El Paso County staff ask commissioners to fund fire safety, wildfire mitigation program manager

Megan Harrington, director of planning and community development, asked the El Paso County Board of County Commissioners to approve funding for a new fire safety and wildfire mitigation program manager as a 2025 critical-need position. "Our critical need for 2025 is the addition of a position, fire safety and wildfire mitigation program manager," Harrington said, describing the role as both a plan-review and wildfire-coordination position.

Harrington told commissioners the role would ensure compliance with the county's land development code (chapter 6.3.0.3), act as the department's subject-matter expert on fire-safety matters, and serve as the primary county contact for fire protection districts and the Office of Emergency Management. She said state statute gives fire protection districts authority to adopt and enforce fire codes but that the board retains final approval authority; the county adopted a related resolution in 2013 and later incorporated coordination language into the land development code.

The department described the fiscal impact to commissioners: a base salary and costs of approximately $120,000 and an estimated fully loaded figure of about $152,000, which included a one-time $2,500 FTE setup. Harrington said the position would review all land-development applications for fire-safety compliance and could coordinate on-site inspections to confirm that approved work matches field construction.

Commissioners responded with support and implementation suggestions. Commissioner Williams said the position would help outreach and coordination in wildfire-prone parts of his district, citing Black Forest and Woodmoor and local mitigation programs such as "slash and mulch" collections and annual cleanups. "I think this is a very good idea," Williams said. Vice Chair Bremer praised the potential for earlier customer service and improved staff access to technical data, saying the county "doesn't always have the data at our fingertips" to answer technical questions during project reviews. Commissioner Vanderwerf urged equipping the new manager with modeling tools — noting limited modeling capacity at the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments (PPACG) — to assess evacuation routes and inform potential grant-seeking for additional mitigation measures. "When we talk about evacuation of high-risk fire areas, there's an interplay between the area, the codes of the houses, and the ability for people to evacuate," Vanderwerf said.

There was no public comment on the item. Budget staff (Miss Simmons) reported no changes to the preliminary balanced budget and reminded commissioners and the public that the next budget hearing is scheduled for Nov. 5, when commissioners will take public comment and provide final direction before adopting the budget.

The board did not take a formal vote on the new position during this session; the presentation and public discussion concluded with commissioners signaling support and requesting further implementation details, including possible tools and interagency coordination.