Posted on: January 17th, 2022

GOLD HILL TOWN MEETING NEWSLETTER

Minutes of the Monday, December 13, 2021 Town Meeting by Zoom

Next Town Meeting will be Monday, February 14, 7:00 P.M. by Zoom

 The meeting was called to order by Chair Emma Dirolf.  Forty-five people attended by Zoom (let me know if I missed anyone): Emma, Secretary Gretchen Diefenderfer, Torkin Wakefield and Charles Steinberg, Joanne and Dick Cole, Chrissy and Member at Large Dan Maedke, Boyd Brown and Johanna Gangemi, Rebecca and Janos Wilder, Michael Wollard, Treasurer Jay Clark,  Breida and Rick Geesaman, Steffi Wilson, Howard Lambert, Leslie and Chris Finn, Dina and Mark Elder, Debra Yeager, Adwoa Lemieux, Maggie Simms and David Brigham, Martha Knapp, Rich Lopez, Val Crist, Vice Chair Sarah O’Brien and Sam Bennett, Marcus Moench and Elisabeth Caspari, Greg Buis, Bear Carlson and Poppy Copeland, Kathleen Mereau and Jamshid Drakhti. Jessica Brookhart and Todd Swift, Emily Rose, Cat Russell, Pam and Steve Sherman, Karen Simmons.

Minutes – As there were no corrections or additions to the Minutes of the October 11 Meeting, they were approved as published.

Treasurer’s Report – Jay submitted the following report

900 Pine as Community Center – Emma suggested that we have a half hour cap on discussion before bringing the issue to a vote.  Janos asked about the proposed motion.  Gretchen replied that a motion needs to be made– something like the GHTM supports moving forward on the acquisition of the 900 Pine building for a Community Center and planning for how to do this – before opening discussion.  Leslie made a motion to postpone any decision on 900 Pine .  She stated that no committee had been established or report issued and we did not have enough information.  Martha seconded.  Gretchen reported that the Friends of Gold Hill Community Center aren’t prepared to postpone the decision. – it’s been a year now and if there is no yes vote to proceed, the FOGH will move on to sell to someone committed to Gold Hill.  Also, a GHTM Committee was established, sent out a wide ranging survey to get the town’s opinions, and it was reported and is on the town website. (https://goldhilltown.com/community-center-survey-results/).

            Torkin reported that she had worked on a draft budget with several other community members.

Draft Budget for Pine Street House to Become a Community Center

Phase 1:   Purchase and Upgrades

There would be a one year time frame given by current owner, Friends of  Gold Hill

Sale Price:                 $260,000

Repairs

            Roof,           $12,300
            Septic           30,000 – $35,000  
            Electrical      20,000
            Renovations 10,000 – 15,000  (this is a guess and will have to include bringing the building to                                                  code regulations  This does not include any extensive  remodeling.                                      

Total:  $332,000 – 342,000

Discussion: How would we raise this money?   Who would be in charge?  A volunteer, a committee, the mayor?

What sources of money have we identified?

Phase 2:  Yearly expenses

Insurance               1,200   (because this is a public space the insurance could be a lot more)
Taxes                  1,181
Upkeep, repairs       500    (this is a guess and may be too low for an old house)
Heat                         500    (this is a guess)
Electricity             300    (this is a guess)
Admin/cleaning    2,400     (I know that someone will have to the scheduling, cleaning, keeping the key, etc  This is $200/month)

Supplies              120       Based on $10/month- would include things like toilet paper, soap,                                            light bulbs, etc

Unexpected               ?

Total :             $ 6241 

This comes to a little over $500 per month with no unexpected expenditures

One time costs: (no numbers guessed)

 Furnishings:  $ ?  (some donations are possible and some items will probably have to be purchased)

Safety :    $ ?   (locks, fire extinguishers, signage, fire and ozone detectors, regulations to meet, etc)

Income:

 How will we  raise in excess of $6000 per year?

Ideas:

              Hold an Annual fundraising event similar to the one the museum holds. 

• Write Grants – possibilities for this with the community foundation, the county and the state. Other local private foundations. 
• Charge a Facility fee for trainings, classes, work space use, and other events 
• Request Donations associated with activities such as the recent Columbia giveaway 

 

Have we identified any funds that might be available for this project?

What are the consequences if we cannot raise the money?

 

This generated a great deal of discussion about fundraising, who would take responsibility, what happens if the town can’t manage raising the funds needed.  Marcus stated that the FOGH’s intent was to buy the property and if the vote of the town (after this last year to consider which way to go) was to proceed, the plan was to give the GHTM another year to complete plans to acquire it.  If it didn’t succeed, the town would be released from the intent to buy and would have to decide what to do with any funds raised.

Janos thanked Torkin for the draft budget and her effort to drill down on the facts.  He wondered about the Fire Board and possible new structure plans.  He added that he admired the super well intentioned citizens willing to invest in this possibility for the town, but also thinks it’s shortsighted to try to make a good decision without enough information.

Regarding the Fire Department, Boyd reported that the Board has agreed that they would work with the town to come up with a  future combined structure for the Fire Department and the town..  For 900 Pine, as soon as it became a public space, he expects ADA access, sprinklers, water and septic up to code and other expenses would be required – we would have to deal with the County.

At this point, Martha called “point to order” and Adwoa seconded – to call for a vote.  After some discussion,  a vote of 18 to 22 voted to continue the discussion.

Chrissy expressed concern about fundraising, pointing out that our one yearly rummage/bake sale won’t begin to cut it and is already a tremendous amount of work.  The school raises $9-15,000 per year.  She loves the idea of the Community Center, but it sounds like a lot of money.  Emma is also concerned about who’s going to move it along.  Marcus added that it would certainly depend on a strong commitment to raise individual donations, work on grants, manage fundraising. The GHTM would need to form a committee, but if the community is highly divided, it all becomes more difficult.  Sources become a lot easier if there is strong support. Another real issue is finding a group to spearhead the effort.  Bear suggested the FOGH, but Marcus felt it would be a conflict of interest, although we could be involved and would help., but not spearhead it.  Most of the FOGH plan to abstain from the vote and follow the lead of the majority. 

Joanne asked if we can vote yes or no on the Community Center rather than the motion voting to table the idea.  Virginia also preferred to vote yes or no on going forward or not.  After some more discussion, Leslie agreed to rescind her motion to table the vote, Martha (as the seconder) agreed.  Joanne made a motion that we vote yes to pursue moving forward on 900 Pine as a Community space, or no, not to move forward.  Martha requested a roll call vote, which generated a lot of discussion pro and con on taking a public vote.

Chrissy wondered about collaborating with the Fire Department on a community space.  Rich Lopez reported that on December 1 the entire board reviewed a statement that went out to the

town.

Gold Hill Fire Protection District 1011 Main – Gold Hill EIN 841110317
Boulder, CO 80302

December 1, 2021

At the conclusion of the last board meeting, it was suggested that the Gold Hill Fire Protection District Board (Board) issue its position on the upcoming vote on locating a community center at 900 Pine Street. While each board member may have a personal position and is free to vote as they wish, the Gold Hill Fire Protection District (District) states as follows:

• Our primary goal is to respond to fire, health and accident emergencies in our district and to assist other fire protection districts when possible.
• The District is the smallest fire protection district in Boulder County, in terms of population served (185 homes), budget ($75,318 in 2021) and volunteers (23).
• Our current fire barn was constructed by the residents of Gold Hill in the 1970’s.

The Board has reviewed the 2021 Gold Hill Community Space Survey Results and acknowledges that 77.3% of the respondents indicated that Gold Hill needs a community space. With regards to 900 Pine Street being an appropriate location, the respondents were evenly divided. Finally, the Fire Barn was identified as an appropriate location by 75.6% of the respondents.

The Board has embarked on a process to place a mill levy increase for the District at a future election. The amount of the increase has not yet been determined. The needs of our District are significant. The wood constructed Fire Barn itself is outdated, non-compliant with ADA standards, has no readily accessible bathroom and is too small to house all our firefighting equipment. A new station is needed. This presents an opportunity for cooperation with the Town Meeting.

Planning, funding and construction of a new Fire Barn with a Community Center will take years to accomplish. The Town Meeting could decide to purchase 900 Pine as an interim Community Center, while the District pursues an increased mill levy and other grants. The District will continue to work with the Town Meeting to incorporate its needs in any future Fire Barn/Community Center design.

Chrissy asked how important would it be for the town to have collateral for the Community Center piece.  Rich said that it is critical to have cooperation between the town and fire department.  A member of the Lefthand Board came to the GHFPD board meeting and stressed that cooperation with the community is critical, particularly for DOLA (Colorado Department of Local Affairs) funding, which requires matching funds, and which represented around 1/3 of the funding for their LH new station.  As far as timing, they aren’t ready to begin planning.  Our mill levy is so low, we can’t really afford to buy anything.  He added, should you buy 900 Pine? Great, but it’s up to the community to decide.

            There was more discussion, with several points being reiterated:  the need for strong support from the community, a committee to spearhead the effort, the County requirements that would need to be met to provide a safe facility for public use.   

            Steffi thanked the Friends of Gold Hill group for thinking outside the box and trying to do something new and different to benefit the community; it takes guts to try something new. Thank you also to the community members who volunteered their time and effort on the GHTM 900 Pine Street committee, putting together the survey, etc.

At this point, it was decided to take our vote to move forward or not.  It was agreed that we could vote on Zoom one by one as our names were called.  If we did not want to vote publicly, we could vote anonymously by directing our Zoom chat to Emma who would count the votes.   

            Dan added that the need for a Community Center has come up over and over since he’s been here and at least we know what it would take – we need the right people at the right time.  Boyd expressed support for a community center.  Jay added appreciation for the efforts made to progress and the great discussion started.  Jess said that it’s good that the conversation has been accelerated and she stressed that the entire effort was always for positivity.  Chris Finn added that, just so we know, the community center at the firebarn is still there,  just contact him to use it.

The vote was YES: 3 and NO: 31, with several abstentions.   Janos expressed thanks to everyone and thanks to Emma for conducting this meeting.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Mountain Stewards – Virginia reports that all kinds of exciting things are happening.  Marcus and Cat are meeting with people from the city of Denver about bulk battery purchasing for solar to lower our prices.  Also, they’re looking into some funding through a non-profit.  They’ve been working on a Climate Action Map involving resiliency, soil health, and fire mitigation and will have more on that in February.  On  Fire Mitigation forester visits, 10 are done and they have more to go.  People have been doing some really great things.  On the North side of town – what can we do to contribute more? – caullking, flashing, decks, and who can we hire to help.  There is real momentum and potential funding.  Water harvesting – three installations are complete at Emma’s, Jay’s and Mari’s with a $4,000 grant from the Community Foundation.  A total of 7 are to be installed including 4 more in the spring.  There will be tours to see them.

            The slash dumpsters came and what a lot of stuff we got rid of!  Marcus also hired some people to help with wood lumber and wood piles to get rid of them.  They’re looking at ideas regarding fire retardant,, ember dampening paint, and goats for grazing.  If you’re interested, contact Virginia, Marcus or Cat and come to their meetings.

Forestry/Mitigation Progress – no report right now

Gold Hill School – There will not be a Fall Fiesta, but the PTO is planning online fundraising.  Also, their Office Manager, Eli, is leaving in January and they are looking for someone. This  is a full-time position and offers benefits.

Museum – Deb reports that the Museum is closed for the season and they did make some money.  Thank you for supporting the boutique.

Community Planning and Fundraising – Dan reports everything is at a stalemate right now.  He would still like to step down and is looking for someone to replace him as Member at Large.

Cemetery – no report

SafeLink/NeighborLink/Emergency Response – Deb reports no action right now, but given our climate issues, everyone should be as prepared as possible.

AirLink – Dina said there is not a lot to report.  Someone is pinging our repeater and we’re trying to figure out where it is coming from.  They’ve been doing a lot of maintenance and repair work.  Jess asked if there is a minimum age to get ham certification and Dina thinks 12.  Chrissy was working with George Weber before COVID on a class for kids and will move on that as soon as possible. Chris reports that the fire department will be retiring old radios and will save them for the town and AirLink.

Historic Zoning – Bear reports that Greg Buis at 1101 Pine is proposing solar roof panels which have been approved. Solar panels are not really historic, but HZ fully supports  roof mounted and parallel panels.

Fire Department – Chris expressed big congratulations to Max Mazurkiewicz who has graduated from the Fire Academy and is planning to pursue his EMT in the spring – thank you!  Training will be ramping up, and trucks will be driving around.

OTHER TOWN NEWS

Speed Study – Emma reports that Boulder County Transportation provided the following update: “The draft report is nearly done and [it will be sent out] internally to get concurrence probably early next week. After it has been reviewed, [they will] pass it along to [us]. [They have] also been working on finishing [the] speed management plan and should hopefully be ready for the next steps of the process around the beginning of the year.”

Opportunity to end dispersed shooting on NFS lands – Virginia reports that this is a MoveOn.org petition and sort of sounds contradictory, but in order to close sport shooting in the NSF, we need to support a shooting range for people to go or they will keep shooting all over the mountains.  It will also help to write to our County Commissioners directly. 

http://sign.moveon.org/petitions/fully-fund-the-boulder-rifle-club-expansion?source=rawlink&utm_source=rawlink&share=24f3aa2f-d9c4-48f2-a821-36d7cd6b1d8c

 

Respectfully Submitted,  Gretchen Diefenderfer, Secretary