Friends of Gilpin County Community Center

Statement on Mill Levy Ballot Issue 1A

It’s disappointing to see the mill levy 1A lose. I want to thank the Gilpin County voters who supported the issue to stabilize funding for Parks & Recreation. Our bipartisan Friends group worked very hard to get accurate, substantiated facts out to the voters. We’re very grateful to the county officials who shared their time, expertise, and knowledge of budget processes so we could do that.

The Community Center Campus is a place where people from this county (and beyond) connect in many ways. Gabrielle Chisholm and her staff have worked very hard to provide everything it does. So, if the result of the mill levy losing is to cut back its services and hours—well, that’s counter to everything that so many Gilpinites worked on together to achieve with it over the past twenty years since the Center first opened.

The next moves are really up to the Commissioners and county officials. They will have to step up and find ways to stabilize the P&R budget. They should work together to find resources to replace those that would have been supplied if the mill levy had passed. I hope they can do that.

Supporting Our Parks & Rec Department

The Friends of Gilpin County Community Center (FGCCC) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation and Colorado Charitable Corporation made up of citizens of Gilpin County, Colorado. We volunteer our support for the Gilpin County Community Center and Parks & Recreation and salute its vital position in the life of our mountain community. We do this through the following actions:

• Research and community feedback;
• Support funding for activities and equipment through grants and donations;
• Assistance to Gilpin neighbors who wish to access the center through Heart of the Community Fund;
• providing volunteers for departmental events, such as the Gilpin County Fair;
• Voter education about funding for the department.

• Read more about our work here.

Spooky Fun!

Thanks to the many folks who came out for the Spooky Trick or Treat Stroll on October 20th! We were pleased to sponsor and participate in all the fun by serving up many, many, many cups of Hallowe’en Hot Chocolate and Spooky Cider!

It was so much fun to see all the great costumes on both kids and adults. We’re grateful to United Power for helping us supply the hot drinks, and to Krystal and all the folks at the Community Center for their hard work in organizing the festivities!

First Responder’s Day

We were honored to attend the First Responder’s Day on September 10th as a supporter of the event. A number of Gilpinites turned out to salute our first responders and enjoy some rodeo activities.

Earlier this year, we helped the Center purchase a bouncy obstacle course. It provided a great time for all the young Gilpinites during the First Responder’s Day activities.

Look for us at the Spooky Stroll on October 20th. We’ll be volunteering to make it a great time for all the trick-or-treaters who attend.

Thanks to all Who Attended!

We have a link to a Zoom recording of the town hall at our Mill Levy Q&A page.

We are grateful to all who attended the Mill Levy town hall at the Community Center on Monday, August 21st. Special thanks to Commissioners Berumen, Hollingsworth, and Mornis, along with County Manager Rears, County Finance Director Allaire, and Parks & Recreation Director Chisholm, along with County Attorney Benning for their participation and presentations about the mill levy.

We had many good questions from attendees about the issues involved—and those issues are complex! We are happy to have made the forum accessible to people with a variety of viewpoints on the issue—and they were able to share their thoughts publicly. That’s the point of an open Town Hall, to hear viewpoints from both PRO and CON so that voters can make an informed choice when they go to vote.

Friends of Gilpin County Community Center is Hosting a Town Hall to Discuss the P&R Mill Levy Extension

We are honored to host an open Town Hall on August 21st, 2023 from 6-8 p.m. at the Gilpin County Community Center and via Zoom to discuss the proposed mill levy extension for Parks & Recreation. This is your chance to hear from and ask questions of a panel of County officials, including the  Board of County Commissioners Susan Berumen, Sandy Hollingsworth, and Marie Mornis, County Manager Ray Rears, County Finance Director Joe Allaire, and Parks & Recreation Director Gabrielle Chisholm.

This Town Hall format features each of the county officials talking about the proposed mill levy extension, after which we will open the event up to questions and comments from the public.

We have prepared a FAQ about the extended mill levy. We cordially invite you to read it to help understand the issues. We wrote it as a voter education aid and you are welcome to use it to prepare any further questions you might wish to pose at the Town Hall.

We urge you to attend in person, if at all possible. We will be working to make this available for those logging in via Zoom. You can enter starting at 6 p.m. on the 21st. Please wait to be admitted to the meeting. Note: our Zoom account limits us to 100 participants online.

The Town Hall will be moderated both on-site and via Zoom. We will welcome questions via the Chat feature in Zoom. The formal presentations will begin at 6:15 p.m.

We hope to see you there!