The ghost of Christmas past gently nudged Ebenezer forward. “Come, come dear sir, don’t be reticent! We need to hear what the dear fellow is saying.” Commissioner Ken Eye was in the lobby of the newly constructed Community Center. “No, that will not do – the plaque cannot simply list the commissioner’s name. It is the people of Gilpin County who made this possible. It was the families and citizens who pushed us commissioners to build this facility. They wanted a place for the community to be centered around – it’s their names that need to be on this plaque.”

Twenty years later Ebenezer again found himself present in that lobby. “As you can see, this plaque says ‘Envisioned by… Built for… Dedicated to… The People of Gilpin County.’ It was the people of Gilpin County who made this Community Center and Parks and Recreation possible. Hopefully the citizens will continue the dream.”

The Director of Parks and Recreation was telling this to a group of visitors. Ebenezer spun to face the ghost of Christmas Present. “Hopefully?? – is it not certain? Do they not know what will be lost?” Christmas Present pointed.

Ebenezer spun to face the ghost of the future. “What does the future hold – can it be changed?” he asked the apparition.

Without getting melodramatic, Ebenezer’s question of what will be lost is critical. There is a cause and effect here. Losing or reducing Parks and Recreation will cause service reductions and have a financial and social impact. While there has been much talk about the cost of keeping Parks and Recreation, too little discussion has been devoted to the cost of losing Parks and Recreation.

The failure of Ballot 1A will initiate a cascade of actions starting in January 2024. For the year 2024, services will be impacted, with a reduction in the Community Center’s days of operation being reduced from the current five days to three. The Community Center will be open Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. The pool will be closed, swim lessons gone – water slide silent. Access to and availability of fitness programs, classes such as ceramics and yoga reduced.

Seniors will be impacted, with Monday, Wednesday, and Friday lunches cut back to Wednesday and Friday. Senior fitness classes will be decreased.

The cascade will continue, with community-focused events being reduced or eliminated. The County Fair funding will be cut and the Fair itself will be shortened from two days to one. Bah! Humbug! to the Winter Arts Festival – it will be no longer. Daddy Daughter Dance and Dive eliminated – no pool, no dive. Easter Egg Hunt may possibly have to find another home.

Pop-up events such as movie night, Spooky Stroll, Holistic Homestead Farmers Market, Get Fit will not be possible. Sports such as basketball and pickle ball will have more limited access to the gym. Groups that use the Multi-Purpose Room will have less access to that resource. Resilience 1220 – teen counseling – will no longer have space for counseling.

If the lack of funding continues into 2025, odds are that 20 years of service to the community will end.

What may not be known by many is that, in the event of a disaster, the Community Center provides shelter. Emergency Management within the Sheriff’s office will, if necessary during a disaster or crisis, use the Community Center, along with the help of the American Red Cross, to provide shelter for up to 500 people in the gym and another 103 people in the Multi- Purpose Room. Also, along with the Gilpin County Animal Rescue Team (GCART), shelter will be provided to animals in the Barn.

The Community Center also functions as a Re-Unification site for our children in the event of a fire, school shooting, or other crisis. Based on programs defined in the “I Love U Guys” Foundation, the Community Center and Emergency Management will provide a place to reunify children with their families and provide the social support needed in a crisis.

The lives of families and children are at stake here, and eliminating funding for Parks and Recreation will, at the very least, impact availability of personnel and facility readiness in 2024 and who knows what in 2025. This adds unnecessary risk. As “I Love U Guys” says, “Crisis isn’t a choice. Response is.”

Economically, first and foremost, members of our community, post holidays, will lose their jobs or have their hours cut back for 2024. With the pool closing, about 10 positions, both full-time and part-time will be eliminated. Those who remain will have their hours reduced from 40 to 32. The County will lose the revenue generated by fees and classes.

Revenue streams for vendors will be reduced due to the reduction and elimination of events. Contractors who provide classes at the Community Center will see their revenues reduced. This will make it harder to attract vendors to County events if the events are being scaled back, making it still more difficult to stage community events.

Parks and Recreation provides childcare programs to families within our community. This service will be safe for 2024 due to grant funding for all of 2024. It could be gone in 2025, because it becomes difficult to find or renew grant funding if your facility operates on a part-time basis. There is no other childcare in Gilpin County other than Eagle’s Nest, which is preschool only. This places a large financial and emotional burden on parents trying to hold a job while they depend on this childcare service.

Parks and Recreation, along with the Community Center and Barn, reflect our values. These certainly include commitment to family, and to the health and welfare of the community through good times and during crisis as well.

What would be left for the county residents if Parks and Recreation was no longer? Casinos, of course, but they cater to gambling clientele. There are new distilleries and Central City cabarets – these all have a very different focus. We would be left with the ghost of what we once were.