GOLD HILL TOWN MEETING NEWSLETTER

Minutes of the February 13, 2017 Town Meeting

 

Next Town Meeting is Monday, April 10, 7:30 p.m. at the Community Center, preceded by a potluck/gathering at 6:30.   Strike that – we’ll meet at 7:00 for coffee, tea, and snacks with EFAA (VIA can’t make it this meeting)

We had a pre-meeting social with coffee, tea and cookies from 7:00 to 7:30 to meet Coleen Sinclair, Boulder County Area Agency on Aging (AAA).

 

The Meeting was called to order by Chair Tony Vrba. Eight people attended: Bobby Vrba, Colleen Sinclair, Mary Ryan, Julie Carpenter, Chair Tony Vrba, Member at Large Dan Maedke, Treasurer Martha Knapp, and Secretary Gretchen Diefenderfer.

 

The agenda was juggled so that Colleen Sinclair of AAA could give her presentation first. She reported that she has been with the County since mid-summer and came from Mental Health Partners. She is also a certified Medicare Counselor. She lives in a yurt in Jamestown and is getting to know the mountain communities. She has office hours in Nederland on Mondays and Wednesdays and in Lyons on Thursdays and Fridays. The aim of AAA is to uphold the mandate of the 1965 Older Americans Act – to provide information and assistance to those in need. The third Wednesday of the month, Nederland Human Services works with several senior groups to provide short term assistance funding (up to $500) for those 60 and older as well as 18-59 with disabilities.

            A new group providing services is PACE (Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly) through TRU. They provide “The care you need to stay in the community you love” for participants who are eligible for Medicaid or both Medicaid and Medicare. People can also enroll and pay privately for much less than a nursing home. See pace.trucare.org for more information.

            Colleen is willing to come as often as we want to provide information on the many county services available.

 

Minutes –The minutes were approved as published.

 

Treasurer’s Report – Martha reported that at the previous Town Meeting in DECEMBER our bank balance was $14,839.88.

 

Revenue since the December meeting includes funds from pint glass sales and a pass-through donation to Airlink from United Way.

 

Expenses include annual insurance, postage stamps for newsletter mailings, and the United Way grant pass-through.

 

A motion at the December meeting was approved to transfer $450 from the General Fund to Community Planning.

 

Our current bank balance, total cash assets, is $14,704.88. Current individual fund totals are as follows:

General Fund $1605.10; Cemetery $5,007.78; Community Relief $3,576.95; Forest Management $94.12;

Fire Department – Bobby reports that training continues on the fourth Saturday of each month and the Thursday before that. Contact Donal Maloney for information about volunteering or training – (303) 443-3928. They are getting a replacement for our medical truck. Also working on a Firefighter Retirement Fund, which will require a number of years service with 36 hours of training per year to qualify. The Board is meeting with the department lawyer in March to figure out the details and will provide more information after that.

Weed Management – inactive at this time

Historic Gold Hill – Gretchen reports that the Museum is closed for the winter although the Board is working on the exhibits and projects for next year. The Calendar Committee met on February 6 to begin work on the 2018 Calendar. We came up with lots of ideas, but we always need more!   We need more members as well as photos, drawings, poems – anything pertaining to life in Gold Hill will be considered. In particular, we are looking for pictures of wild animals. We will meet again monthly – contact me if you have any contributions/suggestion or would like to join us on the committee – it’s fun.

Mining – Gretchen reports no news- just status quo – there are a couple of familiar cars up there most days and occasionally more.

Gold Hill School – Dan gave the report for Chrissy – The kids have completed their four ski lessons at Eldora. Actors from the Colorado Shakespeare Festival will be coming up and doing a skit from Comedy of Errors. They have visited the planetarium and observatory at C.U and they will soon be presenting the school play written by Chrissy, Jojo, and Mishie on Thursday, March 23rd at 10 am and 6 pm. They will be doing a fundraiser through Chuffed.org to fund the third full-time position at the school fully. There is still honey for sale – stop by the school!

Safelink/Neighborlink – Tony reports that those of us with Neighborlink are trying to get all our neighbors’ information updated and find out if there are more or different leaders in neighborhoods who want to be involved. As most know, Neighborlink is a glorified phone-tree that evolved after the Fourmile Fire to enable us to notify everyone of emergencies (fires, floods, etc.), to help each other and to keep in touch if we are evacuated. We need to know the best way to contact you: phone, email, text, etc. I will attach the form we have used. Fill our as much or as little as you want. Pod leaders are Debra Yeager (303-449-0454, deb@nullmountainvisions.net) for old-town Gold Hill, Tony Vrba (303-499-1154, tonyvrba@nullgmail.com) in the Gold Run Subdivision, Dina Elder (303-459-3530, dina.elder@nullgmail.com) West of Gold Hill, and Gretchen Diefenderfer (303-442-3847, gretchend@nullmac.com) for East Gold Hill. Contact any one of us for information or with questions. Debra is our fearless leader and also delivers welcome buckets for new residents of greater Gold Hill (includes the Gold Hill Town Meeting area: west of town, the subdivision, etc.).

Airlink – Dina sent an email: The AirLink group is working hard on our grant-funded project to connect Jamestown to the AirLink radio network. Here are some highlights:

• We received the first of 6 checks from Foothills United Way in January. So far, our one purchase is a new backup repeater. 
• We have selected a location for the radio equipment to reside in Jamestown. A very nice couple has agreed to allow us to use their land which sits on a ridge over the town. We are blessed with nice, generous people willing to support AirLink. We have performed initial testing between the JT site and the repeater at Gretchen’s and Michael’s, and, so far, the technique we want to use looks promising. 
• I attended the JT council meeting last Monday night to share with them what we are doing with the grant since they haven’t been in the loop. There were about a dozen people there in addition to the council. (They have a nice, accessible town hall if you haven’t been there.)
• At the AirLink meeting in January, we identified several sub-projects and have assigned people to work on them. There will be updates on some of these other projects at the next town meeting in April.

 

IMA – Tony went to the January meeting at the Poorman Fire Station. The Boulder Housing Authority was there. They are looking at 30 affordable housing units in Nederland! EFAA (Emergency Family Assistance) was there and will be coming to our town meeting in April. Ward has a new Community greenhouse, Fourmile Fire Chief Bret Gibson is asking the IMA for a letter of support for generators at the telephone power stations/junction boxes to provide electricity when our power goes out, and the IMA will be sending that letter. Allenspark is getting a new Fire Station – a neighbor is donating the land.

OLD BUSINESS

Community Center – Tony reports that there are four people on the Committee, Dina, Tony, Mary Claire Mulligan, and Jan Eaton, and we need more – Gretchen volunteered. They will be brainstorming – what do we need, etc. and researching options.

Book Exchange Mailbox – Dan reported that they are presently building a greenhouse at the school and will have lumber left over – he will build it then.

NEW BUSINESS

Permaculture – We are having a Resilient by Design Workshop on February 25 at the School – I will send out the information again.

Change Town Meeting Time to 7:00 p.m? We discussed this, but the consensus is that meeting earlier can be hard for people who work in Boulder.

Potluck before the April Town Meeting – The EFAA person and a VIA person are coming to the meeting. Everyone is invited! Come at 6:30 and bring a small dish to share. Only the EFAA person can attend, so we will meet at 7:00 for coffee, tea, and snacks instead of 6:30.

 

Respectfully submitted, Gretchen Diefenderfer, Secretary

 

 

Remember our Community Assistance Fund?   We haven’t mentioned it in awhile, and it’s an important resource for people in our community who might need it. We have money in the fund for people with emergencies they are having difficulty with. Here is the form:

 

 

Gold Hill Town Meeting Community Relief Fund Application Effective 6/2014

Please use back of form or additional sheets as needed.

 

 

Mail completed form to:

We need to know the best way to contact you: phone, email, text, etc.
Gold Hill Town Meeting, Inc.

Attn: CRF

1011 Main Street – Gold Hill

Boulder CO 80302

 

 

 

Criteria: (1) Applicants must be a resident of Gold Hill Town Meeting, Inc., defined area, (2) Application signed and dated and (3) meet criteria A or B below:

1. Disaster, such as flood, fire, etc. Maximum $1000 per event, per household – committee approval needed
2. Family emergency such as lost job, hospitalization, car accident, etc. Maximum $250 per household annually– committee approval needed

 

 

 

Name _____________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Home Address ___________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Mailing Address if different: ____________________________________________________________________________

 

Phone/Contact Information: ___________________________________________________________________________

 

Please explain your circumstances and what assistance is requested.  Specifically itemize/estimate amount to be used to replace losses (such as income, house repair, clothing, food)   __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Please list other organizations from which you have received/or plan to receive financial help:

 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Signature ________________________________________________________________Date___________________________

 

 

 

 

 

GHTM use only:

 

Date Received: ___________________                          Applicant number:___________________________

 

Applicant Qualifies for Criteria A   or   B  (circle one) Amount disbursed$__________________

 

Approved by: 1. _________________________2__________________________3. _____________________________