Posted on: November 25th, 2018

GOLD HILL TOWN MEETING NEWSLETTER

Minutes of the October 8, 2018 Town Meeting

 Next Town Meeting is Monday, December 10, 7:00 p.m. at the Community Center

 The meeting was called to order by Chair Tony Vrba. Twelve people attended: Poppy Copeland, Bear Carlson, Vice Chair Marielle Sidell, Treasurer Martha Knapp, Val Crist, Debra Yeager, Member at Large Dan Maedke, Karen Simmons, Dina Elder, Tony Vrba, Maggie Simms, and Secretary Gretchen Diefenderfer.

Minutes of the August 13 Town Meeting – were approved as amended with DebYeager’s Historic Gold Hill report: Debra mentioned that we were wrapping up the year on Labor Day and that it was a good year.

Treasurer’s Report – Martha reports

At the previous regular Town Meeting in AUGUST 2018 our bank balance was $13,608.71 Our current total cash assets are $15,365.22. Revenue since June includes cemetery fund donations and Gold Rush revenue. Expenses include advance for Gold Rush expenses and a new porta-john lock.

Current earmarked fund totals are as follows:

General Fund $2,405.74; Cemetery $7,221.78; Community Relief $2,326.95; Forest Management $0 (zero;) Safe Link (combined funds for SafeSite, AirLink, NeighborLink projects) $3,410.75; Community Planning/Fundraising $0 (zero.)

 

Community Center Update – Peter Swift was not here, but there is a meeting on Thursday, October 18 at the Architectural School in Denver for the students to present their design ideas and Gretchen will put out a notice.

Proposed Bylaw changes – Tony presented the proposed changes and we voted on them each individually.  They will then be presented for final approval at the next meeting.  To see the entire bylaws as they stand right now, go to https://goldhilltown.com/bylaws-and-proposed-changes/

Bylaws  – changes as approved at this October 8^thmeeting are printed in red

Article I

Name, Purpose, and Mailing address

Section 1, Name: The name of this organization shall be the Gold Hill Town Meeting, Inc. (GHTM).

Bear moved for approval, Val seconded and the motion passed.

 

Article III

Members Meetings

 

Present language 

Section 4, Written notice: Written notice of all members’ meetings shall be delivered to members residing locally and sent by U.S. Mail to members who do not reside locally at least two weeks prior to all regular, annual, and special meetings.

 

 

Proposed change (in red)

 Section 4, Written notice:  Written notice of all member’s meetings shall be posted to the website, emailed to all members, and sent by U.S. Mail to those who request them at least two weeks prior to all regular, annual, and special meetings.

            Val moved that we approve, Bear seconded, and the motion passed.

 Proposed addition to Article III Members Meeting, after Section 2, Annual meetings

 Insert as – Section 3, Budget Meeting: The annual budget meeting of the Gold Hill Town Meeting, Inc. shall be held annually at the October Town Meeting. The GHTM Treasurer shall submit estimated income and expenses for the following year.  Requests for funding from the general fund may be made by the various Committees or any constituency of the GHTM at this meeting, and at any regularly scheduled meeting. 

           Martha moved for approval, Maggie seconded, and the motion passed.

Change the present Section 3 to 4 and change section 4 to 5 to accommodate for the inclusion of the new Section 3.

 Article IV

Town Council

 Present Language

 Section 2, Eligibility: The Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer must be a year-round resident defined as an individual who has lived within the bounds of the Gold Hill Town Meeting area at least nine consecutive months prior to the election.  All five council members shall be a minimum of 21 years of age.

Proposed change(in red – only the age from 21 to 18)

 Section 2, Eligibility: The Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer must be a year-round resident defined as an individual who has lived within the bounds of the Gold Hill Town Meeting area at least nine consecutive months prior to the election.  All five council members shall be a minimum of 18 years of age.

Bear moved for approval, Maggie seconded, and the motion passed.

Article V

Committees

 Proposed addition to Article V

Section 3, Cemetery Committee: 

Before the Gold Hill Town Meeting incorporated, the Cemetery Committee existed independently.  The Cemetery Committee shall remain autonomous in expenditures from its funds.

Maggie moved for approval, Val seconded and the motion passed with one opposed.

Change the present Section 3 to Section 4 to accommodate for the inclusion of the new Section 3

Article IV Town Council

Present language

Section 4, Removal: Any council member may be removed according to the following procedure:

1. At a regularly scheduled meeting, where a quorum is present, the removal of a council member may be proposed by a simple majority of those members present.
2. The proposed removal of a council member must be included with the minutes of the meeting and distributed to the members at least two weeks prior to the next regularly scheduled meeting.
3. At the next regularly scheduled meeting, the council member may be removed by a majority vote of the Gold Hill Town Meeting.

 Proposed change is to eliminate the term “regularly” in order for the removal to be possible at special meetings, in case this seemed necessary

 Section 4, Removal: Any council member may be removed according to the following procedure:

1. At a scheduled meeting, where a quorum is present, the removal of a council member may be proposed by a simple majority of those members present.
2. The proposed removal of a council member must be included with the minutes of the meeting and distributed to the members at least two weeks prior to the next scheduled meeting.
3. At the next scheduled meeting, the council member may be removed by a majority vote of the Gold Hill Town Meeting.

Bear moved for approval, Maggie seconded, and the motion passed.

 Present language for the boundaries

 Article II

Membership

Section 1, Eligibility: Those residing in the following area are members and may vote at town meetings, provided they fulfill the voting requirements set forth in Article II, Section 2, Qualification.   This area to be described as the territory within these lines: On the north from the junction of Left Hand Creek and Lickskillit eastward to Snowbound, south to Bighorn Mountain, southwest to Monument Hill, west to Oxbow curve on the Mt. Alto Road, north to Left Hand Creek, and east to the starting point, this area to exclude Summerville.

See the present map on the town website (goldhilltown.com) under http://goldhilltown.com/what-it-is/

 

Gretchen reported that the committee considered options to the present boundaries because they don’t include many people who regard Gold Hill as their town.  Many are adjacent to our present boundaries, but no homes were built there at the time the original boundaries were drawn up.

Tony suggested that we adopt the Gold Hill Fire Protection District map. Bear pointed out that we have no power to impose anything on anyone – it’s an inclusivity issue.   Gretchen added that many people who belong to the Fire Protection District would like to be included.  Also, if anyone doesn’t want to be included, just don’t come to the meetings.  The benefits include the Gold Hill Relief Fund, participating in chipping grants, etc.

Proposed change 

Article II

Membership

Section 1, Eligibility: Those residing in the following area are members and may vote at town meetings, provided they fulfill the voting requirements set forth in Article II, Section 2, Qualification.   This area is identified as the Gold Hill Fire Protection District.

 

Virginia moved that we accept the GHFPD boundaries as ours, Val seconded and the motion passed.

 

2019 Budget Requests and Plan – Martha submitted the following report:

Additional income included $182 from Virginia – raffle money from the Gold Rush and another $12 from Gretchen.  After much discussion, it was decided to transfer $1000 from the General Fund to Community Planning to enable Dan to purchase t-shirts, glasses, etc., during the year, and to leave the rest of the money in the General Fund   Martha had requested that $1375 be left in the GF, and this would leave $1405.74 for miscellaneous expenses.

Sustainability Grant – Tony reported that the resiliency group (Jessica Brookhart, Dina, Virginia, and Rick Sheingold) has been meeting.  They want to ask the County for $15,000 to hire a Sustainability Coordinator to conduct an audit of our community as far as sustainability, resiliency, and preparedness for emergencies.  The GH School, Fire Department, Historic Gold Hill (the GH Museum) support our grant request. The audit would assess our resources and needs in order to use our resources efficiently and to develop our ability to withstand disruption.  Ward received a grant previously and focused on water, energy and a greenhouse.  One step is to connect with potential resources from the County: Aging Services, Wildfire Mitigation, possibly a cell tower. Then we would do a gap analysis to figure out what we need.  Dina reported that they are moving to incorporate as their own entity.  They made a presentation at the Boulder County Resiliency Summit that was well received.  They will take over bringing people in to GH to present ideas.  The first presentation will be November 12^th– more on that later.  They would like to use the GHTM’s Tax ID # for the grant application.

            Maggie moved that we pursue the Boulder County Grant and approve the use the GHTM Tax ID # for the application, Dan seconded it, and the motion passed.

Free Library – Dan reports that one has appeared near Lazlo’s house.  He will reach out to Howard again to pursue another.

Historical Zoning – Bear reported that he and Michael Petrillo went to the County Commissioner’s hearing on the Joyce Robinson plans for 301 Boulder Street.  The main concern of immediate neighbors is the height of the roof, which seemed to have gotten bigger since HZ approved the original plans.  Joyce and her architect suggested lowering the pitch so that it would not be so tall and, with that proviso, the CCs approved her plans. Bear added that the CCs are very positive to Gold Hill and us generally, and commended them on the thoughtful discussion.

            Also, the Weaver house (Marcus Moench and Elisabeth Caspari’s) is now settled on its foundation – continuing progress!

Cemetery Committee – Maggie reports that they (she, Bob Walter, and Chellee Courtney) met on August 22.  They discussed the bylaw proposals and purchased a spud bar, a posthole digger, and a small Tuff shed with gutters.  They will be rebuilding the stairs with a handrail, a kiosk with a map of the Cemetery and information on funerals, etc.  Maggie is tasked with finding a handyman and has spoken with Andy Edwards so far.

Airlink – Dina reports they are focused on communication within the community, especially in an emergency – in addition to the few ham radio folks they now have.  They’ve looked at goTenna Mesh Network, which consists of nodes (like little walkie-talkies using radio waves) scattered around that somehow communicate with smartphones. It’s billed as “the first 100% off-grid, mobile, long-range consumer-ready mesh network”.  Dina wants to buy enough to test it as well as get the quantity discount – looks like an 8 pack at $72 each.

Mining – Dick Cole sent the following email on 10/7 concerning operations at the mill on 

Horsfal.  Since he sent that report, they have changed servers, Dick has sent new links and I have incorporated them here.

Last week Colorado Milling Company applied to Colorado Division of Mining, Reclamation and Safety for another extension to the decision date for amendment AM 01 to permit M1994117. DRMS granted this extension as requested until December 30, 2018. Please recall that the amendment is to increase the permitted area for a water pipeline to the Times mine adit from LeftHand Creek. When the amendment for the pipeline was proposed last January there were objections filed by several area residents and by government and non-government agencies, as well as a few letters of support for the proposal from individuals with a connection to the mill. Here is link to DRMS response granting the extension:

New link https://dnrweblink.state.co.us/drms/0/edoc/1260563/2018-10-02_REVISION%20-%20M1994117%20(2).pdf?searchid=b6a94fc9-8454-4341-b250-1ad9799641ba

Also, on August 9  DRMS (Amy Eschberger) and BLM jointly conducted a site inspection and found some non-compliance issues that they request the operator to address: 

BLM noted some 55-gallon drums that need to be removed and properly disposed in a hazard waste dump, and an oil spill on adjacent private land that requires cleanup.

Here is a link to BLM report with pictures:

New Link    https://dnrweblink.state.co.us/drms/0/edoc/1258968/2018-09-13_INSPECTION%20-%20M1994117.pdf?searchid=b6a94fc9-8454-4341-b250-1ad9799641ba

DRMS reported that Boulder County Land Use has yet to sign off on the utility permit issued for repair of problems CMC created on Sunshine Canyon Drive above the Times adit. DRMS also noted many weeds growing around tailings piles and cattails and other weeds growing in the tailings impoundment (pond), which are to be removed before any re-start of operations.

Here is a link to DRMS report, also with pictures:

New link  https://dnrweblink.state.co.us/drms/0/edoc/1258798/2018-09-12_INSPECTION%20-%20M1994117.pdf?searchid=b6a94fc9-8454-4341-b250-1ad9799641ba

Both agencies expressed concern over not being able to access the interior of the locked mill building.

It has now been two months since these inspections and I am not certain if CMC has brought any of these issues into compliance, but regardless I feel that we, as the Gold Hill Town Meeting owe a big Thank you to the government agencies who are overseeing the proper and safe operations of the mill.

Thanks, Dick Cole

Other Business – Virginia reported on Indigenous People’s Day (formerly Columbus Day) in Boulder.  They officially recognized 100 or so Arapahoe from the Windriver Reservation, Wyoming and Oklahoma.  They are hoping for acknowledgment of their ancestral ties to this area.

Weeds – Pam reports that now is the time to get rid of seeds/weed tops to help control weeds.

Meeting Organization – Tony reports that she wants to get people to submit reports ahead of time in order to use our time more efficiently.  It was suggested that when she puts out the agenda that she request people to write out their reports.

Respectfully submitted, Gretchen Diefenderfer, Secretary