Date: 10/20/2023
Subject: Kensington Fire Protection District Meeting
From: The Memo Desk

Jeepers, why can’t we just move on?

The recent Kensington Fire Protection District meeting got off to an odd start when Director Dommer announced he was stepping down from his position as a board director. He explained that now that the Public Safety Building remodel project was at a point where the framing will soon be completed, he thought it was time to step down. His announcement was followed by recognition of all his contributions to the community and the KFPD by the other directors and folks in the audience. Halfway through the meeting Director Dommer got and quietly left the meeting. The Fire Chief assisted Director Dommer to his car.

The assumed hot agenda items involved District Reorganization/Consolidation. In an unusual move, Kensington Police Protection & Community Services Director Duggan put out a call on Nextdoor for concerned folks to attend the KFPD meeting in person or via zoom to support Consolidation. As it turned out there were only three people in the audience and about 16+ on zoom. Not all those folks supported Reorganization/Consolidation. There was a noticeable lack of enthusiasm for the idea of pursuing Consolidation. Perhaps 1 + 1 really does = 2.

Another hot item on the KFPD agenda was the request for a bid from Marjang Architects to prepare a layout of the PSB that would locate the police department on the 1st floor and use 100 sq. ft on the 2nd floor. This request was made by Director Watt with sketch floor layouts by architect Bart Jones. Three of the directors saw no point in the KFPD designing a space in the PSB without the participation of the KPPCSD Directors, police & fire stakeholders. After much discussion it was decided that the General Manager would have an informal conversation with Marjang Architects to get a rough idea for the cost of preparing a revised set of plans based on the Watt/Jones sketches.

It is becoming de rigueur at KPPCSD and KFPD meetings for a member of the Save Kensington’s Future’s steering committee to comment on and clarify some SKF directors’ actions. Regarding Director Watt’s repeated attempts to cram the KPD into the remodeled PSB, the comment was made that the SKF directors were giving the issue a full and fair hearing. [Hmmm…] At some point the SKF directors should realize they are putting the safety of Kensington tax payers at risk by insisting on adhering to their campaign points. The job of the directors is to gather information, deliberate, discuss and vote on issues with input from the community.

“Nothing dies harder than a bad idea.” (Julia Cameron)

Note: Satire alert; try as hard as you might, a 10 lb. load still won’t fit into a 5 lb. sack.