LOCAL

BY STEVE SMITH SSMITH@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Brighton Deputy Police Chief Matt Dominico took a minute to recall something his daughter said shortly after the death of Cmdr. Frank Acosta.

Acosta died suddenly on Sept. 23. He was 56.

“I was talking with my wife, and I told my daughter that one of daddy’s friends at work had died,” he told the audience at Acosta’s Sept. 29 funeral services at Orchard Church. “She had this sad look on her face, and she said, ‘Oh. He was that big guy who welcomed me with open arms.’”

Acosta grew up in Leadville and graduated from high school in 1984. He joined the U.S. Army and was a member of the 82nd Airborne in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He spent eight years as a trooper with the Colorado State Patrol. When he died, Acosta was a commander with the Brighton Police Department.

“Everyone here knows what Frank was all about,” said outgoing Brighton Police Chief Paul Southard. “Everyone knows he could be the crazy little brother in the room. I appreciated the man he was.”

That included a stint as acting police chief when Southard Full-time work. battled through COVID-19.

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“That was a serious deal, and I had to decide who was going to be in charge,” Southard said. “I tabbed Frank, and he managed to steer the department through a difficult time. That’s the kind of man he was.”

The other theme of the service was Acosta’s sense of humor, sometimes at inappropriate times. Dominico said Acosta had a “larger-than-life” personality and a “knack for lighting the mood.” That was true during a recent command staff meeting at the police department.

“We were out of hand, led mostly by Frank,” Dominco said. “Several members of the DA’s office were there too and laughing hard as well. Once our guests left, I stood up and said that we needed to be more professional, especially when we have visitors.

“Frank was the large part of this discussion,” Dominico continued. “After I finished, Frank stood up and said, ‘Yeah, you guys.’ That was my last effort at making those meetings more strict.”

The department changed its annual awards program so that family and children could attend the picnic-style event. Each member of the command staff presented awards after reading prewritten nomination forms, including Acosta.

“He read a graphic nomination from a particularly heinous sex crime,” Dominico said. “I’m sure the parents answered a lot of sensitive questions from their kids about what they heard. When Frank realized what he’d read and his audience, he said – without missing a beat – ‘I’m not the one who wrote it. I’m just reading it.’

“It got to a point where we had to issue a warning when he was speaking at a public event,” Dominico added.

Southard and Acosta worked security during the Democratic National Convention in 2008.

“We’d been on this for six days. We were a little punchy,” Southard said. “Frank drove us home. We took some side streets, and he wound up driving the wrong way down Eighth Avenue. We laughed about it the entire time. We laughed about it afterward. This is what he brought to the table.”

Acosta earned a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Regis University and a bachelor’s degree in management from National American University.

“He was able to create a special relationship with everyone he knew,” Dominico said. “I’ve had a chance to reflect about Frank and what he meant. He was sure to make your day better. When people from other city departments came by, one of their first stops was Frank’s office.”

“He’d want us to learn from his mistakes,” said the Rev. T.J. Roberts. “He’d want us to be OK after his passing. He is sending us love from the other side.”

At the conclusion of the hourlong service, the Brighton Police Department honor guard removed the flag from Acosta’s casket and presented it to his family. Survivors include his parents, Toney and Cleo; his wife, Kandy; a sister, Laura; children, Timothy and Michelle; grandchildren, Isaih, Jeremiah, Grace and Caleb; and nephew and niece, Tyler and Katelyn.

In reading from a family eulogy, Roberts said Acosta was with the angels “and I’m sure, you’re a boss of the angels.”

“We were so incredibly lucky for your love, your kindness, for making the most out of life,” Roberts read from the eulogy. “You will be missed dearly every day.”

“We shared laughs. We shared much heartache. But he always remained grounded,” Southard said. “This was a man who gave his all. He was definitely a person who could light up a room.”

“Frank’s importance to the city is clear,” Dominico said. “Frank loved his family fiercely. Each one of us is better for having known him.”

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quality protections is for Colorado to actually clean up the air we breathe.”

The new State Implementation Plan for ozone attainment that Polis highlighted in his original letter to the EPA acknowledges up front that Colorado can’t meet tighter 2015 standards by a 2024 deadline, noted Katherine Goff, a Northglenn City Council member and vice president of the communities coalition.

“There are enormous emissions sources that Colorado could clean up right now that would make a huge difference, but the proposed plan largely ignores them,” she said.

Suncor said on Sept. 28 it is working on a $36 million project to be ready to produce reformulated gas by the 2024 summer driving season, and that they have state health department approval. The Regional Air Quality Council estimates the new gas will reduce ozone-contributing emissions by 200 tons a year, Suncor said.

What the price differential will be is not clear, Suncor added, since much of it depends on how many other suppliers bring reformulated gas into the Front Range market. Suncor said it currently produces about

This story is from The Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver and covering the state. For more, and to support The Colorado Sun, visit coloradosun.com. The Colorado Sun is a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy, owner of Colorado Community Media.

Mesa Hotline School receives a donation to continue training line work

BY BELEN WARD BWARD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

For United Power, call it an investment in their future.

Mesa Hotline School received a $20,000 donation from United Power to help with the relocation fund, according to a news release. The Mesa Hotline School trains and educates line workers employed with municipal electric utilities, cooperatives and investor-owned utilities such as Xcel Energy — and United Power.

“The Mesa Hotline School has had a mutually benefi cial relationship with United Power for many years,” said Brent Sydow, United Power’s Vice President of Operations. “Working foremen from United Power have invested hundreds of hours at the school teaching courses to both young and experienced line workers, and our line workers and apprentices have received the highest level of training through the school’s programs and course selections.”

The school has to move and fi nd a new site due to commercial development at its current campus location in Grand Junction. United Power’s donation would help the school with about 20% of its relocation cost, according to offi cials.

The Mesa Hotline School was established at Mesa College in the 1960s upon the recommendation from two Western Slope electric cooperatives, Empire Electric and Yampa Valley. With expanding local cooperatives to meet the demands of a growing population, they needed a state-of-theart facility to train and educate line workers.

The school enrolled 59 students in its fi rst class in 1966. Since then, membership has expanded throughout the country from 15 members to about 80 electric utilities of all sizes, according to offi cials.

In 2022 about 600 line workers have enrolled in various programs trained by instructors, volunteers, and industry vendors with advanced tools and technology. The courses include underground and overhead equipment training, high tension stringing, and simulated high voltage training.

When the school begins to fi nd a new site, the utility members will help with assistance for relocation costs,

The Mesa Hotline School launched a fundraising campaign this summer to raise $100,000 to help with its next class in May 2023. To learn about the hotline school, visit: www.mesahotlineschool.com.

A line worker at work on the electric grid. These line workers are trained by the Mesa Hotline School.

COURTESY OF UNITED POWER