Posted on: March 1st, 2014

GOLD HILL TOWN MEETING NEWSLETTER

Minutes of the February 10, 2014, Town Meeting 

Next Town Meeting is Monday, April 14, 2014 7:30 p.m. at the Community Center

 The meeting was called to order by Chair Peter Swift.  Fifteen people attended: Steve & Pam Sherman, Lacey Story, Chrissy McCaul, Vice-Chair Bear Carlson, Rich Lopez (Chair of the Fire Board) Dan & Rebecca Gretz, Kurtis Leverentz, Dirk Arnold, Member-at-Large Tony Vrba, Treasurer Martha Knapp, Secretary Gretchen Diefenderfer, and Bobby Vrba.

Minutes – of the December meeting were approved as published.

Treasurer’s Report – Martha reports that we have a balance of $20,512.69.

A payment of $245 was made to the insurance company resulting in a new balance of $2,947.80 for the General Fund. A $50 donation via PayPal was transferred to the Fire Fund resulting in an increase of $48.25 for a total of $13,482.54.

All other accounts remained the same: Cemetery $3,110.21; Forest Management $275.22; Weed Management $526.70 and Safe Site $170.22. The total balance is $20,512.69.

See full report on the town website (goldhilltown.com) under Gold Hill Finances

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Community Planning/Trails, Historical Zoning, and Forest Management – no report

Fire Department – Gretchen reports that the official minutes are now available on the Fire Department website: goldhillfire.org.   Rich Lopez, Chair of the Fire Board, will report on a couple of issues under New Business.

Weed Management – no report

Historic Gold Hill – Gretchen reports that we’re working on the calendar for 2015 and still looking for contributions  (Have you always wanted to be published?) and counting on Chrissy to get us kids’ drawings, which she will do.

Mining – No activity has been seen.

Gold Hill School – Chrissy reports, “We’re doing great, the kids are doing great, the teachers are doing great!”  There are only 2 Fridays left in the ski program at Eldora.  Colorado Shakespeare Festival actors are coming to perform “Much Ado About Nothing” on Thursday and then do a workshop on bullying.  They’ve been wonderful and have come up before.  The school play is on the horizon, March 21^st, and Chrissy and Mishi are excited about having written it themselves this year.  This is the 140^th anniversary of the school, so there will be a party and fundraiser late in the year.  They didn’t try to fundraise very hard for the Fall Festival because everyone was so impacted by the flood, so they are short approximately ½ of the $9,000 they usually raise.  They are trying to track down alumni from past years to invite them to the celebration.  Open enrollment is happening and it sounds like there will be a big group of kindergartners next year.  There are 24 kids currently and three 5^th graders will be graduating.  Fundraising needs include supporting the general fund, which, at the current level of spending, will run out at the end of next year.  One priority is support in both classrooms, an increase of 5 hours.  The PTO supplements this expense.  They would really like another person for K-1-2 and this would be a full benefits position so it would be attractive.

OLD BUSINESS

Fire Fund and Relief Fund – The money in the Fire Fund was originally raised to support needs related to the 2010 Fourmile Fire.  At the last meeting, Tony made a motion to change the name to the Relief Fund in order to use the funds for community members with emergency needs no longer related to the fire, which was tabled.   Chrissy pointed out that there were not a lot of people here last meeting, but we generally agreed that the money was donated for emergency relief assistance, not to just sit on for 3+ years.  (We did distribute around $6,000 and spent some on mitigation and chipping).  Therefore we had tabled the motion until this meeting so that it would go out in the Newsletter and people could think about the idea.  Peter would like to appoint people to come up with how to structure distributions from the fund – for emergencies, disasters, extraordinary needs.  Bear pointed out that we need to start with the motion to repurpose and rename the Fire Fund.  Kurtis made the motion to change the name of the Fire Fund to the Gold Hill Relief Fund and to create a committee to create the structure and protocols for distributing funds.  Tony seconded, Bear called the question, and it passed unanimously.  Tony agreed to chair the committee as she had a number of years on a similar committee in the Navy.  Chrissy also pointed out that she had made a motion at the last meeting, which passed, to transfer $3000 from the Fire Fund for emergency needs (some needs have been reported to Peter and Gretchen), to be disbursed according to the protocols previously established.  This will be done.

Wi-Fi – Peter heard from Hugh Moore at the Store that he’d been approached by a company that is very active in Ned and Rollinsville for very high speed internet for not much money.  They’d need to put up a tower somewhere.   He’ll look into it further and report back.  Chrissy spoke with Verizon repairmen when we were having so many problems with our phone/internet service, and they said woodpeckers had caused some of the problems and they’ve replaced all kinds of stuff.

NEW BUSINESS

Toilet Facility at the Firebarn – Peter reported that he’d been to the Fire Board meeting and proposed several options including a Porta-Potti.  Dirk said that could cost $100/mo.  Rebecca said, “I don’t understand, if we are meeting in the Community Center that we all built, why we should have a problem using the bathroom.”  Peter pointed that somehow the building had been deeded exclusively to the Fire Department and there is a question of liability for people going through the barn.  Several options have been raised – a privy on top of the holding tank, an outside entrance to the bathroom that would not go through the barn, etc.  Peter then introduced Rich Lopez, Chair of the Fire Board, and directed the question to him.  Rich explained that he is the newest member of the Board of volunteers and just became Chair at the last meeting.  He is an attorney and lives in Lefthand.  The equipment is valuable and is insured and there is a consideration of liability with non fire department people going through the barn.  He assured us that the board would talk more about this issue.  It had been suggested that community meetings could be held at the school, but that turned out to be expensive when rented for the MERN (Mountain Emergency Radio Network – ham radio operators) training in January.

Other Fire Department Concerns – Rich went on to speak about the board and the election in May.  Most other Fire Boards are comprised of non-firefighters (being a firefighter and a board member can create an awkward situation at times) and he would like to encourage community members to volunteer for the Board, as he and Rick Geesaman are the only non-firefighters on the board right now.  He also reported on the last Board Meeting.  Several firefighters went out on missions with the flood.  He and Donal sat in on a FEMA meeting and filed two claims: 1. For overtime service and equipment use – they did receive around $4,000, and 2. For damage to the building – there are some voids under the floor.  Peter looked at them as a consultant, and that claim didn’t get accepted because of some pre-existing issues.  Last year there were 28 incidents and 36 the year before.  We have around 20 firefighters and about 10 are active – fortunately we have mutual aid agreements with our neighboring departments.  Response time is key and our client is the community, so we have an obligation to the community to provide the best emergency service we can.   Representatives from Fourmile, Sunshine, and Gold Hill met with a person who has advised other departments about consolidation issues.  Rich passed out a hand out on the perceived advantages and disadvantages of potential consolidation of the three departments (see my report on our website https://goldhilltown.com/ghfpd-board-meeting-2-20-14/).  Here is the list:

Greatest Concern/Worry for your Dept? 

Inadequate Response                                                Duplication – Costs, Time, Effort

Burnout of Key Players – real concern            Volunteer Retention – Recruitment

Sustainability                                                            Aging Residential Base/Demographics

Aging Fleet/Equipment                                    Unfunded Mandates

Resiliency – Large Incidents                                    Economy of Scale

Increasing: Demands, Complexities                        Risk Exposure

Equipment/Age/Maintenance                                    Training – just enough

Greatest Hope/Vision w/Consolidation

Ability to improve ISO Rating                         Replace Aging Fleet

Decreased Response Times                                    Increased Response Capability

Increased Political Power/Influence                        Unified Training & Equipment

Reduced Redundancy                                                Increased Efficiency

Dispatch Opportunities

Biggest Fear w/Consolidation

Changing Culture                                                Loss of Identity – FF

Loss of Role/Responsibility                                    Increased Responsibility

Increased Standards/Expectations

So, taxes might go up – we are the smallest department with the smallest mill levy and budget.  But response times could go down. Financially, we could put together resources for our budgets, could have greater manpower to draw from and could redesign response areas.  Purchasing and grant writing could be shared.  Chrissy summarized that change and fear of change, identity issues and the potential for a tax increase are the possible negatives.  Rich thought we might have the possibility for a mitigation crew up here.  Martha asked about merging with Indian Peaks – they were instrumental in saving our town during the fire and Rich thought we should consider them, too.  Steve questioned how the merger could help with response times and older firefighters.  Rich added that we have the smallest budget and the oldest equipment and it could mean the ability to draw from a larger pool.  The next Fire Board meeting is Feb. 20 at 7:00, here.

MERN (Mountain Emergency Radio Network) update – Peter reported that Deb Yeager had requested $150 for materials for the Safelink meeting on the 18^th.  Martha pointed out that they have $170.22 in the Gold Hill account and can draw on that.  The MERN class held on January 18 and 19 at the School required permission from BVSD, $26 to add a rider to the town liability insurance, and  $264 to rent the school.  Pam interjected congratulations to all who took the class and passed the test.  Chrissy filled out a volunteer form and so was not paid for her time to be there as a monitor although Lacey has received an email that there will be an additional cost for Chrissy’s time.  Peter requested a motion to pay the school rental and insurance.  Kurtis made the motion, it was seconded, and Bear added a friendly amendment that we agree to pay, but we should try to negotiate with BVSD about using the school without having to pay rent.  The school used to belong to the town and several people remembered that we had an agreement with BVSD after they took quiet title to the school that we would be able to use it for town functions rent-free.  Kurtis accepted the friendly amendment and it and the motion carried.  Gretchen, with Chrissy’s help will contact the powers that be at BVSD.

Our Gold Hill people who took the class now need radios to communicate with each other.  Some people have purchased radios and there are still few used old ones around.  Martha asked that the MERN people meet and put together a budget and request funds from the Gold Hill treasury.  It was clarified by Pam that Deb Yeager is the coordinator of Safelink (which includes Neighborlink – the telephone tree, and Safesite – the network of places that can take people in, in case of emergency) and Pam is the coordinator of Safesite.  MERN is under Safelink.  Steve Sherman, one of our new Ham radio people, will contact Joe Callahan of BCARES about radio availability and cost, etc.  Pam added that Chris Wilderman, security for BVSD, has offered to come up and talk to Emergency Services and can be our contact with OEM if we have to activate Safelink in an emergency.

Bake/Rummage Sale – Tony has been thinking about a date.  She will not be around the 3^rd weekend in September (when we usually have the Bake Sale), but could do it in August or September 6.  She’ll figure out a date with Brian Finn that we can use the Beer Garden.  We reassured her, as this will be her first time running it, that we will all help and it will work!

Respectfully submitted, Gretchen Diefenderfer, Secretary.