Posted on: November 25th, 2013

GOLD HILL TOWN MEETING NEWSLETTER

Minutes of the October 14, 2013, Town Meeting

 

Next Town Meeting is Monday, December 9, 2013, 7:30 p.m. at the Community Center.

 

The meeting was called to order by Vice-Chair Bear Carlson in Peter Swift’s absence, but Peter arrived soon to serve as Chair.  Ten people attended: Vice-Chair Bear Carlson, Treasurer Martha Knapp, Tony Vrba, Debra Yeager, Michael Albes, John Sand, Bobby Vrba, Mary Ryan, Secretary Gretchen Diefenderfer, and Chair Peter Swift.

 

Minutes – The August 12 minutes were approved as published.

 

Treasurer’s Report – Martha Knapp is our new treasurer.  Per the by-laws, the council members conferred to fill the vacancy left because Adriana Galue moved to Ward, and we appointed Martha.  Thanks to Martha for agreeing to take this on!

Our balance is $20,366.26.  For a complete accounting, go to the town website (goldhilltown.com) and click on Gold Hill Finances on the left.

 

ACCOUNT BALANCES           

Account            Beginning            Deposits            Expenses            Ending

General Fund         $3,244.65           $31.00           $447.29           $2,828.36

Cemetery Fund         $3,110.21                             $3,110.21

Fire Fund         $13,331.03                             $13,331.03

Community Planning         $82.00                             $82.00

Forest Management         $75.22           $200.00                    $275.22

Weed Management         $526.70                             $526.70

Historic Zone         $11.23                             $11.23

Trails         $31.29                             $31.29

Safe Site         $170.22                             $170.22

TOTAL         $20,582.55           $200.00           $447.29           $20,366.26

 

The $200 deposit is a generous donation from people who got married up here and wanted to contribute to helping plant trees.

A discussion ensued about accounts that have not been used for some years, which culminated in John Sand making a motion to zero out Community Planning, Historical Zoning, and Trails and add the money back into the General Fund.   Any Town Committee can always request funds from the Town meeting again if they are needed.  The motion passed.

 

COMMITTEE REPORTS

 

Community Planning – no report

 

Historical Zoning – Bear reported that the Sturtz plans for an addition to their small building were approved, with a few changes by HZ, and submitted to the County.

 

Forest Management – Susan Fernalld sent word that November is the time to order low cost trees (in order to maximize the $200 that we have been donated) from the State. Bear moved, Deb seconded, and it was approved that a committee be formed to work on this and Susan, as our Weed Management Committee Chair, Cheryl Warner, and Gretchen volunteered to help.  Susan also reported that before the fire a town crew planted 90 aspen near Hugh’s, and one aspen is still alive plus a handful of volunteer pine trees.

 

Fire Department – In the public input period at the beginning of the September GH Fire Board meeting, Gretchen reported that she reminded the board that they had said they would publish the FB minutes on their website (goldhillfire.org) and this has not happened yet.  Dave Sturtz said that he would see to it and Donal reaffirmed that it is the duty of the FB to communicate effectively with the community.  They are working to establish a location for a dry hydrant in Lefthand near Rowena.  There was quite a discussion of communications difficulties during the flood because of the loss of electricity.  Donal thinks it is a priority for the FD to work on finding solutions.  All the departments are operating outside their district lines because of many departments being unable to get to areas in their districts because of destroyed roads.

 

Weed Management – no report

 

Historic Gold Hill – 2014 Calendars are for sale at the Gold Hill Inn, and the Gold Hill General Store.

 

Mining – Gretchen reports only that she has seen some vehicles up at the mill and heard that there may be new investors.

 

Gold Hill School – Deb reports that the Fall Fiesta is coming right up.  Also, the kids held an impromptu bake sale while all the flood-diverted traffic was going through Gold Hill and raised an amazing amount of money, something like $2300, for the Jamestown School.

 

OLD BUSINESS

Bake/Rummage/Craft Sale – Deb reports that it’s been decided to postpone it until next year because of all the traffic, road damage, overwhelm and trauma from the flood.  The Town Meeting has sufficient funds to get through.  We’ve talked about possibly doing 2 next year, one in the Spring, maybe coordinating with the Spring Clean-up, and one in the fall at the regular time.  John Sand did purchase some brats and will need to be reimbursed.  Deb has them in her freezer for later.

 

NEW BUSINESS

 

Fundraising for Jamestown/Salina, etc.  Deb reports that we’ve talked about lots of ideas to raise money for flood victims as well as a party just to feed them and encourage them.  She has been talking with JoJo Morrison about maybe using the Ranch and reimbursing them for the use of the space – more to come later on this.  Martha raised the idea of changing the PayPal button on the town website to have donations go for flood relief  (vs. for the aftermath from our fire, which is much less of an issue now than the flood).  Gretchen will look into this.

 

Communications – Peter reported on the discussion at the Fire Board meeting about the need for better communications during emergencies.  For 2 or 3 days after the flood, people in town still did not have reliable information about what was going on where.

Some ideas that were raised included satellite phones, which are apparently expensive, and training more ham radio operators – we need more in Gold Hill and Peter will look into how to get this rolling.  We do have Dave Sturtz, but his first priority is as a firefighter, and John Sand, but he’s gone to Arizona for half the year.

 

Proposed County Regulations – Peter reports that some of the regulations proposed for rebuilding after the flood are very confusing and maybe draconian in some cases.  He will pursue this, particularly with the IMA (Inter-Mountain Alliance).

 

Septic Systems and Boulder County Health Dept. – Peter reports this issue is on hold right now because the County is overwhelmed with the flood.  He has sent off a 3 page report to Iris in the Health Dept. on the meeting that several townspeople, including Peter, Max and Jack Laughlin had with the County in August.

 

Transportation/Traffic issues -Tom Sloan was looking into getting us a solar operated speed sign, but that’s on hold right now, too.  We’ll put it on the agenda for the next Town Meeting to see if people think it’s a good idea.

 

Respectfully submitted, Gretchen Diefenderfer, Secretary.