GOLD HILL TOWN MEETING NEWSLETTER
Minutes of the October 12, 2020, Town Meeting by Zoom

Next Town Meeting will be Monday, December 14, 2020, 7:00 P.M. by Zoom

The meeting was called to order by Chair Emma Dirolf. Nineteen people signed on: Emma, Vice Chair Marielle Sidell, Secretary Gretchen Diefenderfer, Treasurer Martha Knapp, Member-at-Large Dan Maedke, Chrissy Maedke, Deb Yeager, Rick Sheingold, Erich Gundlach, Lacey Storey, Virginia Schultz, Maya MacHamer from the Fourmile Watershed Coalition, Val Crist, Marcus Moench, Elisabeth Caspari, Anya Brown, Sarah O’Brien, Sam Bennett, and Mercury.

Minutes of the August meeting were approved as published.

Treasurer’s Report – Martha reports – At the previous regular Town Meeting in August 2020 our bank balance was $15,732.47. Our current total cash assets are $17,999.74.
Revenue Summary: General Fund donation $1,386 from Sands’ Moving Sale fundraiser, Cemetery Fund donations $200, Community Relief Fund online donation $48.25, Water Harvesting/Ag Education Grant $4,000, additional funding for COVID-19 Response Fund $1500 and return merchandise refund $219.
Expense Summary: COVID Response Fund $1461.78 for Food Bank expenses and $3,624.20 Cemetery shed construction and signage.

General Fund $4,036.71; Cemetery $3,065.65; Safe Link (combined funds for SafeSite, AirLink, NeighborLink projects) $2,466.79; Community Planning/Fundraising $0 (zero;) Fund transfers: none

Current fund totals:
Forest Management $0 (zero;) Community Relief $2,375.20; COVID-19 Response Fund $2,055.39; Water Harvesting/Ag Education Grant $4,000.
Anticipated expenses for 2020: General Fund $50.00 for porta-potty maintenance, estimated $300 for liability insurance and estimated $80 for cleanup dumpsters, should that occur this year.
Non-discrimination Statement – Marcus said that we need a non-discrimination statement in the bylaws, specifically to apply for grants. Here is what we came up with:
The Gold Hill Town Meeting, Inc., does not and shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender expression, age, citizenship status, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, political affiliation or military status, in any of its activities or operations. These activities include, but are not limited to, election of Town Council members, participation by any members of the Town Meeting area, selection of volunteers or vendors, or potential hiring and firing of any staff. We are committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment for all members of the Gold Hill Town Meeting, Inc., its partners, guests and attendees, volunteers, subcontractors and vendors.
Amending the bylaws is a two-step process. Amendments are brought up at a regular town meeting and voted on at the next regular meeting. We can finalize this statement at the December town meeting. If we change it, it will need to be finalized at the February meeting.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Mountain Stewards – Marcus reports on his discussion with Sarah Davis, County Consultant, on the Gold Hill energy study. They had planned a meeting with the Energy Commission, but decided to move to more vertical interactions by circulating a summary of their study findings, the history and proposed ways forward, then circulate their findings via town email list, Next Door, etc., Then they plan to hold discussion meetings before the report is due at the November 10 County Commissioners Meeting – possibly Zoom meetings, or get-togethers at the Store and/or one on one meetings with Dina, Virginia, Cat, Marcus, or Virginia. Short term goals are bulk purchases of heat pumps, etc., and paying for Energy Smart evaluations. The County has reserved some funds for implementation.
Forestry – Emma introduced Maya MacHamer of the Fourmile Watershed Group. In August Emma signed an MOU with 13 other groups on a shared vision to increase forest health and restoration and decrease fire hazards in the County. The Watershed Coalition applied for a grant for Caroline Ashley’s property and received $244,000 with a $100,000 match. The Ashram also received a $146,000 Natural Resource Conservation Center grant. Together this will be 180 acres of forest restoration and mitigation work. Multiple treatments will be employed – fuels mitigation in strategic areas, restoration of ecological habitat, encouraging aspen, and making some openings for wildlife encouraging diversity. This project should really help protect the Gold Hill area and the USFS has already asked where else they should figure out for the next project. This will probably start in June and go through the Fall. She would love to do an outreach meeting up here and maybe a field trip to explain the project and answer questions. The 180 acres consists of the area near Val’s and goes west to border around the Colorado Mountain Ranch and includes the Ashram – sort of L shaped. The goal is to provide a linked, complete area. They hope to have another race next year to help with the matching funds, which is the hardest part. The race last year was such a good beginning. They have momentum now, so we can start on Phase II before this one is finished up.
Virginia added that Wildfire Partners has a webinar Wednesday – a piece on mitigation, ember showers, etc. Gretchen will put out a town email. The County chipping program has had 350 participants in the mountain areas. The Sort Yard in Nederland is closing.
Everyone thanked Maya for her efforts on our behalf.
Gold Hill School – Chrissy reports that this is the third week of in-person classes after 5 weeks online. It’s going all right. They are off Mondays and meet T, W, Th, and Friday. They have 17 kids and another 8 online, so it’s a little tricky. They are wearing masks and can take mask breaks outside and for eating. Dan, as the custodian, is doing extensive cleaning. They’re looking at possibly school fundraising in the Spring. We’ll see how November and December go and follow County recommendations.
Chrissy also asked if the town wants to plan anything for Halloween – will have to follow Colorado guidelines – Covid19.colorado.gov/Halloween (covid19.colorado.gov is a good site to keep up with the State Guidelines as well as county by county). It is recommended to wrap treats individually and put your porch lights on if you want Trick or Treaters. So far, they are expecting this to be ok.
Museum – Deb reported that Marcus and Elisabeth have donated an old Weaver vehicle from their garage and the Museum is planning to create a community event to rebuild it to be a replica of the Bluebird bus that Tim Walter built and drove. It is a White Company chassis from sometime between 1916 and 1923. Last weekend several people moved it from Marcus and Elisabeth’s and parked it on the north side of Max’s garage. It is 16’ long and 7’wide. Tim reconfigured it as a bus with wooden seats. The license place is 1985 – Joe, Jr. drove it around. The plan is to begin work on it this spring. Anyone interested may join in the rebuilding project. It may be a static exhibit – not sure.
Marcus added that you can still turn the crank and the tires aren’t flat! They also found an old Gold Hill road sign in the garage. Deb has heard that our local Monkey Wrench Gang made signs to Gold Hill disappear along the Peak to Peak – Gretchen added Boulder Canyon signs as well.
Community Planning and Fundraising – Dan reported that he has a check for $217/pint glasses to get to Martha. He wants to make another purchase for the holidays. He moved to transfer $300 into Community Planning for this. Mari seconded it and all approved
Covid Relief Fund – Marcus reported that they received an extra $1500 from the Community Foundation. Aside from the grants to people, they have spent some of the money to support the Food Pantry. They also submitted a proposal a while ago for $4,000 for an environmental project involving a small water harvesting demonstration. They’re brainstorming how to involve the kids, where and how. This grant runs for a year so they have a while to figure it out.
Cemetery – No committee members were present, but we noticed from the Treasurer’s report that money has been spent for a new shed, and someone reported that yes, they’ve seen it.
Community Center – no report.
SafeLink – Deb reports that NeighborLink is in the process of revamping our phone/contact tree for emergency notifications. They want it to be as simple and direct as possible. She encourages people to form neighbor/friend groups to share contact and other information – especially in case of evacuation. Our community area is divided into the four directions – Deb is Old Town/South, Gretchen is East, Paul Roberts is South (the GH Subdivision), and Dina is west of town and we’ve set up circular communication between us. Our job is to make sure emergency information is communicated to everyone in the community, so each neighbor group should have a contact person for us to contact and to get back to us with a report about their group being informed. Then we can all touch base afterward as well, if need be. This is a work in progress. When it comes down to it, we may have to go door to door to contact new people we don’t know to explain this and see if they want to participate. We’ve sent out emails, but know some new people are not in the loop.
Virginia is working with Norm Skarstad in Lefthand, Val, and Amy down at the bottom of Lickskillet to include them.
Gretchen added that, when we were evacuated for the Fourmile Fire, it all worked organically to inform everyone because neighbors jumped to let everyone know. NeighborLink developed after that to organize better, and we’ve now added email addresses and expanded the list through the town website (goldhilltown.com) to stay in touch and we can send out emergency information and updates that way. Also, everyone can sign of for alerts through Everbridge – Boulder County’s reverse 9-1-1- through the Office of Emergency Management (boulderoem.com).
Val asked if we are certain we can contact new people/renters, etc., to be aware to join in. Deb said that they’ve been given Welcome Buckets with information about it, but we seem to need to follow up.
AirLink – no report, but Gretchen reported that several people were up recently working on the repeater up on the ridge. Deb added that they’re our back up if the phones are out. It’s a two-day course to become a Ham and if several people are interested they will get an instructor. Contact Dina Elder if you’re interested. There’s lots of online information, too. Rick suggested that we should have a map of the Hams so we know where our nearest one is. Emma said that she teaches GIS and can put together a map.
Deb will add Food Pantry information to the Welcome buckets.
Other Town News – Roads – Joanne Cole is our self-appointed bug-the-county person and wrote a letter to the Road Department regarding the condition of our roads, particularly Sunshine, which she sent to several of us. Their response is they’re trying to do the best they can with their manpower. – that they do work on our roads every week. The speed limit up here is 20 mph and speed creates washboard, so slowing down helps.
Weed Management – Gretchen said that, at this point, weed whack for fire mitigation.
Historic Zoning – no report
Fire Department – update from Leslie Finn – COVID tests are available in Nederland Thursdays and in Allenspark on Fridays. These are drive-through. There was a possibility of having it in Gold Hill, but most didn’t want it in town.
Rick added that there is also free testing at Stazio Field on 63rd Street.
The Nederland food pantry has asked if we’d like free flu shots.
Leslie will convey our concerns to Rebecca and we’ll see.
Mining – no report. Gretchen said it seems to be on hiatus now.
More Other News – Deb wanted to add that they will be combining the Wednesday and Monday Food Pantries to Monday only and will be meeting to discuss that. They will also be combining the volunteers and are working on logistics.
Weed management – Anya wanted to add that using Monsanto products up here kills bees. Chrissy reported that the School lost their whole observation hive – they all died. They don’t know exactly why. She would love for Gold Hill to be a Bee Safe community and encourages practices other than chemicals for weed control. Pam Sherman has been our weed guru and has lots of information on alternatives. Sarah added that there is also interest in Boulder County to look into Fire Retardent /Slurry and the possibility that ingredients in that could be destructive. Gretchen thought it was basically detergent with iron added for color, but Sarah didn’t think so. It was suggested that we get in touch with Maya with the fourmilewatershed@nullgmail.com because they did a water study and may know.
Respectfully submitted, Gretchen Diefenderfer, Secretary

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Happy Thanksgiving.