Posted on: July 26th, 2018

GOLD HILL TOWN MEETING NEWSLETTER

Minutes of the June 11th, 2018, Town Meeting

 Next Town Meeting will be Monday, August 13, 2018, 7:00 p.m. at the Community Center

 ELECTIONS!  Who would like to step up and help?

 The meeting opened with a presentation by Jenifer Fischer, LCSW (licensed clinical social worker with Mental Health Partners), of Senior Reach (720-450-2787).  For anyone 60 or older, they provide support and counseling on life issues, including anxiety and depression, providing an outside person to listen and help with guidance to other resources and agencies.  It’s completely confidential, they will come to you and there is no cost for up to 10 or 12 sessions.  They will bill insurance, if you have it, but you will not be charged.  They have a grant from the Boulder County Commissioners to provide this service and have been in existence for 12 years. 

The regular meeting was then called to order by Vice Chair Johanna Morrison in the absence of Chair Tony Vrba.  The meeting was attended by fifteen people: Treasurer Martha Knapp, Peter Swift, John and Cherry Sand, Dina Elder, Maggie Simms, Chellee Courtney, Karen Simmons, Rick Sheingold, Ian and Maryanna (Penny) Stewart, PamSherman, Virginia Schultz, Secretary Gretchen Diefenderfer, and Vice Chair Jojo Morrison.

Minutes of the June meeting were approved as published.

Treasurer’s Report – Martha reported

COMMITTEE REPORTS

 Gold Hill School –  Jojo reports that the school year is over and they had a great year.  This was her last year at the school.  She needs to focus on finishing up her Masters in Organizational Leadership and Innovative Change.  She’s loved working at the school, it’s been amazing, and now she needs to explore what lies ahead for her.

 Forestry/Mitigation –Virginia reported that the chipping event has been scheduled for July 23-27.  ADDENDUM – because there was not enough interest, this has been put off – possibly to be rescheduled in the fall.

 Community Planning – no report

 Weed Management – Pam reported that they have obtained weevils to attack the Spotted Knapweed from Professor Seastead at CU. They hope to see results by the fall.  They will monitor them.  She would love to lead a weed walk if there is interest.

ADDENDUM – Weed Walk ‘n Talk in Town Meadow with NRCS and CSU Extension, Tuesday July 31 from 1 to 2 pm.  Meet outside the Store before 1 pm so we can start promptly at 1.

 Sylvia Hickenlooper, Soil Conservationist with the Longmont Office of the National Resource Conservation Service (formerly called the National Soil Conservation Service, it’s under USDA) and Sharon Bokan, CSU Extension Boulder County Small Acreage Management Coordinator, will be leading a walk ‘n talk in the Gold Hill Town Meadow on Tuesday July 31 from 1 to 2 pm. They will ID weeds and plants and respond to any questions you have. 

Ian and Penny Stewart reported that they need to leave, but their land down Sunshine is in the Gold Hill Fire District and they wondered if they are in the Town Meeting area.  Gretchen replied that they are not, right now, but that we are looking at the town boundaries with the possibility of expanding them.

Historic Gold Hill/Museum – Gretchen reported that the Community Outreach event on the Switzerland Trail will be held on the 22, and the 2019 Calendars will be out for the 4^thof July

Historic Zoning – no report

Friends of Fazoo – Jojo reported that they are in bureaucratic ping-pong right now with the executive director of BoCo Open Space. The original person involved with adopting the land has left, so we are looking forward to finding out whom the lead person will be to deal with and what we will be able to do.  Joan would like weed whacking to be done before the planned historic survey, but, per BoCo, no machinery is allowed.  We know that no structures are allowed, but see the possibility of usable outdoor public space.  They have a lot of plans, but no lead person to deal with yet.

Mining – Gretchen reports that she received an update from Dick Cole that the Mill people have asked for an extension on their permit process

http://drmsweblink.state.co.us/drmsweblink/0/doc/1251378/Electronic.aspx?searchid=38fad6d4-377f-4d9a-9591-72d5ab640b28

Thanks, Dick

 Cemetery Committee – Maggie reports that we had a very successful clean up day on the 2^nd.   She has spoken with Dave Wilson about the survey and he said that a full survey would be around $1500-2000, but he doesn’t believe that’s needed.  He and a friend could do an “Exhibit” for less.  He needs to talk with the County and see what they want and he will do that.  On old maps it looks like all the boundaries are good and just that sliver is in contention. Jojo added that the County doesn’t want that sliver; we just have to make some mutually agreeable arrangement with them.  Maggie is very happy to have Dave on our side.

AirLink – Dina reports that they have discovered that Jamestown needs a new radio.  It has been ordered through the grant.  They have also bought a propane generator in case the batteries get low for the Horsfal site.  On Tuesday nights they have a net and Saturdays they have a chat room on the ham radios for the people who have licenses.  They have 50-60 on the email list but only about 18 participate in the Tuesday night net.  This is formal radio communications – the Saturday chat room is more informal.  If they get 8 interested people, they can have another licensing class.

IMA (InterMountain Alliance) – Dina reports that the main focus this year has been communications and putting plans together for any future emergency – how to communicate with each other when phones are out, etc.  They’re looking at something to make cell phones work within the community.  One possibility they are looking into is WiMax, which would create a Wi-Fi network within the community. 

            The second focus has been affordable housing. Nederland is working on how to accomplish this in a way that fits into Ned.

We then skipped ahead into NEW BUSINESS/Community Centeras Peter Swift had a difficult family situation and would need to leave.  He recently attended a lecture in Denver and ran into the Professor who did the previous architectural survey for Gold Hill a few years ago.  The Prof. and his class would love to devote the fall semester to renewing and expanding that work, looking at what we want, and coming up with a plan for us.  The Professor and Peter think that we should have a preliminary meeting to gauge community interest.  They’d look at possible sites and would work with available opportunities and constraints.  The plan would be to select a site to work on, survey it, do site planning, which Peter as a civil engineer could do, then work on an architectural design and maybe wrap up by the end of the fall semester.  The Professor and his graduate students love to work with a real-world situation.  They would bring all steps to the GHTM for input and approval. 

            Peter suggested we have a special Town Meeting in late August before the beginning of the fall semester to raise public awareness and engagement. Having the backing of the GHTM would also help with possible future grants.

            We then got sidetracked for a while into a discussion about whether this should be handled through the GHTM vs. a general community meeting.  Rick Sheingold pointed out that the purpose of the GHTM through the bylaws is “To hold town meetings and provide a forum for community discussion and basis for community action.”  This town meeting is managed by the people who show up, everyone in the town meeting area is invited to show up, and they show up when there are issues that interest them.  Rick also said that it seems like a fine thing to support the students with the added benefit to us of making possible progress on our community center goal.  We have been talking about a possible community center for a number of years now.

Peter thought that the students would hold a Charette (brainstorming sessions with facilitation) and then come back with a product that condenses the ideas raised. Eventually we’d use these ideas foundationally to move ahead if the community supports it. 

            Martha stated that it seems appropriate for the first meeting to be a special Town Meeting, which is focused on one subject. Peter will report at the regular August 13^thmeeting on possible dates for the Special Town Meeting.

Back to OLD BUSINESS

Move money for Forestry and review updated grant information – Virginia reported that she doesn’t foresee that they will need much, if any, money.  Wildfire Partners (http://www.wildfirepartners.org) sent out cards informing everyone of the free assessments and 2 hours free chipping and she has only heard from 2 people so far.  Martha wondered if those who had done the assessments and didn’t need chipping could donate their chipping to others, like the cemetery.  Virginia will ask. ADDENDUM: Boulder County has a minimum of 5 for the chipping grant and she has not has enough interest yet.  Possibly it can be rescheduled for the fall, if more people seem interested.

Move money for glasses and t-shirt fundraising – Martha reported that she had not received a formal request to repay Tony for ordering the glasses, but there is $232.68 still in the fund.  She has no information on costs or profits generated so far, and thinks we should track this in the future. The glasses ordered cost $564.06 for 144, so we would need $331.38 to reimburse Tony.  Gretchen moved that we reimburse Tony, Virginia seconded, and the motion passed. We sell them at the bake and rummage sale, to the Gold Hill Store and have, in the past, sold them to the Museum, but they have now designed their own glasses with a Switzerland Trail design, so will probably not be buying more of the town glasses.  We had a vague discussion of keeping money/profit in the Community Planning/Fundraising fund to facilitate purchasing glasses, etc., in the future as needed, but nothing was decided as we do not actually know what the profit is.

            Regarding funds, Rick ventured that if people donate for a specific purpose we should keep those funds as designated, i.e., the Community Relief Fund and the Cemetery Fund.  In the past, $4500 was moved from the Relief Fund to AirLink to purchase the ham radio equipment because it was felt that emergency communications fit into the original purpose (and, because of grant money received, there is still $3785 left in the AirLink fund).  Dina wants to keep a maintenance fund for batteries, etc. but would like that $250 that was donated specifically to AirLink at some point.  A motion was made and approved to leave those funds there for now and to discuss it more later.

Town Portrait –Maggie thinks that we could probably get a decent picture with a cell phone, but thought it would be better to have someone with a good camera (like Bear or David) to take our portrait.  She is still working on that.  The time was set for July 7, in front of the Gold Hilton, at 10 a.m. (this will be finalized later and an email sent out)

At this point, Chellee Courtney needed to leave soon, and since the Bylaws weren’t close to being addressed yet, she just wanted to state before she left that the Cemetery Committee has lots of projects planned that will require funds, and, as a member of the Cemetery Committee, she wanted to state clearly that she believes the money in the Cemetery Fund should stay there for cemetery needs.

Town Clean Up – Gretchen reported that it is scheduled for June 23, 9 – 2, at the Bluebird Lodge parking lot.  Since the cost of the dumpsters has gone up, she recommended that we just get one for this year.  Virginia moved that the Town Meeting pay for one dumpster, to be reimbursed by fees and donations.  Motion carried. 

Proposed Bylaws Updates – tabled until next meeting.  See  https://goldhilltown.com/what-it-is/  for the present bylaws and see https://goldhilltown.com/bylaws-proposed-changes/   for the proposed changes so far.  We will bring maps of the area to consider any boundary changes for the Town Meeting Area.

Upcoming Meetings/Events

 

August 13^th, Gold Hill Town Meeting – ELECTIONS!

October 8, Gold Hill Town Meeting – 2019 Budget discussion

 

Respectfully submitted, Gretchen Diefenderfer, Secretary