Report on Communications Meeting, October 20, 2020 by Zoom
The meeting was called to order by GHTM Chair Emma Dirolf, and was attended by Jerrold Krenz, Pam Sherman, Richard Roth and Heidi, Sarah O’Brien and Ben, Dina Elder, Marcus Moench and Elisabeth Caspari, Sita Stuhlmiller, Steffi Wilson, Karen Simmons, Deb Yeager, Jessie Brookhart, Joanne Cole, Dana Delaville, Jojo Morrison, Bear Carlson, Anya Brown, Danielle (on Pine St),and Gretchen Diefenderfer. I’m sure I must have missed some – let me know.
Emma opened the meeting by announcing that we want to address how we can communicate with each other most effectively in emergencies like our recent fire and evacuation, particularly if we’ve lost power. We can get information from the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) and our town website (gold hill town.com) and from GHTM emails when we do have power, and we have NeighborLink, our telephone/communications tree.
Deb reported on NeighborLink. It evolved after the 2010 Fourmile Fire to develop a system for contacting each other. Our Gold Hill area was divided into 4 areas, with an area contact person in each area: We now have Deb in Old Town, Gretchen in East Gold Hill, Dina west of Gold Hill, and Paul Roberts in the subdivision. Each area was divided (sort of organized themselves) into pods/neighborhood groups with a contact person. Each area contact person would contact the neighborhood group contact people, who would contact their group and report back to one of the 4 area contact people would then report in a circular fashion to each other who had been contacted or left a message. Participation is voluntary and information is confidential. We created a form that was quite involved to share any information each person was comfortable sharing with their contact person. Some groups are still functioning well, but in the absence of a recent emergency, we’ve realized that we need to reorganize and reach out to everyone again. We did a trial mock emergency test early on and it took us 20 minutes to contact everyone. When Tony Vrba became GHTM Chair, she felt too much personal information was being shared so we narrowed the document down to name, address, # of people in the household, and contact information. This system continued weakly for these years since. Recently we’ve been working to simplify the process and have put the onus of group membership and information sharing back on individuals. There is lots of information in the welcome buckets that are given to new people. But it seems to be faltering.
SafeSite consists of a list of places to go in an emergency, beginning with the School.
Dina reported that AirLink is a connection of Ham radio operators. Radio contact works when the power is out. Our team links with other mountain communities and they do weakly radio get together. We maybe should formalized/organize the pods/neighborhood groups again. Gretchen added that that’s how our trial run was completed in 20 minutes. Emma added that practicing is a really good idea.
We post on the town website and need an Emergency Information section (I’ve added this now) to include how to find OEM, how to sign up for Everbridge (reverse 9-1-1), etc. Possibly a map or paper document for everyone to have to check on their neighbors.
Sarah suggested a possible Ap to connect people in the community, would need logins and might cost.
Steffi said the phone calls aren’t feasible by the time the Sheriffs are driving around with bull-horns.
Dina added that her AirLink group heard early from the Ham network. She has an issue that if someone is out of town and has a house sitter, they may not answer the phone, so she went to people’s houses to check.
Emma suggested we update all NeighborLink (NL) information and make sure that people know to let their neighbors know if they will be out of town.
Jojo agreed with Steffi that the Sheriff’s were very competent with their bullhorns going around announcing the evacuation, and suggested maybe we should get some, too.
Marcus added that it would be a good idea to combine low tech and high tech to function in different ways/situations. He really encouraged everyone to get on NextDoor, also
Emma suggested that people could have laminated cards with their contact information, etc.,that they could post on their doors when evacuated.
Dina added that we could distribute cheap (~$30.00) ham radios. Bear said that would be a good idea, even if they wouldn’t be licensed and would be listen only
Karen Simmons felt that the internet is the key to communication when we do have electricity and Gretchen added that we do already have the town website and emails, but it is difficult to separate out townspeople from anyone else who has signed up – we don’t get people’s names. She will find out if we can require that.
Jojo suggests we have 2-3 key people to push out information to greater spaces/platforms.
Richard suggested that we need more Ham Radio operators.
Deb added that we also have people with no internet – elders, people working at the museum, etc., and we have to call them or go door to door.
Emma wondered about a place where all could go, like the store, to sign out and leave their plans. Dina said that wouldn’t work for out west, because they probably wouldn’t evacuate through town.
Jessie suggested an electronic version of that. Emma added that we want redundancy and Richard said Sheriffs and Firefighters are required to physically check homes. Dina thought something easy to attach to peoples mailboxes, if they are at the end of their driveway. Jojo said that she’s still going to go to everyone’s doors in her neighborhood. Sita said The Ashram found a black and white striped flag on their mailbox when they evacuated and she presumed that meant they’d been notified.
Deb inquired about Ham classes to certify new hams and Dina said there is really good online instruction.
Regarding collecting information for NeighborLink, Jessie said it’s a challenge to make new people aware of the importance of connecting with their neighbors even though there is lots of info in the welcome buckets.
Dina asked if a Google survey could collect information. Jess said they got a good response to the last one, saves having to do it physically, although would still have to go door to door for non responders. If Deb would send a form to Jessie, she’ll put it together for a Google survey.
Deb said there are still pods operating effectively in the subdivision and would like to see that duplicated all over Gold Hill more effectively. Each would need a communication person to connect to the 4 area coordinators. Jess said their group texts each other and keeps in good contact re out of town, etc. The main thing right now is to collect all the data for participation
Jojo sees several levels for communicating and getting information – NeighborLink pods, post on the door notices, website and town emails, OEM.
Deb wants to get Anya, Jessie involved in what should go on the website.
Marcus thinks we should brainstorm scenarios for what kind of disasters we might face and how to respond.
Deb is concerned with confidentiality with the website – if we are evacuated she doesn’t like the idea that unknown people would know that.
Dina thinks we could have an FM radio site that would cover our area.
It was decided to meet again in two weeks.

Addendums from Gretchen
Everyone should get an old phone that works without electricity for when the power is out – phone lines may not be out.
I don’t think it should be a big concern about the email list knowing we’re evacuated. This is not a common occurrence and the Sheriff blocks access as soon as evacuation orders are issued. Also, I doubt if there are a lot of dangerous lurkers monitoring out town emails. I can reliably say that many townspeople miss the emails and call me to find out information regularly
There is lots of emergency information on the website already. Right on the home page there is a link to useful websites which includes OEM and how to sign up for Everbridge.
Respectfully submitted, Gretchen Diefenderfer, Secretary