NEDERLAND - The Nederland Board of Trustees (BOT) met on Tuesday, May 20, 2025, to discuss, and take action on, two amendments to agreements: one between the Town of Nederland and TEENS, Inc. regarding their lease for a childcare center, and a second between the Town and engineering firm JVA for work on the Big Springs Egress project.

Before the start of their meeting the BOT held a closed executive session during which they discussed and received legal advice on the Town’s potential “purchase of property and operations for recreational activities and other municipal services.”

The Board also voted to approve Resolution 2025-11, which provides Town Administrator Jonathan Cain the authority to retain financial advisors and underwriters specifically for the Town’s attempt to acquire Eldora Mountain Resort.

Cain specified within his Agenda Information Memorandum (AIM) that these financial firms may be responsible for advising the Town on matters related to bond issuance, assisting with certain documentation, and managing the bond issuance process. 

TEENS, Inc. lease
The BOT were tasked with providing Town staff direction regarding the Ground Lease with TEENS, Inc. for Town-owned land at 750 West 5th Street.

The Board approved the 99-year lease, for $1 a year, in February of this year, with the expectation that TEENS, Inc. would be developing a new childcare center on that property. Despite the lease specifically limiting the building to 8,600 square feet, Community Planner Britt DeMinck noticed that the architectural plans submitted by TEENS, Inc. during a building permit review in April show the childcare center to be approximately 9,616 square feet. 

Though the previous Special Review Use and zoning approvals awarded to TEENS, Inc. for this project allows for the construction of a childcare facility of up to 10,000 square feet, a lease amendment is still required to be in alignment with the contract.

According to the Cain’s AIM, TEENS, Inc., after acknowledging their mistake, requested a lease amendment to allow for the additional 10.5% in area for the project. They detailed how “reconfiguring the project to reduce square footage would introduce cost, timeline, and design risks,” as well as affecting their ability to open the facility “as planned.” 

Stephen LeFaiver, Executive Director of TEENS, Inc., reiterated his belief that the majority of the community is in favor of this project, even when it was rumored to be larger than 10,000 square feet. LeFaiver also stated that redesigning the center will negatively impact their aim to provide as much service to the community as possible.

The Board had a lot of questions regarding the use of space in the design, asking whether required outdoor spaces, such as the parking lot and a path by the creek, had been delivered.

The response was that these requirements had been met. 

The use of indoor space was also scrutinized by Trustees, which resulted in LeFaiver justifying the use of space for required facilities, for bathrooms, a commercial kitchen, ADA-compliant hallways, and other amenities to make the center a comfortable working environment. 

Before going to public comment, Mayor Billy Giblin opined that the design team did not properly advise LeFaiver, and therefore was doing the project a disservice overall. 

“You’re not helping the project settle into the neighborhood as well as it could’ve,” Giblin said.

Many members of the public spoke in support of TEENS, Inc. because of the need for childcare in Nederland, but there were some who echoed Giblin’s criticism of the project’s team.

This resulted in some public comments defending LeFaiver and the extensive process that many groups are undergoing to ensure success.  

Mayor Pro Tem Nichole Sterling provided her own past experience in childcare as both staff and as a parent, and provided additional context as to what, in terms of equipment and space, is not only required, but desired, in rooms for preschoolers and for infants. 

Trustee Kristopher Larsen expressed his concern regarding the “optics” on what was already a contentious matter, and stated that the BOT should not rush the process when such a discrepancy has arisen.

Mayor Giblin agreed about the perceived bad optics, but said that though the building is, in his opinion, quite large, he understands that the need for childcare in Nederland is considerably larger.  

The Board moved the discussion to an action item, and then voted to approve Mayor Giblin signing a lease amendment, to be reviewed by the Town attorney, to allow for an increase in the building size of the TEENS, Inc. New Explorers childcare center to 9,700 square feet. 

 Engineering agreement

Trustees were also tasked with voting on Resolution 2025-10, which amends the Professional Services Agreement with the Town’s engineering consultants JVA. The agreement concerns engineering work for the Big Springs Egress project, an ongoing initiative from the Town to provide an alternate escape route from the Big Springs neighborhood to be used in the event of a wildfire. 

The amendment extends the agreement to December 31, 2025, as the original agreement expired on that same day last year. 

With no questions from Trustees or any continued discussion on the matter, a motion was made to approve Resolution 2025-10, which was seconded and approved unanimously. 

Town law enforcement?
Cain presented to the Board the matter of re-establishing local law enforcement for the Town of Nederland. The Town has been contracting with Boulder County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) for coverage since the Nederland Police Department disbanded in 2023 due to staffing concerns and budgetary restraints. 

The conversation about bringing back local law enforcement ramped up after the BOT learned during budget discussions in October of 2024 that their contract with BCSO would be increased for the next year by 13%, and that the Town can expect such an increase every year.

Cain stated that the discussion was necessary in order to ascertain the Board’s position on whether to pursue this matter any further, as any forward progress would require “significant resource commitment,” including hiring consultants or a Marshal to conduct a feasibility study and help implement the re-formation of a Nederland Police Department. 

The Board was provided with case studies showing how neighboring municipalities maintain their own law enforcement, as well as estimated startup costs for such an endeavor.

Of the nine municipalities listed, ranging in population from as low as 430 residents to over 3,000, all but three maintain their own local departments.

There was a varying degree of success regarding maintaining local law enforcement, as most municipalities found success in community-focused policing, and leveraged the cost through additional fees on utility bills.

There were some who reestablished their local law enforcement and experienced gaps in coverage from the continued issues of cost and maintaining staff.

After adding the cost of equipment, recruitment, and administrative setup, the startup costs for establishing a new Nederland Police Department could range from $1 million to more than $7 million, depending on the cost of a new facility, which the Town had estimated could cost up to $6 million. 

These estimates also include the $60,000 cost of the necessary feasibility study. 

The estimated yearly operating cost is somewhere between $1.5 million to $2.2 million, with the majority of that cost attributed  to salaries for six to 10 full-time officers.

The Board discussed the logistics of such a prospect, remaining realistic according to their budgetary projections, and also noted the issue of staffing, which was an issue for the last iteration of the Nederland Police Department, as well as is an issue for BCSO. 

Mayor Pro Tem Sterling recommended that the discussion be tabled until the BOT’s strategic planning work sessions, and mentioned how establishing local law enforcement may not be as high a priority for the Town when compared to other issues. 

Bag fees
Sustainability Coordinator Cass Grady led the BOT in a discussion regarding the Town’s recently passed ordinance instituting a ban across all Nederland businesses on plastic bags and polystyrene packaging.

Ordinance 862 also adds a $0.10 fee for each disposable paper bag distributed to customers, with businesses retaining 40% of that revenue, and 60% returning to the Town.  

Town staff was requesting direction from the Board as to how the collected bag fees should be distributed. The bill that helped to bring about Ordinance 862, House Bill 21-1162, states that bag fees may be used to pay for administrative and policy enforcement costs, as well as for any related waste programs, such as recycling and composting. 

Ordinance 862 lists the allowable uses of bag fees as providing reusable bags; educating the public on the impacts of disposable bags; funding waste reduction programs and infrastructure as well as “community cleanup” events; purchasing equipment related to waste reduction; and maintaining the Town’s website, which provides information regarding waste reduction initiatives. 

For the first quarter of 2025, the Town has collected $714.30, and expects to receive nearly $3,000 in bag fees by the end of the year. Grady recommends that the funds be used to further promote the Town’s zero waste efforts, and to create both incentives for composting and recycling, and a restaurant composting program. 

Grady also suggested using the fees to work with Recycle Colorado, a non-profit focused on advancing municipal policies to advance efforts in “waste reduction, recovery, and diversion.”

Many Trustees were in favor of the idea of a composting program for local restaurants, though it was noted that creating the program would come with complications, involving education and implementation of the process into each restaurant’s own processes. 

The matter will return as an actionable AIM, with Grady investigating some of the more viable options for the fees, including the cost of a restaurant composting program, and the potential to procure a grant to help with the implementation of such a program. 

Partners In Energy
Trustees also approved the Town applying to Xcel Energy’s free Partners In Energy program for the creation of a new Energy Action Plan, which will outline the Town’s goals for clean energy, and a vision for the Nederland of 2045. 

The Town worked with Xcel in 2019 to create an Energy Action Plan, and again in 2023 to create an EV Action Plan.

An application is required before May 21 in order for a Memorandum of Understanding to be drafted and approved and for work on the new Energy Action Plan to begin.

The Nederland Board of Trustees meets on the first and third Tuesday of every month. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 3, 2025, 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.