Posted on: October 30th, 2015

Gold Hill Town Meeting, Monday, October 12, 2015

Notes by Pam Sherman

 Next Meeting is Monday, December 14, 2015, 7:30 p.m. at the Community Center

Present: Martha Knapp, Bear Carlson, Peter Swift (cameo appearance), Chrissy McCaul, Dan Maedke, John Sand, Josh Kravetz (visitor presenter), Bobby Vrba, Pam Sherman

 Bear Carlson, vice chair, ran the meeting at the request of Peter Swift, chair, as Peter had a non-town-council emergency deadline to meet. Gretchen and Tony were out of town, so no business could officially be conducted, as a quorum of 3 out of the 5 council members is needed to do so.

Schmidt Property Purchase

Peter put in a cameo appearance to discuss the Schmidt property issue; there is a hearing tomorrow, October 13, at which the commissioners will decide about buying the property for the assessed amount of $458K. A motion was made by John Sand and unanimously approved, saying: “We highly encourage purchase of the Schmidt property by Boulder County Parks and Open Space, and we look forward to being an active partner in the development of all management plans pertaining to this property.”

Peter reported that land use official Sandra Duff asked if the town would like to donate funds toward this purchase, which has been done before with any other property POS has purchased. After discussion, it was agreed that the town did not have the bandwidth to donate any meaningful amount, that attempting to purchase “good faith” in this way was tenuous at best, and that individuals who had expressed interest in donating on an individual basis were encouraged to do so.

Peter will give this written motion to Sandra to read at the Commissioners’ hearing. It was requested that he ask Sandra why she had requested Gold Hill donate toward purchase.

ADDENDUM: The County Commissioners unanimously approved the purchase of the Schmidt property for open space as well as giving the town the approximately 1 acre of the Cemetery that was still part of the Schmidt parcel! Yay! The management plan will probably take 5 years or so, as they are behind on them, and they expressed that we will be involved. Sandra replied that the request for financial participation would be perceived as additional confirmation from the town, but that the decision was not hinging on it. G. Diefenderfer

Treasurer’s Report

Martha then gave the Treasurers’ Report, and it was officially accepted.

 At the previous Town Meeting in August our bank balance was $12,608.19. The current bank balance is $13,449.11. Funds held for us in trust at the Ward Church are $85.00 bringing our total cash assets (bank account and funds held in trust in Ward) to $13,534.11.

         Activity since August include expenses of $943.93 from the General Fund for an additional order of pint glasses, website renewal and postage for the newsletter mailings. Revenue of $1775.85 included $400 for the Cemetery Fund and $1375.85 for the General Fund from the annual Gold Rush event.

         Since Toni is not in attendance, here is a brief recap of the highly successful Gold Rush event in September. First of all, a huge thanks to all who contributed time, talent, and goods. Our net revenue of $1375 and some odd change included a generous donation of $162 from the artists (thank you!) and $155 from the donation jar. Revenue sources included sales from baked goods, rummage, t-shirts, pint glasses, and of course the ever-popular brats and beverages. A note from Toni: the baked good brought in the most money, so a big “thank you” to all the bakers. Everything went quickly. We’d love to see some pies included next year.

Current individual fund totals are as follows: General Fund $2105.58; Cemetery $4210.21; Community Relief $3,576.95 (includes monies held for us at the Ward Church;) Forest Management $94.12; Safe Link funds for SafeSite, AirLink, NeighborLink projects $3,547.25.

Peter then departed to work and we no longer had a quorum, but continued the meeting.

Gold Hill Gold Rush

Martha reported on behalf of Tony that the Gold Hill Gold Rush made $1375.00, most of it from baked goods. Pies are requested for next year; they sell well and we didn’t have any this year. The artists donated above and beyond paying for their space.

SafeLink has $3,547.

Josh Kravetz–Bicycle Rally

Visitor presenter Josh Kravetz is the Owner, Event Producer of Adventure Fit. (www.adventurefit.com) Josh is proposing to schedule a cycling rally, hoping for 1,000 cyclists. (Josh’s outfit currently runs an event in February called Old Man Winter Bike Rally, which featured 700 riders this past year, Feb 7.) This proposed rally, which would be called the Gold Rush Bike Rally, would take place next August (and perhaps annually.) It would be a sixty-mile course up Four Mile Canyon, through Gold Hill to the Switzerland Trail, then back down through Gold Hill and down Sunshine back to Boulder.

He was here to ask: Is this OK with Gold Hill? Is it okay that we have a rest stop here? The rally would be self-sufficient with portapotties, etc. Residents suggested he contact the Colorado Mountain Ranch, as they are the only place cyclists could stop and rest up here without congesting the narrow roads. Josh said that a ride of that magnitude would generate about $5,000 for charities; locals suggested the Ranch’s nonprofit for local kids, Mountain Summers.

Historic Zoning

Bear reported that Historic Zoning received an application from Larry Worster and Leslie DeGrassi to enlarge their cabin to the east; it was approved and construction will begin in the next six months.

Gold Hill School

Chrissy reported GHS this year has 26 kids.

School district elections are upcoming. Chrissy shared cards with the Teachers’ Union Boulder Valley Education Association’s 2015 School Board Election Recommended Candidates (McCloskey, Gebhardt, Fuqua, Garcia). Voters can vote for all, not just the candidate from their district.

All BVSD elementary schools are expected to move next year to a seven-hour school day. The GHS has been on a 6.5 hour day. The anticipated school schedule will be: 7:45 to 2:45. Currently it is 8:30 to 3. This will likely impact the Climb schedule.

FALL FIESTA IS NOVEMBER 11!!! Get your dinner and raffle tickets now!!!

The school has aspirations for a garden project. They were gifted a greenhouse, and are currently working on plans for construction.

The school is going Friday to extract honey from their bees at Black Cat Farm. A limited supply of honey will soon be for sale.

Fire Department

Bobby Vrba reported that the Gold Hill Fire Department regularly goes with a Sheriff’s Deputy to put out campfires left smoldering by (flatland) campers who don’t realize they haven’t put the fire all the way out. The last one took SEVENTY-FIVE gallons of water to put out. One previous camping party, consisting of 16 girls and 1 guy, cost one of the young ladies $500.00 to argue persistently with the Sheriff’s Deputy against the fire ban.

Safelink

Pam Sherman reported that the Peak to Peak Human Services Committee, under the IMA, applies to Gold Hill, too, so would like to know who here needs what kind of human services. To respond, contact Amy Hardy, Chair. AHardy@nullunitedwayfoothills.org

Respectfully Submitted,

Pamela Sherman  (for Town Secretary Gretchen Diefenderfer)