Posted on: July 20th, 2011

GOLD HILL TOWN MEETING NEWSLETTER

Minutes of the June 13, 2011 Town Meeting

And a report on the Fire Board Meeting of June 16, 2011

Next Town Meeting is Monday, August 8, 2011, 7:30 p.m. at the Community Center

Elections are held at our August meeting!

Please be thinking about who is willing to fill our positions on the Council.

Vice Chair John Sand, in Amy’s absence, called the meeting to order.  Twenty people attended: Cherry & John Sand, Kris Gibson, Martha Knapp, Eve Atkinson, Treasurer Adriana Galue, Mary Ryan, Jack & Linda Laughlin, Janos Wilder, Pam Sherman, Susan Fernalld, Member at Large Debra Yeager, Pamela Maston, Edie Eilender, Richard Oxley, Bear Carlson, Poppy Good, Secretary Gretchen Diefenderfer, and Poppy Copeland.

Minutes of the April Meeting – were approved.

Treasurer’s Report – Adriana reported that we have a total of $20,625.97 in our account.

Fire Fund    15,898.32    Cemetery Fund    3,562.21

General Fund          439.00    Planning             82.00

Forest Mgmt             75.22    Weed Mgmt            526.70

Historic Zoning         11.23    Trails                  31.29

In the discussion that followed, John expressed concern that we have very little in the General Fund, since we didn’t have the Bake/Rummage sale last year due to the fire.  Martha would like a detailed report of incoming and outgoing amounts.  Adriana says our account is public and available on Google documents.  Contact Gretchen or Adriana if you do not know how to access Google docs, or if you would like a report emailed to you.  Gretchen suggested that, if the town had an urgent need, the Town Meeting could vote to allocate some of the Fire Fund money – the website says, “Thank you for visiting our website. Most of you know that our town has been affected by a significant wild land fire. We are currently accepting donations to support our town efforts. We tremendously appreciate your help” – so “support our town efforts” seems to give us the leeway to use the funds for needs the Town Meeting identifies, if we vote on it.  Plus we will have more money after this year’s Bake/Rummage sale.

Addendum: Since the June meeting, we have had donation, a refund, some repayments, and now have something over $1200 in the General Fund.

Trails– no report.

Historic Zoning – Cherry reported that they met just before this Town Meeting to look at Boyd Brown’s plans for a 480 sq. ft.  shop/shed behind the house where Chrissy lives. Also, Marie reports the Brookharts are thinking about demolishing the porch on the little cabin and building an enclosed addition of approx. 300 sq. ft.

Cherry appreciated people coming to Historic Zoning first, before going to the County – it helps and makes it easier.

Forest Management/CWPP – Susan reported on our application for a chipping grant from the County, plus matching funds from the Town Meeting to encourage chipping before the beetles fly.  Dave Nordgren has organized the chipping on private property and Bear Carlson for Gold Hill property.  Our next opportunity will be in the fall after the beetles are done flying.  However, if the summer is your only opportunity, you should still work on your wildfire mitigation, as you are able.  You will need original invoices to submit for any grant work.  Get your invoices to Susan (447-0634) – she will submit them by Oct. 20.  Ryan Ludlow is administering the grant for the County – there could be a little slop time there, but please get them to Susan as soon as possible.

Bear reported on the slash hauling party across from the Soby’s mailbox.  The intent was to take care of blow down and fuel on the ground.  10 people were involved and they really cleaned up these fuels, which were subsequently chipped.  He thanked Dave & Carol for the lunch – it felt like a successful day.  Dave paid some people, and really thanked the volunteers, especially Kurtis Leverentz, who did a remarkable amount of work.

Susan also reported on the planting of the 9 Aspens, which Cheryl Warner got donated by the Lefthand Nursery.  This was a wonderful donation – 12 to 15 ft. tall trees.  Max dug the holes and lifted the trees into them on the north side of the Town Meadow behind the houses on Hill Street.  The Wilsons and Janos are watering them.

She said that it’s really important to recognize the amazing amount of neighbor labor that has gone into so many projects.

Fire Department – Kris reported on the Front Range Roundtable.  The FRR is composed of a large number of national and state agencies, the Forest Service, etc.  They are looking to support CWPP efforts and 3 communities have submitted proposals as well as a group composed of 6 Fire Departments (Boulder Rural, Lefthand, Coal Creek, Gold Hill, Sunshine, and Boulder Mountain).  We have a good chance of being awarded funds, although it is not official yet, and will need to get the CWPP up and running again, look at maps, etc., and will need a whole committee.  Bear volunteered to help.

Kris thanked the people who donated a set of cribbing to stabilize vehicles for extrication.  Michael Petrillo made them from materials donated by the Boulder County sign shop.

There have been several trainings out at the new Training Center.

As far as recent calls, there have been a bike accident and a motorcycle accident on Lefthand.

The 4^th of July pancake breakfast and parade are definitely happening and there will be merchandise for sale to benefit the Fire Department.

The big trailer thing next to the Firebarn is a storage shed for Office of Emergency Management supplies in case of emergencies.

Weeds – Susan reported that County people will come up on June 22^nd from 4-7 p.m. the help us identify weeds and provide information on eradicating them.  Bring your weeds to this meeting.  Steve Sauer is the County weed guy and Sharon Bokan is the CSU small acreage management person.  Post fire, we are expecting a weed upsurge, so check your property.  Pam recommends cooking thistles to eat.

Bear reports the Kathleen Gilgannon’s Goat Hill goats have been happily munching weeds at the Gold Hill Inn.

Historic Gold Hill – Edie reported that the museum is open on Sundays and some Saturdays.  John says there are lots of new exhibits and it is totally reorganized.  Debra says she has discovered numerous bags of historical things that Max has collected.  Joan Few, with the great help of Heather Hilson, has been indexing and cataloging everything in the Museum.

Mining – Gretchen reported that there has been no activity except water monitoring.  Last she heard they are still working on permitting and will not be mining for some time.

Gold Hill School – no report.

OLD BUSINESS

The Climb – Martha reports that The Climb is in its third year.  They have 2 part-time drivers and made 3 runs per day, 5 days per week, from Ward to Gold Hill to Boulder and back.  They now have 2 buses operating on biodiesel fuel.  A trip is $3.00 and passes are available.  Ridership has increased – the Saturday Farmers’ Market trip has been cancelled for now, but will be revisited in a month to see if there is enough interest. They have received a significant grant from Special Transit, which will cut their insurance costs in half.  Boulder County strongly supports the Climb.  She encourages people to contact the County with positive feedback.  The Climb has to raise $7,000 and sell 300 passes and they will get $11,000.  She encourages you to obtain annual passes and check on the schedule at   the_climb.com   or ask Martha.

Flood Preparedness – Pam, off the subject, apologizes for the color of the primer on her house.  It was supposed to be brown, but it’s purple!  The paint will cover it up soon.

Back to flood preparedness, the Mayors’ Group has been meeting once a month to be sure we can help our neighbors and ourselves.  There is a stash of food, clothing, blankets, etc., for evacuees.     Debra Yeager has been working on Safe Homes and asking for host homes for 6-12 hours – let Deb know if you could accommodate any evacuees. We do have our Neighborlink system in place. We have our fingers crossed that the internet and phones will be up for communication.

Town Clean Up – will be the 25^th of June.  Martha said that the Nederland Transfer Station has a metal recycling if you miss our clean up.

Town Garden – Pam reports that Marie has said the idea has died for now due to lack of interest.

NEW BUSINESS

Fund Raising – Deb has selected Sept. 10^th (since changed to Sept. 18^th) for our annual fundraiser and has been brainstorming with Amy to make it a really good fundraiser – possibly music, skills, crafts, silent auction, etc.  A lot of ideas were brought up – call it a “Town Festival”, include an ice-cream social, possibly raffle off the second quilt?  Martha encouraged us to take it to a new level.

Adriana said that the Mountain Mayors Meeting is thinking of a possible Peak to Peak Mountain Fund to help people since the Community Foundation formally closed the Fire Fund and we could contribute to that.

Eve Atkinson wanted to thank everybody for taking care of her folks since she lives in Oklahoma.  She grew up in Gold Hill and Edie was her 3^rd grade teacher.  She heard about the fire and went on the internet to get information.  Her parents had no time to evacuate as they were already in Boulder.  It all made her so grateful for the people in the community and her experiences growing up here.  She’s thinking of putting together a recipe book.  Oprah’s site will do it for free, and she’s already thought of a title: “Out of the Fire into the Frying Pan”.

Kris knows where we could get a huge tent – 30’x60’.

Town Accident – John reported that one of our resident’s dogs was killed by a car and, although the owner stressed that it was totally an accident, John wanted to encourage everyone to be conscious.  This is a small community with narrow streets and kids and dogs and we all worry about someone not having time to stop, especially if they are going at all fast and a dog, cat, or kid, or a kid on a bike darts out.

This generated a lot of sympathy as well as a long discussion of how to slow people down more.  Cultivate more potholes?  Put up hand drawn signs along the lines of “Save our children – Slow Down”?  Twinkle, the donkey, was a good speed deterrent back in the old days when she roamed around the town.  We can’t create our own speed bumps on Main Street because it’s a County road.  Someone suggested that the Town Meeting request more patrols from the Sheriff’s Dept.   Others suggested manikins, a dummy of a cop in a parked car, life-sized photos of people walking toward the street, cement dogs lying by the edge of the road.  Our narrow streets vs. traffic have been a topic of discussion for many, many years.

Dogs and/or Fox – Jack said they don’t have a dog, but they do have lots of dog crap and it would be great if the dog people could take care of it (not holding his breath).  But, also they have lost 3 shoes from their porch (they don’t take them off there any more) and wonder if it is a dog or a fox that is taking them and if anyone knows of a site where they might be?

Friends of Ward Church Days – Arts, crafts, music on July 22nd and 23^rd – see our website (https://goldhilltown.com/).

Council Elections are August 8^th – Amy has said that she’s probably not running again.  Please think about filling one of these positions and contributing to our community.

Respectfully submitted,  Gretchen Diefenderfer

 

Report on the Fire Board Meeting of June 16, 2011

by Gretchen Diefenderfer

 

Fire Board meetings are the 3^rd Thursday of the month, 8:00 p.m. at the Community Center and are open to all.

 

Attending: Chair Dave Steinmann, Darryl McConnell, Ben Blaugrund, Leslie Finn, Dave Sturtz, Chief Chris Finn, Kris Gibson, and Gretchen Diefenderfer.

 

Chris reported that the Lefthand Aliance has a party and bonfire scheduled, has a permit, and Chris will be checking on it.

 

The minutes of the last meeting were approved.

 

Kris reported on the Front Range Roundtable.  This is a group of national and state agencies as well as the Wilderness Society, BLM, USDA, etc., looking to promote forest health, environmental health, eco/environmental restoration and CWPPs to protect communities from the risks of wildfires.  Gold Hill, along with Sunshine, Boulder Rural, Lefthand, Boulder Mountain, and Coal Creek have joined to apply for a partnership with the FRR  and stand a good chance of obtaining significant funding, although it’s not confirmed yet.  There is talk of forming an overall Forest Improvement District to coordinate wildfire mitigation efforts.   Ben expressed big thanks to Kris for all her work on this and Kris, in turn, thanked Ben for his work on figuring out the acreages.  A high next priority to work on is Rowena.

 

Ben just today got hold of Brian Baer, USFS, and GHFPD should be reimbursed for the mitig. Project out west of town.

 

They next talked about their wish list of projects to accomplish with their current funding, taking into account that they foresee approx. $6,000 per year less in tax revenue due to decreased property valuation after the fire, although they did receive significant money from the Community Foundation which more than covers that.

 

The AirVac system is already in the works.

Next are new SCBAs.

 

Then, in the interests of generating more participation and support, which Chris reports as his #1 need:

 

Hiring people to do some tasks – particularly truck repairs and so on.

Looking into a pension plan (the state matches our funds)

Possibly holding an annual awards banquet as  do many of the other fire                               departments.

Supplying more wildland gear to all firefighters.

 

They will start researching a new truck next winter.

Mitigation /CWPP efforts are a high priority.

Also paving an apron in front of the Barn would make clearing the driveway much better.