School District (2019-2020) - Evergreen Safety Watch

There are three new emails on this page (scroll down to 2. Ms. Susan Miller, then to 3. Ms. Susan Harmon )

1.

To: Ms Stephanie Schooley

From: evergreensafetywatch

Date: November 2019-March 2020

Subject: The dual role of all Special Districts in Colorado as directed by Title 32

I have embedded this email to you in an email I sent to your colleagues on Tue, Aug 14, 2018 12:10 pm (below) to apprise you of a public safety issue that I reported to them. You can therefore read the history of the issue and see the same ATTACHMENTS that they received. For more information on the issue and to see communications to other parties you can visit http://evergreensafetywatch.com.

Congratulations on being elected as a board member to the JEFFCO R1 Special District. I read with interest your before election statements in the Denver Post and I voted for you. Your skills at conflict resolution will be invaluable in solving the issue at hand.

However, and I am not being critical here but rather just informative, while you expressed quite well the visions and concerns that you would contribute as a board member. And your focus on operations, students, and educational attainment and the delivery of educational services is admirable, you failed to say anything about your contributions in your other role as an officer of a Special District in Colorado.

The State Legislature has been quite clear about the dual role of Special Districts, and therefore their Officers, in Colorado. By passing Title 32, the legislature not only established the process for the creation of a Special District, but it also established the dual role scope of operations of a Special District.

While the well accepted role of Special Districts is the delivery of a specific service like “Fire suppression and Rescue” or “Recreation” or “Education”, the other role of Special Districts is some times lost in the glitter of the specialized services to be delivered.

Here is how the Legislature defines this other role as a statutory requirement.

(32-1-102. Legislative declaration. (1) The general assembly hereby declares that the organization of special districts providing the services and having the purposes, powers, and authority provided in this article will serve a public use and will promote the health, safety, prosperity, security, and general welfare of the inhabitants of such districts and of the people of the state of Colorado. )

This is a tall order and I hope you are up to the challenge. But you are also facing as great a challenge in Evergreen Colorado.

The 2018 email and its attachments completely documents the serious public safety issue that exists on property owned by the School District. The email also documents the temporary and long term solutions I offered to fix the problem.

I invoke the Legislative Declaration because the public safety issue, except for building evacuation procedures, is in the parking lot between the Evergreen High School building and the Wulf Recreation center (WRC). The 120 spaces are simply insufficient to support 30 teacher vehicles and the vehicles of patrons of the WRC, wulf park and the tennis courts. So in prime times this has forced later arriving patrons to park in the fire lane and designated “no parking” side of Olive road. Therein lies part of the conflict to be resolved.

The other part is that the parking lot must also accommodate a painted fire lane from the East to the West entrance, on the center lane of the parking lot. Because of the juxtaposition of the WRC and High School buildings and the placement of the parking lot in between, the center lane of the parking lot provides the only Fire & Rescue first responder access to the front North side of the WRC and the entire South side of the High School. That being the case, the center lane, regardless of being on private property, is a De-Facto fire lane and it is the responsibility of the property owner to paint the fire lane. This fact far out weighs any “lack of concern about the parking lot” that a Fire Chief might assert.

Also, since the fire & Rescue District has chosen not to advocate for fire lanes around all community use buildings in Evergreen, it is left to the School District and the Parks & Recreation District to compromise on who will design and publish the educational materials to enlighten the public on their expected behavior regarding fire lanes. Equally another bone of contention will be the cost and installation of an audible and visible fire alarm at the parking lot level and connected to both buildings, to serve a dual protection fire lane.

So, after you have read the attachments Especially WhereWEAreNow 8/18) formerly sent to your colleagues on the School District Board, and have acquired an understanding of the complete nature of the public safety problem from evergreensafetywatch.com, you can examine the update attachment (WhereWeAreNow 6/19 – 2/20) and digest the less desirable but workable solution (WhereWeanntToBe 9/19).

One other note of importance. We have seen from news reports during the past year, how the Cherry Creek School District achieved the lowest possible payment of liability insurance premieres by purchasing an insurance policy but then capping the liability of the insurer at the surprisingly low amount of two million dollars (see Attachment). So, when a Federal District Court awarded plaintiffs $11.5 million that left taxpayers on the hook for $9.5 million. The question of exactly what tax payers were on the hook, was answered in a later statement by the Cherry Creek School Board when it reported that the $9.5 million would be paid out of a “Reserve Fund.” The implication was that it was a Cherry Creek “Reserve Fund.” I suppose we can find this “Reserve Fund” in the Cherry Creek Financial statements. But this is research for another time. My main concern that I want to share with you is this: How many other Special Districts are using this same trick to avoid spending “Program Dollars” on insurance premiums. More specifically, since the JEFFCO School District requested that taxpayers approve $20 million in uncommitted funds during the last election cycle, and taxpayers voted down that proposal, where does that leave the School District taxpayers with regard to liability and property and causality insurance?

Your Board membership is a challenge to be Sheree. So, I hope that I have provided you with some insight and information that will help to enable you to make decisions that will help you meet your statutory requirement responsibilities.

Attachments

(See School District 2018)

Additional Attachment to all three emails

WhereWeAreNow 6/19 -3/20

Explanation of WhereWeAreNow (6/19 – 2/20)

As the graphic picture above shows, a vehicle on Olive road that has pulled over and fire trucks have proceeded beyond it. But the fire trucks are now stuck behind several other vehicles that cannot pull over because of vehicles having been parked in a dedicated no parking area. So, now all vehicles in the fire lane must slowly proceed into the unmarked de-facto fire lane in the chaotic parking lot where drivers are backing out of spaces to escape and patrons are running to their vehicles while the alarm is sounding

2.

To: Ms Susan Miller

From: evergreensafetywatch

Date: November 2019-March 2020

Subject: The dual role of all Special Districts in Colorado as directed by Title 32

Congratulations on being elected as a board member to the JEFFCO R1 Special District. I read with interest your before election statements in the Denver Post and I voted for you. Your skills at advising school Districts about facilities will be invaluable in solving the issue at hand.

However, and I am not being critical here but rather just informative, while you expressed quite well the visions and concerns that you would contribute as a board member, and your focus on operations, students, and educational attainment and the delivery of educational services is admirable, you failed to say anything about your contributions in your other role as an officer of a Special District in Colorado.

Here is how the Legislature defines this other role as a statutory requirement.

This is a tall order and I hope you are up to the challenge. But you are also facing as great a challenge in Evergreen Colorado.

I invoke the Legislative Declaration because the public safety issue, including building evacuation procedures, is in the parking lot between the Evergreen High School building and the Wulf Recreation center (WRC). The 120 spaces are simply insufficient to support 30 teacher vehicles and the vehicles of patrons of the WRC, wulf park and the tennis courts. So in prime times this has forced later arriving patrons to park in the fire lane and designated “no parking” side of Olive road. This is a facilities problem.

The other problem part is that the parking lot must also accommodate a painted fire lane from the East to the West entrance, on the center lane of the parking lot. Because of the juxtaposition of the WRC and High School buildings and the placement of the parking lot in between, the center lane of the parking lot provides the only Fire & Rescue first responder access to the front North side of the WRC and the entire South side of the High School. That being the case, the center lane, regardless of being on private property, is a De-Facto fire lane and it is the responsibility of the property owner to paint the fire lane. This fact far out weighs any “lack of concern about the parking lot” that a Fire Chief might assert.

Also, since the fire & Rescue District has chosen not to advocate for fire lanes around all community use buildings in Evergreen, it is left to the School District and the Parks & Recreation District to compromise on who will design and publish the educational materials to enlighten the public on their expected behavior regarding fire lanes. Equally another bone of contention will be the cost and installation of an audible and visual fire alarm at the parking lot level and connected to both buildings, to serve a dual protection fire lane.

So, when a Federal District Court awarded plaintiffs $11.5 million, that left taxpayers on the hook for $9.5 million. The question of exactly what tax payers were on the hook, was answered in a later statement by the Cherry Creek School Board when it reported that the $9.5 million would be paid out of a “Reserve Fund.” The implication was that it was a Cherry Creek “Reserve Fund.”

I suppose we can find this “Reserve Fund” in the Cherry Creek Financial statements. But this is research for another time. My main concern that I want to share with you is this: How many other Special Districts are using this same trick to avoid spending “Program Dollars” on insurance premiums. More specifically, since the JEFFCO School District requested that taxpayers approve $20 million in uncommitted funds during the last election cycle, and taxpayers voted down that proposal, where does that leave the School District taxpayers with regard to liability and property and causality insurance?

Attachments

(See School District 2018)

Additional Attachments ( see above )

–

3.

To: Ms. Susan Harmon

From: evergreensafetywatch

Date: November 2019-Marcch 2020

Subject: The dual role of all Special Districts in Colorado as directed by Title 32

I have embedded this email to you in an email I sent to you on Tue, Aug 14, 2018 12:10 pm (below) to apprise you of a public safety issue that I reported at that time and which continues unabated. You can therefore read the history of the issue and see the same ATTACHMENTS that you and your colleagues received. I thought it important to contact you directly because you are the Director of district #2 which contains Evergreen High School, the source of the problem. For more information on the issue and to see communications to other parties you can visit http://evergreensafetywatch.com.

As you can see from the most recent attachment (WhereWeAreNow 6/19 -3/20 ), there is a problem with the de-facto fire lane in the middle of the parking lot on your Special District property and in front of the Wulf Recreation Center. The public does not know it is there. So, the public does not know how to behave when the fire alarm sounds. Please bear with me as I repeat myself. From the East entrance of the parking lot, past the fire hydrant, to the West entrance, the center lanes and single center lane are a de-facto fire lane.

This is because these lanes afford the only access, to the North front of the Wulf Recreation Center, the entire South side of Evergreen High School and the fire hydrant, for Fire & Rescue and Law Enforcement first responders to gain entry to both facilities and/or access the fire hydrant..

That being the case, and even though it is on private property, the lanes must be marked as fire lanes not only to secure public knowledge, but also as required by the legislative mandate in Title 32 for public safety, security, and well being.

While the mandate is one reason that the fire lanes must be painted, educational brochures that explain about fire lanes must be published for the public, and evacuation procedures that include instructions pertaining to the avoidance of fire lanes must be updated for both the Wulf Recreation Center and Evergreen High School and be published for all to see. These are all components of a strategy that work together to ensure first responder and public safety in an emergency.

Being a lawyer you have an appreciation, beyond any laymen, for the legal concept of negligence. Admirably, your School District has painted fire lanes on the North, East, and West sides of Evergreen High School. The School District has even painted a fire lane eight spaces deep into the West side of the parking lot. This is an admission by action that you understand the public and property safety value that fire lanes afford. So, why then has the entire South side of Evergreen High School not received the same treatment? The neglect of the South side of the building is not defensible.

“Just remember this my girl, when you look up in the sky, you can see the stars and still not see the light.” ( Eagles )

So, indulge me in a short examination of an emergency scenario to see how this all gets personnel for each of us. the examination of this fictitious nightmare may help us see some light.

On a cloudy day in April, at about 10AM, the WRC is packed with patrons with some of their vehicles parked on Olive Road. Without prior warning, lightning strikes the transformers high on the telephone pole next to the WRC. The transformers and pole ignite in flames and fall into the WRC, which catches on fire.

In just a few minuets the entire Southeast corner of the building is in flames, including the chemical storage room. Someone pulls the fire alarm and patrons begin to evacuate what is becoming a smoke filled building. None of the patrons has ever seen an evacuation plan. There is panic. EPRD staff begin shouting orders like “get out of the building!!” to the exiting crowd.

Moms in the pool exit into the corridors and fight the crowd in the opposite direction trying to get to the day care rooms ( They have never seen an evacuation plan and do not know that their children are safe having already been evacuated thru other exits. ).

Patrons stream out thru the front doors. Some souls head for the tennis courts, others hang around the front door to watch the show, others proceed down the front steps and into the de-facto fire lane. Its every man for himself and the quickest make it to several vehicles before the fire trucks arrive, having been delayed by slow moving vehicles in the Olive Road fire lane that cannot pull to the left because of illegally parked vehicles on the East side of the road.

Suddenly, because some fool has pulled a fire alarm on a dare in the High School, students and staff begin streaming out of the several doors on the South side of the High School. Some students charge up the stairs that lead to the WRC and add themselves to the humanity in the de-facto fire lanes dodging private vehicles and fire trucks. Other students, by chance, safely proceed up stairs to the High School pavilion in the parking lot and huddle together for safety. The police arrive and restore order, and the fire hoses are eventually hooked up to the hydrant at the West end of the parking lot. The fire is suppressed but the WRC has suffered extensive damage.

The nightmare has even more gruesome details of which I will spare you.. Suffice it to say that there are serious injuries and even deaths from collisions between fire trucks, private vehicles and bodies. Injuries not from the fire but from the chaos that ensued in the parking lot.

Later it is all cleared up in Court. Negligence charges are directed at the EPRD for failing to update its evacuation procedures to include control of evacuees to insure their safety once outside the building, and at the School District for failing to update the safety of the parking lot with audible and visual fire alarms in the parking lot together with fire lane markings that are clearly needed so that fire personnel can get to the fire hydrant. Wrong full death and negligence charges are leveled at both the EPRD, the EFRD and the School District. Some first responders suffer PTSD due to their part in the calamity.

The end result is the formation of a commission to figure out why this all happened, and a 20 million dollar award to various plaintiffs to be paid for by the three Special Districts.

The Court also admonished the State of Colorado for an ineffective Department of Local Affairs and its failure to apply oversight of Special Districts in meeting the mandate for public safety stipulated in Title 32.

But the consequences of the disaster have even more far reaching effects.

It was discovered that our forests could no longer provide replacements for the huge timber columns and other timber destroyed at the WRC. So the EPRD placed a bond issue on the next ballot for redesign and construction of the WRC. A tax increase was also placed on the ballot to cover court awards to plaintiffs because the property and casualty and liability insurer’s liability was capped at 2 million dollars by both the EPRD and the School District.
An angered public soundly rejected any additional funds for the EPRD thereby accepting the loss of recreation benefits. But the tax increase of several million requested by the school district had to be agreed to because Evergreen children had to continue to be educated.
Unfortunately such a huge tax increase could not be sustained by many seniors who therefore had to sell at a loss due to bad publicity and the resulting decrease in property values.

Even if only a small part of this nightmare were to come true, it would become true. it would be too much for the community to suffer. So, I hopefully look forward to newly painted fire lanes, parking lot level audible and visual fire alarms connected to both the High School and the WRC, and new publications for the Evergreen public to read.

ATTACHMENTS

(See School District 2018,

ADDITIONAL ATTACHMENTS ( see above )