County staff to bring resolution to reorganize Consolidated Fire District 2; commissioners press for financial review

Peg Trent, county staff, told the commission Dec. 4 that she will bring a resolution next week to reorganize consolidated Fire District 2 to align it with other county boards. Trent recommended expanding the district board to seven members with nominations split 4–3 between the first-district commissioner and the BOCC chair, adding a requirement that appointees have resided in the district for three years, and setting the reorganization date for March 2026.

Commissioners asked for clarification about how nominations and residency requirements would work in practice and whether the chair-nominated seats would be geographically constrained; Trent said slides contained some poor word choices but that nominations would be drawn from district boundaries and legally reviewed for compliance.

Commissioner Ashcraft raised broader concerns about the district's recent budgetary challenges and flagged questions about credit-card uses; he asked whether the commission would initiate a financial audit. Mister Norris (county staff) said an invitation for a joint meeting with the CFD2 board was issued within the required 60 days and that staff and the chief are developing an option to study financial practices and best practices for budgeting and compliance; he did not announce a committed audit in the hearing.

Trent said staff will bring the reorganization resolution back for action next week (appointments would not be included at that time). Commissioners emphasized the need to engage mayors and stakeholders in nominations and to ensure legal review of candidate qualifications before formal appointments.