, several new FFPD board members will be appointed. Please consider serving if you are a registered voter in Colorado and live in or own property in the Florissant Fire Protection District. Send your resume and/or your letter of interest by email to County Administrator Ross Herzog at herzogr@co.teller.co.us. Applications should include “FFPD Board” in the subject line. Deadline for submittal is 5 p.m. Friday, June 24.

According to Title 32 and the Special District Association of Colorado Handbook, the discussion about these board members must be in open session and public.

I suppose that is the next, best step we can make. If we all attend, and insist on open, clear, honest appointments, and hope that the very beloved FFPD Chief Bailey is rehired to stop a clear slam dunk of a lawsuit against our district. We can hope Mr. Bailey will forgive the missteps many have made and will accept a role in getting us back on the positive road to success we were on.

Teller County and NoFloCo had the attention of the governor, the news media, our local state representative, and many others for the positive direction, community involvement, grassroots energy, and excitement to do the right thing. They managed to side track it all in this embarrassing, small thinking, bigoted fiasco. Please, for the love of God, get it together, Teller County and FFPD.

Toni Moore is a resident of Florissant.