John Gaccione

Date: 01/14/2023
Subject: Save Kensington’s Future Highlights
From: The Memo Desk

Say hallelujah, last week the salvation of Kensington’s future has begun!

The 01/11/23 Kensington Fire Protection Board special meeting got off to a fabulous start for saving Kensington’s future. The three newly elected Save Kensington’s Future directors joined the two other directors and started robustly saving the future.

The SKF’s directors addressed the SKF programs to be put in place; consolidation, preserving Kensington Park for recreational use only and keeping the Police Department and the Fire Department in the remodeled Public Safety Building, just to name a few. A SKF steering committee member was even in the audience to issue policy suggestions.

SKF Director Jim Watt’s slide presentation illustrating how the seemingly impossible task of fitting the police department and the fire department into the Public Safety Building could be realized. Schemes generated by a planning firm Jim hired and by local architect Bart Jones speculated it could be done by shrinking staff spaces, the conference room, eliminating required de-contamination facilities and short changing the secure computer space along with the evidence storage room. Creative solutions, for sure.

A clarification came up regarding the commendation text for Janice Kosel’s years of service. It was noted that a draft was prepared by Brenda Navellier/ECFD and then re-written by past GM Bill Hansell. The commendation was not on the agenda, so no action was taken.

The Kensington Police Protection and Community Services District Board meeting the next night also saw the newly elected SKF directors were in lockstep with the KFPD Board SKF directors’ goals. To realize these goals they discussed reaching out to the KFPD for a joint meeting to look at consolidation. Again, a SKF steering committee member was also present and he suggested the finance committee be brought back in the future.

The meeting took an odd turn when someone identified as “W” called in and wished to read into the record a letter Paul Dorroh had promised to present but didn’t. It was a strange call.

Now that they are seated, can the SKF directors represent all of Kensington and follow the facts?

“It’s funny where we look for salvation, and where we actually find it.” (Anne Lamott)

Note: Satire alert, saving Kensington’s future could require re-writing Kensington’s past.