Posted on: May 24th, 2015

GOLD HILL TOWN MEETING NEWSLETTER

Minutes of the April 13, 2015, Town Meeting

 

Next Town Meeting is Monday, June 8, 2015, 7:30 p.m. at the Community Center.

 

The meeting was called to order by Chair Peter Swift. Twelve people attended: Chrissy McCaul, Rick Sinner, David Brigham, Debra Yeager, Steve and Pam Sherman, Erich Gundlach, Treasurer Martha Knapp, Vice Chair Bear Carlson, Peter, Mary Ryan, and Secretary Gretchen Diefenderfer.

Minutes – were approved as published.

Treasurer’s Report – Martha reports:

At the previous Town Meeting in February our bank balance was $14,193.59. Since then, $1687.33 was disbursed from the General Fund for propane tank disposal, t-shirt/towels, report filings, property tax, domain renewal and a portable toilet. The current bank balance is $12,506.26. Funds held for us at the Ward Church are now $85.00 following distributions of $880. Our total cash assets (bank account and funds held in trust in Ward) are $12,591.26.

Current individual fund totals are as follows:

General Fund is currently $1,762.73; the Community Relief Fund is $3576.95 including monies held for us at the Ward Church. All other dedicated funds remain the same: Cemetery at $3610.21; Forest Management $94.12; and Safe Link $3,547.25.

Community Planning/Trails, Historical Zoning, Forest Mgmt/CWPP, and Fire Deparment – no reports

Weed Management – Pam has assembled a great group of helpers and will have a presentation for the next town meeting. There was a discussion about renaming the weed committee because it has a broader focus than just weeds, but we stayed with Weed Management Committee.

Historic Gold Hill – Gretchen reports that they’re shooting for having the 2016 calendar out by Memorial Day.

Mining – Gretchen reports that the Mill has a mining engineer named Dwight who gets a high recommendation from Gordon Sweeney, who has been associated with the Mill for some time. They are working on permitting, etc.

Gold Hill School – Chrissy reports:

Thank you to our neighbors for attending our performance of, Robin Hood and the Merry Ladies: Fight for Your Right to Make Merry! This Gold Hill School original production was an instant classic. Written by Chrissy, Mishie and Jojo, the tale follows the female Robin Hood and her band, the Merry Ladies, as they fight against Prince John and the sheriff for free speech and equality. Set to the music of Motown, this Robin Hood mash-up was nothing but fun from start to finish. As we prepared for the production, our fantastic music teacher, MJ, helped to weave together the music and the historical timeline for the students, helping them to discover the power and importance of Motown. Many thanks to the entire community for continuing to support our theatre program through your generous Fall Fiesta donations.

April and May: Westward Expansion & Native Americans:

All of our students have been studying Native American cultures and history for months. Now, with the historical stage set, in the last two months of school, the 345 class is studying US Westward Expansion. As part of the experience, the older students will be participating in a week-long Mountain Man Camp and Rendezvous here at the school. This will include various workshops in primitive living skills, used by the early 19^th Century trappers and traders. On Wed. May 13^th, all the students will be headed off to the Woodbine Ecology Center to spend the day studying Native American ecological practices. This field trip has been generously paid for through a grant from Target. On Thursday, May 14^th at 2:00, the 345 class will put on their final classroom play of the year, a musical entitled, The Incredible Westward Movement. The community is welcome to attend. Finally, in mid-May, the 345 class is headed out for our annual camping trip! As the perfect supplement to the Native American/Westward Expansion curriculum, we will be headed to SE CO to the Comanche Grasslands. On the way we will be stopping by Bent’s Fort. We’ll spend the week exploring the canyons and grasslands, fishing, hiking, hunting for petroglyphs and visiting a buffalo ranch. Again, thank you to the community for your financial support of this important school tradition.

Riparian Studies: This month brings the exciting culmination of our year-long riparian ecosystem study. We are now learning about the life in our local waterways. Funded through grants from Impact on Education, Colorado Department of Education and Toshiba, along with the generous support of Rocky Mountain Anglers, Umpqua, and Redington, we’ve been able to create a dynamic and exciting course of study for the students. Our art room has been transformed into the Magical Macroinvertebrate Riparian Room of Science! In this room, we currently have ten aquaria for raising fish and local riparian insects. We ordered dragonfly, damselfly and mayfly nymphs, as well as caddis fly larvae, and are currently raising them in these tanks. Our favorite tank is a beautiful new river tank, complete with three Brown Rainbow Trout collected from Lilies Hatchery in Boulder! We welcome community members to swing by and check out the aquaria! Meanwhile, the students are learning all about lifecycles, behavior, classification and river health, singing and creating beautiful art, all relating to our lovely rivers. As part of the study of lifecycles and as a means of artistic expression, the students are learning to tie flies and to fly fish! Rocky Mountain Anglers has gone above and beyond any reasonable level of expectation to bring this exciting program to our children. We cannot thank them enough for their incredible generosity. If you ever make it into their store, please say an extra thank you on our community’s behalf. As the school year winds down, we are looking forward to four Riparian Adventure Days. We’ll be headed to the Fenn for insect collecting and water testing, followed by Boulder Creek, Red Rock Lake and Los Logos Lakes for more of the same, plus fly fishing, as well as guidance and presentations from Rocky Mountain Anglers, Tenkara, Umpqua, CU’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research and Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Special thanks to Rick Geeseman for inviting us to the private Los Logos Lakes and for his volunteerism! If you’re interested in joining us for some fishing or fly tying, let us know!

In Other News: Arch Fundrasier:

We are working out the final details of an Arch Thrift Store fundraiser that will take place at the school during the month of May. On a couple of select dates, community members may bring their gently used items to the Gold Hill School. Arch will bring a truck up for collection, and the school will receive money, based on the quantity collected. More details to come.

Graduation & Enrollment: On Friday, May 29^th, the last day of school, we will be graduating five incredible fifth graders: Jack & Samantha Lansky, Kunzang Lhatso-Suppan, Zhi Cohen and Skylee Barry. All five of these students have been at the school since kindergarten or first grade. Our hearts break to see them leave, but we look forward to following their journeys off to Casey & Nederland, and beyond. If you see any of these children, please wish them well! We are looking forward to celebrating their graduation with the annual teacher-graduate dinner, generously provided by the Gold Hill Inn! This is a very old and special tradition for our school, and we are so grateful for this gift.

The Gold Hill School has a very full roster for our next school year. At this point, any child wanting to enroll that does not live in the immediate neighborhood will be placed on a waiting list. Any local families that plan to enroll for kindergarten next year are asked to submit the paperwork as soon as possible. We are hosting a kindergarten playdate on Saturday, May 23^rd.

Thank you, Chrissy, Mishie & Jojo  720-561-5940

SafeLink – Debra reports that Theresa is moving to Nederland and Tony Vrba will take over her Neighborlink group in SOGO (South Gold Hill – formerly known as the Gold Run Subdivision), but she will need to be replaced on the Town Council. Deb is willing to do this if no one else is.

AirLink – Steve reported that there was a work party to secure and improve the repeater, which is working well.

OLD BUSINESS

 501(c)3 to 501(c)4 – Gretchen reports that she has submitted the Amended Articles of Incorporation to the State and the next step is to complete the 26 page IRS form, which is the citical requirement to make the change.

Porta-Potti – Bear reports that we are now the proud owners of a portable toilet. Hillary at Aeropure is holding it for us and it has been paid for. Bear is in communication with Rich Lopez, Chair of the Fire Board, and they will share the cost with us. Rich is drafting a license agreement – protocols, rules, etc. between the Fire Board and the Town Meeting. The Board is insisting that the SafeSite Shed be moved before the portable toilet can be installed.

Peter added that he had written a report on ground water and movement of the fire barn cement slab, the culvert, etc. and will have that by the next Town Meeting. Chrissy will check to see if there is room for the shed at the school (update: there is not enough room). Martha will make sure Matt Legg, who is working on her project, moves the dirt on the south side of the barn, where we understand the shed can go.

 

NEW BUSINESS –

Code Violation Report – Peter brought up that some unknown person reported Nathan Hassellbauer, 601 Gold Run Street, to the County for working on the house without a permit, resulting in a stop work order. He apparently had not spoken with Historical Zoning either. This unfortunate man committed suicide shortly thereafter and Peter strongly expressed his upset that someone would go to the authorities rather than speaking with the person and that this might have contributed; that it was possible, but not probable.  It was reported that he had spoken with Michelle and she had told him about the Historical Zoning process and the building department, but he had not followed through on that. Martha added that the welcome buckets have information to let people know about Historical Zoning and that it is here to help people go through the process. Dave Brigham agreed that we should speak with our neighbors before resorting to the authorities. Gretchen added that it has come up in many contexts (barking dogs, etc.) over the years that we should speak with our neighbors first. Several others also expressed that the more we communicate with each other the better, but we cannot blame the reporting for Mr. Hasselbauer’s death.

There is now a family member named Tom working on the house for the family and he will be working with HZ and the Building Department.

The consensus was that we need to think and act like a neighborly community. Resorting to the authorities should be a last resort.

 

Preparedness – There is now a committee to address future emergencies. Erich, a scientist who has worked for FEMA, reported that the purpose is to listen to people and come up with a written plan/document. What are our resources? What concerns do we need to address? Planning is a process and it is just beginning.  There are several sub-groups, including a survey group, which has already put out one survey. It was suggested that this group might consider coordinating with NeighborLink. They are also looking at the boundaries – how far out do we go, etc. There will need to be an internal discussion about how formal this Emergency Preparedness group wants to be.

Sheriff’s Department Sand Table – Peter reports that this is a table top demonstration in 3D that includes topography, vegetation, forests, roads, etc. They can set up a real time fire scenario including wind, humidity, temperature data and show what a fire would likely do and what the impacts of mitigation might accomplish. It’s highly educational and a number of people expressed interest in going to see it. Peter will check with Jay Stallnaker about some dates (it was decided that the noon hour would probably be a good time of day) and send out an email.

Potential Sale of the south side of the Town Meadow – David Brigham has found out that Rick Schmidt and his family are preparing to sell the old Sosnowski property including Rancho Fazoo and the south approximately 1/3 of the Town Meadow (52 acres?). It is not listed yet. Martha added that she thinks they own a small portion of the town cemetery as well. Dave has been talking to Frank Schmidt and has also talked to Open Space to see if they have an interest.

Dave suggested that the Town should consider encouraging Open Space to acquire this property, as the Town doesn’t have the resources. After some very positive discussion, Bear moved that we write a letter strongly supporting this.   Steve Seconded and it passed unanimously. Dave will draft the letter and submit it to Peter and the Council to be signed and sent.

Town Clean-up – Gretchen reported that the Spring Clean-up has been scheduled for Sunday, June 7 – details to follow. She does know that the County is focusing on Diversion (rather than the landfill) this year, so if we want a dumpster(s) for trash, we will have to pay for it. It was decided that we need at least one trash dumpster and will pay for it and collect fees to cover the cost.

Respectfully submitted, Gretchen Diefenderfer, Secretary.