Posted on: March 20th, 2019

GOLD HILL TOWN MEETING NEWSLETTER

Minutes of the February 11, 2019, Town Meeting

Next Town Meeting will be Monday, April 8^th, 2019, 7:00 P.M. at the Community Center

The meeting was called to order by Chair Tony Vrba. Thirteen people attended including Tony, Member at Large Dan Maedke, Bob Walter,  Peter Swift, Bobby Vrba, Virginia Schultz,  Debra Yeager,  Marcus Moench, Elizabeth Caspari , Pam Sherman, and Treasurer Martha Knapp.  Niki Pierson (npierson@nullpeakviewsolar.com) and Dana Mulvany attended as guest speakers to speak for Peak View Solar.

Peak View Solar – Dana Mulvany spoke about the affordability of converting residents to solar power rather than electric. A few key points made are that there are no start-up costs to converting, solar is very affordable in the long run, and your property would be 100% covered and guaranteed for 25 years. Peak View solar is the only family owned and operated solar company in Colorado and has been for over 10 years. Solar would allow you to save significant money over many years, be more self-reliant, and greatly help the environment. If interested checkout www.peakviewsolar.comor schedule an appointment with Niki Pierson (npierson@nullpeakviewsolar.com)

Minutes – Were approved as published.  In Gretchen’s absence, Dan volunteered to take minutes of this meeting.

Treasurer’s Report – Martha reports

Community Center Update – We continued discussions around the community center project. Peter reports that our next steps include developing a survey monkey to reach out to the community to get input on a location around Gold Hill. There is also a need for a volunteer that is interested in finding more information about a fundraising website like a GoFundMe or Kick-starter Campaign.

Gold Hill Multi-property Fire Mitigation Plan update – The GH Multi-property fire mitigation plan has begun discussions around properties that have shown interest. As everything stands, properties that are interested are looking at a 10-year plan and would need to be willing to put the work in to mitigate.

 

Sustainability Plan Update- The Sustainability Committee is looking at participating in the $20,000 Sustainability Audit. This would focus on community services and strategies for the future of GH pertaining to water, food, energy, fire and health services and much more. This could potentially open doors to Grants and Funding for our community.  They plan to start in April to coordinate community outreach and engagement.

            EnergySmart – Boulder County currently offers assistance toward an energy audit valued at $450, costing County residents $185

Gold Hill Resiliency – GH Resiliency was looking at a grant for a water inventory for the community. It seems the Front Range may not qualify for this grant. A proposal may be the next step to lay out how it would help the community and also how beneficial it would be for many mountain communities across the Front Range.

USPS Package Drop – A discussion has begun around the possibility of a USPS Package Drop Box location being created to help with late and lost packages. We have been working with Don Harmen, son of Scott Harmen, the previous mail carrier in GH for years. Don has received a contract to be our carrier for the next 6 years. This process would be as simple as each resident filling out a form to be kept on file with the post office specifying alternate location to drop packages. This would mean that those interested could participate and those not are not required to. There is also a strong possibility that this drop location can be the Gold Hill Store. Whitey, the new owner is very interested in helping the community and bringing in a little more local traffic into the store. We will continue discussions with Don and see what our next steps are.

Movie Making in Gold Hill – The previous discussion through email around the possible closing of Main Street the end of May is still in the works. The Denver Film Company is still in the process of obtaining permits and talking to the appropriate people and organizations. There is the possibility of a representative from the company attending our next town meeting. We also talked about the idea of the company doing something in return for the town, maybe working with the school kids and teaching film techniques or maybe doing a showing of their movie for the community.

Soil Health Project –The Citizen Science Project on Soil Health is a 10-year commitment by participants, using test sites on our individual properties, to improve the soil structure and increase the microbial life, the water retention and infiltration rate, and the amount of carbon in the soil. There are 30 participants in Boulder County from surrounding counties. They are farmers, ranchers, and a couple of tree farms (that’s our category). Our soil will be tested yearly both chemically and biologically, and we will have the opportunities to learn from experts as well as from the participant community. In return, each participant will keep detailed records and write a yearly report. The expected benefits include carbon taken from the atmosphere and sequestered into the soil which helps ameliorate climate change, makes plants grow better and resist diseases, gives us more nutritious food from the garden and healthier people, better water retention which leads to better wildfire mitigation, mitigation from both flood and drought, and an overall better ecosystem for wildlife and humans.

Welcome Buckets – Deb Yeager requested $100 for more Welcome Buckets and supplies. She will receive the money from the NeighborLink account.

Gold Hill School – The Gold Hill School kids are currently in their ski program at Eldora, receiving lessons and ski time every Friday all month. The School play will be on March 21^st, shows at 12:00 and 6:30 with the evening performance always being packed. The Finn family will be recognized with an award by Boulder Valley Impact on Education for everything they have contributed and done for the school. The Kitchen Next door fundraiser will be Monday April 29^thfrom 5- to 9 pm. In the spring, students will be looking forward to gardens and greenhouse, bees, and raising chickens and ducks from eggs. The school would like to say THANK YOU once again for all the support with Fall Fiesta.  This year marks the 145^thyear that the Gold Hill School has been in operation. There will be a celebration in May with more information to come.

 

Respectfully submitted, Dan Maedke, Member at Large, Acting Secretary