NEDERLAND — The Nederland Board of Trustees (BOT) met on Tuesday, February 3, 2026, to begin preparations for the upcoming municipal election on April 7. They began with the Drawing of Lot for Ballot, which determines the order of the Town’s Mayoral and Trustee candidates appear on the ballot.

Election   

Mayor Pro Tem Nichole Sterling is officially in the running for Nederland Mayor, as is Billy Giblin, running for a third term. The spinning of a digital “wheel” determined that Sterling’s name will be listed first on the April ballot. 

For the three Trustee seats available, only two candidates have their names in the running: Andrew Joslin—who recently started a short term, taking over the term of a former Trustee—and Matthew Kennedy. The spinning of the wheel determined that Joslin would be listed first on the ballot. 

Trustee Tania Corvalan urged the Town to do more outreach to the community in order to drum up interest in public service and source potential write-in candidates. Trustee Kristopher Larsen asked if write-in candidates were expected to declare themselves in advance of the election. 

Larsen noted that his concern arose because there were fewer candidates than open seats on the Board, so a write-in candidate could be voted onto the BOT with very few votes. This could result in what Larsen called a “Fred the Cat situation,” referring to the Town’s one-time feline Mayor.  

Town Attorney Jennifer Madsen clarified that the BOT directed the Town to draft Ordinance 840 in April of 2023, amending Nederland Municipal Code to remove language pertaining to a requirement for an affidavit of intent for write-in candidates. Ordinance 840 was approved in December of 2023. 

Housing Authority?

The Board entered into a discussion regarding the proposal to join a Peak to Peak Multi-Jurisdictional Housing Authority (MJHA), which was originally proposed as a collaboration between the Town of Nederland, Gilpin County, the City of Black Hawk, the City of Central, and the Town of Lyons. 

Back in February of 2024, the Town partnered with Gilpin County to apply for a $150,000 Local Planning Capacity Grant, offered by the Department of Local Affairs, for a study on the feasibility of developing a MJHA.

A $10,000 match was required from Nederland, which came from American Rescue Plan Act funds that the Town had earmarked for housing initiatives. The Town was ultimately awarded $104,000 for the study to be developed.

The Board at that time stated that a MJHA would help bridge the “fundamental political divide” between Boulder County and the needs of mountain residents, and that a Peak to Peak perspective and voice in housing matters was essential.  

During the Tuesday meeting, Sara Walsh from C.O.R.E. (Capital, Operations, and Real Estate) Planning Group led Trustees through an update regarding the MJHA feasibility report, and first presented a quick overview of the purpose, process, and scope of the project.

An MJHA is a governmental entity bound by an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) that acts as the regional power over affordable housing planning, financing, building, maintenance, and management. 

This entity is governed by a Board of Directors, as well as a designated financial officer and Department of Revenue liaison, and can support municipalities with its ability to “issue bonds, levy taxes, and collect development impact fees with funding from participant jurisdictions and federal, state and local grant programs.”

The purpose of the feasibility study is to examine how an MJHA would impact the local region by forming a main working group of key stakeholders who will draft the overall governance and operational structures of the Authority. They will also source sustainable funding for its creation and continued operation. 

Though there are not many examples of such multi-jurisdictional authorities in Colorado, Nederland’s Town Manager Jonathan Cain has previously worked on implementing the Clear Creek County Housing Authority.

Challenges that were faced when creating and managing other MJHAs include maintaining staffing, ensuring that the Authority is not underfunded, and showcasing to the local residents the immediate benefits for the municipality. 

The benefits of having a MJHA include the ability for regional partners to work together to face common challenges. These include their limited developmental land, the high barriers in terms of affordability that exist for seniors and the workforce, the lack of diversity of available housing, and a lack of wage growth to support people who want to live where they work. 

Nederland and its neighbors have been experiencing their own issues related to a lack of affordable housing for many years, so much so that all who have expressed interest in the forming of this MJHA have also joined to be a part of the statewide Proposition 123 initiative. This mandates each municipality to provide a certain amount of affordable housing in order for them to be eligible for yet another special tier of funding. 

Walsh presented a recommendation to Nederland at the end of the presentation, stating that she felt the MJHA would be a good fit for Nederland in that it would provide the Town with a support team that understands its needs better than Boulder County. Walsh added, however, that the staffing and budget concerns that have befallen other MJHAs are also concerns in Nederland’s case. 

Two budgets were presented, one for two full-time employees, and another for just one; the annual budget for a fully staffed MJHA would total $407,492 by year three, with Nederland’s contribution, based on population, rising from $66,000 to $70,000 a year for those first three years.

Alternatives to being a part of the MJHA included using the funds to instead hire a new Town employee, to create a housing-focused non-profit entity, or to continue to hope for more public/private partnerships. However, the Town would lose the expertise, support, and funding opportunities provided by having an MJHA. 

As Trustees were given the chance to ask clarifying questions, the main concerns were budgetary, acknowledging that Nederland entered 2026 with a deficit, with 2027's budget looking to be just as tight. It was revealed that the Town of Lyons, which received the same feasibility report the day prior, had decided to pull out of the MJHA due to their own budget concerns. 

Cain reiterated to the Board that the requirements of Proposition 123 were approaching, and that the creation of affordable housing has been one of Nederland’s priority goals for many years. He stated his belief that more research and analysis can be done in order to find creative ways to share resources with neighboring communities and potentially bring the annual cost of the MJHA down. 

Visitor Center

Trustees also discussed the future of the Nederland Visitor Center, and reviewed a Scope of Services, as the Town asked for clarification as to whether to run the center itself in 2026, or to lease it to a third-party contractor to take over its management and operations. 

The mission statement of the Visitor Center, drafted by Town staff, is to help people experience Nederland by “welcoming visitors, connecting them to local businesses and experiences, and providing reliable community information and public services.”

The ideal candidate would be expected to provide in-person assistance, with general information about all that goes on in the community. They would be a resource to both residents and visitors, having the institutional knowledge of Nederland required to direct them to local businesses, events, and experiences.

A strong working relationship with regional partners, local businesses, Town staff, and the Nederland Downtown Development Authority (NDDA) would also be required, to ensure that all information being shared is up-to-date and accurate. 

Also essential is experience in managing a small retail operation, including staff training and oversight, money-handling, administrative duties, janitorial services, and product purchasing and sales knowledge.

Cain provided a record of visitor interactions at the center throughout 2025, indicating that the winter months had the lowest number of visitors, and the summer months had the highest, with the center seeing over 2,300 guests in the month of July alone. Cain noted that the center’s bathrooms probably saw about four times as much visitation.  

Though Mayor Billy Giblin wished for a Request For Proposal (RFP) to be released so that the Board could have a chance to review the options of leasing the center to a third-party, most Trustees felt that it was too late in the year to begin the RFP process, as the intention is to have the center fully staffed and open for business by the busy summer months. 

Trustees instead agreed with Cain’s summation that the center just needs the right individual to make the space successful, and that the Town should run the center in 2026 while continuing to search for that perfect person and by trying to work with the NDDA to help fund operations.  

The Nederland Board of Trustees meets on the first and third Tuesday of every month. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, February 17, 2026, at 7 p.m. and can be attended either online or in person at the Nederland Community Center. 

For more information go to: https://townofnederland.colorado.gov/board-of-trustees.