APRIL 13 / MAY 18, 2022
REDSTONE • REVIEW
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MAYOR’S CORNER Mayoral farewell By Nick Angelo, Mayor of Lyons Redstone Review LYONS – Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to serve along with a most dedicated Angelo staff, plus trustees among the most talented and thoughtful that have served together. Again, it has been heart wrenching witnessing an average death rate of over 1,300 Americans from Covid every day for the last two years. We dedicate a moment of silence in remembrance
of those, and their families at our meetings. Covid will be the legacy of the past two years, known as the Zoom term. There was no alternative, but that doesn’t mean one has to like it. The continuity of projects and concepts from board to board is vital to proper governance and completed accomplishments. We were fortunate to have finalized the affordable housing project. Many boards since the flood have been working to replace lost housing as a result of the flood. We are about halfway there. It’s not just projects that take longer, policy decision implementation does as well. We should support the hotel wholeheartedly; the financial contribution by the hotel to the revitalization of down-
town and the additional Lyons Urban Renewal Authority (LURA) properties is unparalleled. The 4th Avenue Bridge will be completed soon. What a glorious day when we are again connected conveniently. Safe routes to school will hopefully include safe sidewalks surrounding the elementary school. Several prescient fire preparedness utility upgrades have been performed, and a budgeted fire mitigation strategy, along with code recommendations and codified requirements as well. The eastern corridor is a prime example of issues that can become the thief of time. Actually though, the eastern corridor is becoming more fertile. Let me offer my deepest apologies to the
residents of Eagle Canyon regarding 5G towers. I knew better than to exclude the community from discussion. Also for the lack of a conclusion to the Honeywell matter. It was very unusual to have “never” met in person on the dais as a Board of Trustees. That is what I missed the most, more human contact. It’s been nine and a half years of service with the town that started with a won coin flip. Ain’t that somethin’. Thank you so much for the honor. Nick Angelo became a Lyons Trustee in 1996 and won his first term as Mayor in1998. His current term as Mayor began in April, 2020. He and his wife Candace, a local artist, live in Lyons.
Lyons Fire thanks residents for attending Telephone Town Hall By Peter Zick, Lyons Fire Chief Redstone Review LYONS – I want to personally thank the over 150 residents that attended our Telephone Town Hall on Zick March 8. For those that were not able to attend, a recording of it is on our website at www.LyonsFire.org. During our town hall, we laid out some of the challenges the Lyons Fire Protection District is struggling to address, and we took questions and comments from the community. We answered many questions from residents about our fire district and the issues we currently face to adequately fund our emergency response services and we greatly appreciated this great interaction. As a reminder, the Lyons Fire Protection District has identified five significant challenges that need to be addressed soon. We need to increase staffing to ensure the appropriate number of firefighters can respond to a call. We also need to improve response times for Advanced Life Support calls (urgent treatment for cardiac and other serious emergencies). We need to implement critical wildland fire mitigation measures to reduce the risk of wildfires in our community, and we need to upgrade Advanced Life Support capabilities for our
residents in need of critical emergency medical care. Lastly, we need to replace a 27-year-old engine that is still in service. As stated in our Town Hall meeting, we’re finding that while we’re doing more with less, it’s simply not enough. While the proactive measures we implemented in 2021 to address these challenges certainly helped a bit, call volumes continued to rise over the course of the last two years. They were up
eight percent from 2020, and 10 percent from 2019 (including a 43 per cent increase in wildfire calls). This was in part due to an increase in both population and wildfires. As we have seen this increase in calls, we have also had challenges increasing staff and volunteers resulting in challenges to staff our nighttime shifts due to limited availability from our volunteer firefighters. The reality is that with these current
constraints we are at risk of seeing increased response times, stressed personnel, and strained resources. That is why the Board of the Lyons Fire Protection District recently voted to refer a mill levy increase to the ballot for the upcoming May 3, 2022 Fire District election. This mill levy increase is an attempt to try to address these challenges to ensure an adequate level of fire support for your families and your property. For more information about the mill levy increase, please contact the fire district to get a copy of the fact sheet. My ask of our community is to learn more about these challenges and our Fire District by listening to the recording of the Telephone Town Hall we held, and also read more about these challenges. All of this information is on our website at www.LyonsFire.org. After learning more, I would ask that you become an advocate of the Lyons Fire Protection District and spread the word to your family, friends, and neighbors so we can all support the brave firefighters that work hard every day to protect your families and your property. We are stronger together, Lyons. Together we can work to address these challenges facing our Lyons Fire Protection District. Peter Zick is the fire chief for the Lyons Fire Protection District.
