Posted on: January 28th, 2012

GOLD HILL TOWN MEETING NEWSLETTER

Minutes of the December 12, 2011 Town Meeting

Next Town Meeting is Monday, February 13, 7:30 p.m. at the Community Center.

 

The meeting was called to order by Chair Amy Hardy.  Nine people attended: Michael Albes, Cherry & Vice-Chair John Sand, Member at Large Debra Yeager, Susan Fernalld, Marie Brookhart, Chrissy McCaul, Chair Amy, and Secretary Gretchen Diefenderfer.

 

Minutes – Kris Gibson emailed a request to amend the last minutes from “She thinks it would help us get state and federal grants and help property owners with their own mitigation” to “She believes the County CWPP could help the County access state and federal grants and also help County property owners with their own mitigation.”  Minutes were approved as amended.

 

Treasurer’s Report – Amy read Adriana’s report in her absence.  We have a total of $23,814.62 in our account.

Fire fund                        15,898.32                        Cemetery Fund                        3,562.21

General Fund                          3,627.66                        Community Planning                                 82.00

Forest Management                   75.22                        Weed Mgmt                                       526.70

Historic Zoning                  11.23                        Trails                                                     31.29

 

For 2011, Town expenditures were classified at follows

Webhosting                        486.96

Taxes                                    357.69 (some of which were late fees which were                                                                                     refunded – actual tax filing fees were 75.00.)

Insurance                        771.00

 

Estimated Annual expenses for 2012 total: ~$1,615. Not included in expected annual expenses total were 2011 variable expenses of 373.23 for chipping, purchase of town warning signs, and check purchase.

 

Susan added that the checks to reimburse people for participating in the County Chipping Grant have not gone out yet and so are not in the above totals.  The County is reimbursing 40% of total expenses up to $10,000 (or $4,000) and the Town is matching 30% (or $3,000).  Since people’s expenses were approximately twice the 10,000 to be matched, people will be getting approximately 35% reimbursement, which includes both the County and the Town matching amounts.  Explanations will be sent out with the checks, which are going out soon.

 

Historical Zoning – Cherry reports that the Historic Preservation Advisory Board of Boulder County (HPAB) called a meeting regarding the Brookhart’s addition to their little cabin.  A stop work order had been issued (a 60 day hold) and Don and Marie were requested to get together with an architect in order to come up with a design that preserves the appearance of the old cabin.   It turns out that, in Gold Hill, the HPAB considers anything over 50 years old worth preserving.  Boulder County values Gold Hill mightily as one of the oldest metal mining towns in Colorado.  They think the town is a gem, and so do we, but as Cherry points out that we also need to be comfortable in our homes.  The County would like Brookhart’s to be Historically Landmarked, but the Brookharts aren’t interested.  Marie reports that their architect has met with Denise Grimm at the County – discussion is ongoing.  Marie said they certainly appreciated the support of the Community in signing their petition.  Cherry added that the County advocates for repair versus replacement and almost any repair or addition to an existing building requires a building permit from the County.

Amy inquired about how much the town and/or HZ can advocate for people’s plans.  It remains a question.

 

Forest Mgmt/CWPP – Kris Gibson submitted an email report.  Front Range Roundtable and Western Boulder Community Healthy Forest Initiative (HFI) partnership update, PHEW WHAT A MOUTHFUL!

http://www.frontrangeroundtable.org/Home_Page.php

For the purposes of the Town Meeting updates, this partnership will replace CWPP updates…as the RT/HFI partnership will be focusing on treatment areas described in our CWPP and other concerns identified by the RT and the HFI.

A reminder of what the Roundtable is, The mission of the Roundtable is:

To serve as a focal point for diverse stakeholder input into efforts to reduce wildland fire             risks and improve forest health through sustained fuels treatment along the Colorado             Front Range.

Roundtable/WBCHFI is a partnership between the Roundtable member organization representatives and the Roundtable’s second demonstration community comprised of Gold Hill, Sunshine, Lefthand, Boulder Rural and Coal Creek.  Boulder Mountain has decided to leave the HFI.

The Roundtable currently is coordinated around working groups: Biomass Utilization & Slash Sites, Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program, Implementation & Mapping, Outreach & Policy, Science & Monitoring.

Things have gotten off to a slower start than both the Roundtable and the HFI planned.  The HFI has created an organizational structure and described the duties of the positions and chosen a fiscal agent to run funds through.  It is hoped that with this task completed the Roundtable can proceed with their work to garner grants for the HFI.  Specifically there is a grant opening up in January 2012.  It is not clear at this time the focus of the grant.

 

Fire Department – Gretchen reports that the GHFPD will be putting their official minutes on their website, and the GHTM will put a link to that site on our website.

There ensued a long discussion about communications between the Fire Board and the Town and how to improve them, the history of the building of the Firebarn and Community Center by the Town, etc.  Gretchen stated that she believes the more communication the better (which is why she started the Newsletter in the beginning) and that is why she has been reporting on the Fire Board meetings and has sometimes asked others to report if she cannot make a meeting.   Amy wanted to state that she respects the boundaries between the FD and the Town Meeting.  Dave Sturtz puts out the official FB minutes and will send them to anyone who requests them.   Contact dave@nullsturtz.org

 

Weed Management – Susan reports that it is time to send in your applications for seedling trees to the CU Extension-Gilpin County.  You can email them at

extension@nullgilpin.co.us.co to request a form.  Find more info at csfs.colostate.edu or see the Buyers Guide: csfs.colostate/pages/buying-trees.html.  She advises ordering from Gilpin County because of our altitude.

 

Gold Hill School – Chrissy thanked everyone for their support at the Fall Fiesta.  They did quite well,  >$10,000 before expenses.  With proposition 3A passing, they were hoping all the Student Resource Allocation (SRA) funding would be restored, but it was only partly restored.  They are trying to go back and request more.  They did get money from the Fire Fund and this will carry them through this school year.  And the PTO is doing quite well.

Regarding rental of the school building, if Chrissy or Sue is there, we can definitely use it.  If not, there are some fees associated with it and forms to fill out.

There are no new windows yet, they think they’re still coming – possibly the community can have the old windows – she’s not sure.

 

Insurance Bill – Amy reported that, in the wake of difficulties encountered after the Fourmile Fire, Senator Nicholson and Representative Levy are sponsoring bills to improve Insurance Companies response and Homeowner’s Protection.  They are asking for our support.

 

Emergency Preparedness – Amy also reported that the Gold Hill Community received an award for improving emergency preparedness (and we got a nice plaque).  This is the result of the Mountain Mayors Meeting, which includes Ward, Nederland, Lyons (and maybe more?), which is credited with setting standards for how to deal with emergencies, including improving communications, providing places for evacuees to go, and mutual cooperation.  Also, the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) has received funds to provide 6×6 tuff sheds full of equipment: medical supplies, a generator, cots, blankets, etc, and we will be getting one in Gold Hill.

 

Welcome Wagon – Deb intends to pursue the effort begun by Lisa McConnell to put together information, etc. for newcomers to town.  After the first of the year, she wants to get a group together to work on this.  Anyone interested, please contact Deb.

Also, she wanted to report that we have a lot of new babies in town: Aiden, Jett, Japhe, and Samantha.

 

Historical Zoning – John wanted to report that he, Bear, and Peter Swift have worked on a mission statement and will be continuing work on revising the guidelines.

 

Painting the Floor – Michael reports that we need to re-paint the floor.  He thinks it was last done in ’78 when he did it along with finishing off the upstairs for the Community Center.  And it was also suggested that we need to affix our award to the wall.  It was suggested that we pay professionals to do it, but John volunteered to organize volunteers and get expert advice for the project.  It was moved, seconded and approved that we fund the expense of paint and supplies for volunteers to refinish the Community Center floor up to $200.00, pending approval from the Fire Board.

 

Respectfully submitted,  Gretchen Diefenderfer, Secretary