The Friends of the Gilpin County Community Center (FGCCC), a nonpartisan non-profit group, is hosting a moderated Town Hall to discuss the proposed mill levy extension for funding Parks & Recreation. The event will occur on August 21 at the Gilpin County Community Center, 250 Norton Drive, Black Hawk, from 6 to 10 p.m.

The Town Hall will feature a panel made up of the three County Commissioners -- Marie Mornis (Chair), Sandy Hollingsworth and Susan Berumen, plus County Manager Ray Rears, County Finance Director Joe Allaire, and the Director of Parks and Recreation Gabrielle Chisholm. According to FGCCC president Carolyn Collins Petersen, the Town Hall will follow a League of Women Voters-style format. It will feature presentations from the panelists and then open the floor to questions from attendees. “We’ve been working on this event since early summer, coordinating everyone’s schedules so they could all be present,” she said. “We know this is an important issue for many Gilpinites. So, this format should allow for a respectful set of discussions.”

The group has also prepared a Frequently Asked Questions page about the extension, available on their website at: https://gilpincommunitycenter.org/ at the “Mill Levy Extension Q&As” tab. “Our members have fielded a lot of questions about the extension and there seems to be some inaccurate or outdated information about the issue out there,” Petersen said. “So, we took the opportunity to talk to county officials about it. We got some history on the P&R department, the current mill levy, and as many actual facts as are known about the effects of the mill levy extension on property taxes.”

The Town Hall will also be made available via Zoom for those who cannot get to the Center for the live meeting. There’s a Zoom link on the group’s website at https://gilpincommunitycenter.org/, under the headline “Friends of Gilpin County Community Center is Hosting a Town Hall to Discuss the P&R Mill Levy Extension.”

For further information, email the Friends Group at GilpinParksandRec@gmail.com.

The Friends of the Gilpin County Community Center is an independent organization based in Gilpin County. Since 2021 it has worked to support activities at the Parks & Recreation Department, including the Gilpin Fair, the Winter Arts Festival, children’s water safety courses, and much more.