Gerchard Pfau Golden City Council – Ward 2

I am continuing my ‘office hours’ for June – but only one date this month.

June 29^th 11am – noon @ Scully’s Cafe, 1812 miners Spur Rd, Golden CO 80401, Building 5. I’ll be hanging out at one of the tables – outside if it’s nice!  Come by and have a coffee with me. Remember the Orecart drops you off right infront of Scully’s!

Water and Drought

Golden has declared a Stage 1 Drought Response effective May 1st 2026. If you are looking for more information regarding Golden’s Drought Status and restrictions please go to the following link  Water Conservation.  There you will find the current drought status and rules.

I’m happy to update that Golden has reduced total water diversion for May by about 15% comparing May 2025 to May 2026.  For comparison, Denver Water’s 1.5 million customers reduced water use by about 5% and Aurora reported a 6.5% reduction.   Personally, my family has reduced water consumption by about 17% in May.  Frankly, I expected a bigger reduction but back in May 2025 it rained during several of my sprinkler days and I skipped watering those days.  I hope to do better during the rest of the summer.   Remember to sign up for your Aquahawk account to see how your water use.

Fireworks

Golden is updating its Stage 1 Fire Restrictions to include prohibiting Fireworks.  Up to now, Fireworks were prohibited at Stage 2 and higher.  Any Fireworks are prohibited when weather conditions are risky.

E-Bikes & E-Motos

Golden is developing a coordinated safety initiative focused on preventing serious injuries through education, community awareness, data tracking, and targeted enforcement.  Communications efforts will include:

• Informer Article in July
• Bell Middle School Parent Newsletter – released May 21^st
• Ongoing social media messaging
• Education resources for parents and children
• Bike to work day outreach related to e-bikes
• National Night Out engagement
• Area-specific signage
• Creek Ambassador talking points
• Targeted outreach in location where complaints are most common

It includes a dedicated reporting email address (emotosafety@cityofgolden.gov) and tracking system to help identify hotspot areas, monitor trends and support target communications and enforcement.  Stay tuned for more information.

Affordability was one of the key points highlighted in the Community Survey Results.  There are several things you can take advantage of to help with Affordability today:

City of Golden Emerald Ash Borer Subsidy Program – this is a program that will cover 50% of the costs up to $500 for ash tree removal or preventative chemical treatments.  Go to https://goldenco.rja.revize.com/forms/13360 and read the detailed requirements.

The City of Golden Rebate Program.  Go to this link and read the details of what rebates are available and requirements.  Note that Portable Electric Battery Power Stations along with Solar Power Systems and whole house backup Battery Systems are included in the rebate program – along with many other home improvements.  Over 40% of the budget allocated to this program has been released. Don’t wait too long to apply for the rebates.

Did you know about the FREE Home Wildland Fire Mitigation evaluation available from the Golden Fire Department?  Professionals from our Fire Department and Forestry Department will come to your home and evaluate/recommend what you can do to help ‘Harden’ your home against Wildfires.   Go to this link to sign up and find out what you could do to help protect your home in the event of a Wildfire.  By the way, I just did mine and have started working on ‘hardening’ my home.

• Links
  • City Web Page Calendar – go to the city calendar
  • City Contact List – go to a list of city contacts
  • City Fixit – report a non-emergency issue
  • City Council and Board Meetings schedule – access video links, prereads, etc.
  • Golden’s National Community Survey Results – read what city residents are saying about Golden through this scientific poll conducted every three years.