Record of Proceedings
Foothills Park & Recreation District Special Board of Directors meeting
July 28, 2026
A virtual attendance option was made available through Microsoft Teams.
Call to Order
Director Trimble called the regular meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.
Pledge of Allegiance
Director Trimble led those in attendance in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America.
Roll Call
Director Hanson, Present; Director Lodice, Absent.; Director Brainard, Present; Director Writz, Present; Director Trimble, Present.
Also in Attendance: Paul Rufien, District Counsel; Ronald Hopp, Executive Director; Dennis Weiner, Director of Finance and Administrative Services; Becky Richmond, Director of Recreation; Derek Eberhardt, Assistant Director of Recreation; Colin Insley, Director of Parks, Planning and Construction; Randy Meyers, Director of Golf; Richelle Riley, Recording Secretary; other Foothills staff and members of the public.
Potential conflicts of interest were disclosed pursuant to Colorado Revised Statutes 18-8-308(2), 24-18-109(3)(a), 24-18-110, and 32-1-902(3).
Approval of Agenda
Motion: Director Hanson moved that the Foothills Board of Directors approve the July 28, 2026 agenda as submitted. Director Writz seconded the motion. Poll of the Board: Director Hanson, yes; Director Brainard, yes; Director Writz, yes; Director Trimble, yes. The motion was approved.
Approval of Previous Meeting Minutes
Motion: Director Writz moved that the Foothills Board of Directors approve the minutes of the May 26, 2026 board meeting as submitted. Director Brainard seconded the motion. Poll of the Board: Director Hanson, yes; Director Brainard, yes; Director Writz, yes; Director Trimble, yes. The motion was approved.
Community Comments
Item 1: Part-time Employee Scholarship Award Recipients
Ronald Hopp recognized that the Foothills scholarship was made possible by a past Board of Directors and we continue to support that. 18 part-time staff members applied for the scholarships. The Scholarship Committee selected five recipients to each receive $500. Candace Pyun (not in attendance), Anissa Kinney, David Rawlins, Ellie Riegel, and Nicholas Maxwel received their awards and were recognized by the Board.
Item 2: Volunteer Presentation
Using PowerPoint, Sarah McAfee shared with the Board what they have done so far this year with volunteer projects. She reported that they have had 448 volunteers, over 1500 volunteer hours, and worked with Scouts on their Eagle Scout service projects. Ms. McAfee talked about different volunteer groups she has worked with, Clement Park Clean-up days, and three completed Eagle Scout Projects. She indicated there will be a playground build at Sunrise Creek Park on September 12th. They will work with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who bring about 100 people to volunteer.
Ms. McAfee was recognized and thanked by the Board.
Decision Items
There were no decision items.
Executive Director’s Report
Highlighting the report provided, Mr. Hopp recalled that the June board meeting was cancelled. Instead, many of the board members were able to tour Peiffer Elementary School as part of our due diligence process to see if there might be an opportunity to convert that school into a recreational-use facility.
Mr. Hopp discussed that staff have been working with BerryDunn to develop a new Master Plan for the District. He pointed out a copy of the Statistically Valid Survey that will be going out to about 500 random people throughout the District. There will also be a smaller survey that is not statistically valid, flyers will be passed out, and there will be pop-ups at various community events, Mr. Hopp explained.
Mr. Hopp pointed out that there were 86 applicants to replace our Executive Assistant. He detailed the interview process and announced that Bethany Fields was selected and in attendance. Bethany was welcomed and congratulated by the Board.
There are three concerts left in Clement Park, Shakespeare is coming up next weekend, Mr. Hopp said. Red, White & You was estimated at 60,000 people this year.
Mr. Hopp pointed out that August 5th is our end of summer staff barbeque. He will not be smoking meat this year because we are in a Stage II fire ban and charcoal grills are not allowed. It will be catered.
Mr. Hopp discussed that the District in the past has talked about the possibility of working with a vendor to provide water access activities at Johnston Reservoir. A Request for Proposal was issued in 2019 and interested parties provide proposals. The general concept was that we might consider paddle boards, stand up paddle boards, kayaks, etc. A vendor had been selected but as staff started to dig into the logistics and set-up of that, challenges were realized, he explained, and it was tabled at that time. He indicated that people have continued to reach out to the District with an interest in that. Mr. Hopp confirmed that staff is of the opinion that Clement Park is an extremely busy park and adding these types of elements could get the park overrun with stand-up paddle boards, and he elaborated. If the Board feels strongly about having it, staff can pursue it. Director Trimble pointed out that BerryDunn was hired to look at those types of things and we shouldn’t advance anything like that until we are through the process. Mr. Hopp agreed and will inform the interested vendor that the District is going through the Master Plan process and will then make an assessment.
Members of the public have been expressing concerns related to the Beers Sisters Reservoir at Blue Heron Park, Mr. Hopp discussed. Given the historical drought that we are experiencing this year, there is very little water in the reservoir. Staff have done their best to educate the public and have contacted our water engineer to review this again and they have assured us that we have not missed anything. We also encouraged the water engineer to see if there are any creative opportunities to get water there and bring them to our attention. Mr. Hopp discussed history of the reservoir and the junior water storage rights for that reservoir as detailed in the report.
Mr. Hopp and staff members met to discuss submitting a grant application to Jefferson County for their Trails Partnership program. Hine Lake has a link trail that is about a third of the way paved, staff would like to bring that up to standard of a ten-foot-wide trail and pave what is currently crusher fines and create some spurs.
Mr. Hopp said Richelle Riley is retiring. She was thanked for her 25 years of service and contributions to the District.
Discussion Items
Item 1: Cyber Risk Assessment Update
Preston Malcolm informed the Board that as with the last several years, 2026 holds its unique challenges for cyber security. The IT department is continuously working to mitigate vulnerabilities and improve our best practices to align with industry standards.
Using PowerPoint, Mr. Malcolm updated the Board on things the District has done over the last 12 months to improve our security stance, as well as things staff plan to do in the next 12 months. He talked about the Net Diligence Cyber Risk Assessment that was an opportunity provided to the District by the Colorado Special District Pool. It was offered as a method for increasing our insurance limits for cyber-related incidents, he explained and went through the process related to that.
Mr. Malcolm discussed the District’s Personally Identifiable Information (PII) exposure. The majority of our PII is currently processed by approximately 11 third party vendors, he explained, and talked about PCI data being maintained by approximately six vendors. Mr. Malcolm described the current possible risk for exposure of PII, and the mitigations that are in place. Several improvements to harden the District’s network security have been made over the course of the last year, Mr. Malcolm elaborated. Some of these improvements were recommended by the Cyber Risk Assessment, others were self-identified through research.
Looking at the 12-month plan, Mr. Malcolm outlined a list of things staff would like to address in the next twelve months. Some of these were identified by the Cyber Risk Assessment, others were self-identified through external research.
Item 2: Finance Update
Dennis Weiner presented the District’s financial update for the first full half of 2026. Highlighting the report provided, he went over total District year-to-date operating revenues, total year-to-date operating expenditures, net operating loss, non-operating revenues and expenditures.
Looking at the bottom line through June 30th, Mr. Weiner concluded net revenue was better than the plan.
Item 3: 2027 Budget Guidelines
Mr. Hopp indicated that the 2027 proposed budget is going to start early August and will culminate with the Board’s consideration of final budget at the December 8th board meeting. Referring to information provided in the packet, Mr. Hopp pointed out materials that will be distributed to staff including guidelines to utilize in their approach to overall budgets, and the budget schedule.
Referring to the memo and guidelines provided, Mr. Hopp outlined things staff are doing as we approach the 2027 budget. He indicated they are mainly things that we have been doing in the past. Mr. Hopp wanted to make sure the Board is okay with proceeding in that manner with the increases for full-time employees, minimum wage, discretionary contribution of 401k and the other items.
Preliminary 2027 budget numbers will be provided to the Board at the September 22nd meeting, Mr. Hopp explained. At the October 27th board meeting, staff will present the Administrative Services and Golf budgets. The November 10th board meeting will have the Recreation and Parks presentations. At the December 8th board meeting, we will have the Public Hearing on the budget, the Adoption of the Budget, Appropriation Funds and Certification of Mill Levy.
Mr. Hopp made clear that staff want to anticipate a final budget for the December meeting so if there are items the Board would want staff to address, we would like to have those known as part of the September, October and November meetings so they can be finalized for the December final consideration.
In answer to Director Writz, Mr. Hopp said that as part of this budget process, staff will evaluate overall employee benefits and make a recommendation for what would be done for District employees for District benefits, if anything different.
In answer to Director Trimble, there was discussion about expanding the bucket for the part-time employee scholarships. It can be left to the Scholarship Committee to look at each year and have flexibility.
Mr. Hopp acknowledged there is no action required for the budget guidelines, staff will start the budget process.
Executive Session
Director Trimble announced that concluding the regular business, the Board will have an Executive Session. The Board will come out of Executive Session and not conduct any more business, the meeting will be adjourned at that time.
Motion: Director Hanson moved that the Foothills Board of Directors move into Executive Session for Contract Negotiations per 24-6-402(4)(e), C.R.S. and Legal Advice per 24-6-402(4)(b), C.R.S. Director Writz seconded the motion. Poll of the Board: Director Hanson, yes; Director Brainard, yes; Director Writz, yes; Director Trimble, yes. The motion was approved.
The regular meeting adjourned at 6:59 p.m. Executive Session started at 7:00 p.m. and ended at 7:51 p.m. The regular meeting reconvened at 7:51 p.m.
Adjournment
The regular meeting adjourned at 7:51 p.m.
Submitted by: Richelle Riley, Recording Secretary