The Town of Nederland is changing, all the time. It changes every year, every season. In its position on the Peak to Peak Highway, Nederland is a central ventricle, a beating heart with all sorts of life being pumped through it. It expands and shrinks as different people constantly visit here, move here, move away, come back, camp here, work here, and try to make a life here.

Miranda Fisher grew up here; she calls Nederland her home town, and for the last five years has served as the Town Administrator, a position which she has expressed feeling honored to have held.

She has taken the responsibilities that come with being at the helm of a town in such an important geographical position, knowing that she would have to face a community that’s constantly wrestling with the challenges of living in that very position.

A community that is used to being ignored by Boulder County, used to poor communication from CDOT and RTD, used to power outages and wind storms, snow storms, floods, and fires. Such hardened communities often become so acclimated to disenfranchisement that they directly oppose that which threatens to change it, such as tourism, economic development, population growth, and downtown revitalization.

Fisher is from this community and was aware of these matters before taking the job, though she admits that there was a learning curve when she started in the position of Town Clerk in 2019. But mitigating an entrenched culture in Town government helped Fisher to fully grasp the reality of the career she had chosen.

“I remember the first time I was publicly criticized,” Fisher told The Mountain-Ear. “There was this moment where I thought, ‘you’re either going to grow a really thick skin and move forward or this isn’t the job for you.’ And in that moment I decided that I did want this job and wanted to do it for the rest of my career.”

Fisher holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Technical Communication from Colorado State University, a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Pennsylvania State College, and a Doctoral Degree in Public Administration from California Baptist University.

She left a job in health and human services administration to pursue an interest in town management, but veering her career path into her home town came with unforeseen emotional challenges, from the risks of being villainized and isolated, to having to separate personal and professional relationships.

“The expectations here and the reality are so far from each other, and often people communicate in such a negative, challenging, and borderline abusive way with Town staff,” Fisher said.

“It’s unfortunate that you need to have such thick skin to do this job, but you cannot survive without it, and I learned that very quickly.”

“You could really feel a rift and divide between departments,” Fisher continued, describing her early days as the new Town Administrator. “We, as Town staff, had gotten a little stale in our approaches and my leadership led to a staff transition. Some people left and went on their own way, and I know that was hard for the community to see.”

“I remember getting criticized at that time about what was happening, but with those incredible employees who left us arose an opportunity to realize that we needed to go a different way as far as staff culture.”

As Town Administrator, Fisher was determined to affect the culture of Nederland’s municipal government in positive ways, such as avoiding stagnation by improving and expanding on the Town’s collaborative relationships with neighboring entities, and by building a team of young, “green” talent.

“We all start from somewhere. Nederland hasn’t always had the luxury of having a huge candidate pool, and there were opportunities where I realized that there was a person in a certain position who was meant to be in another position,” Fisher explained.

“I don’t ever want their greenness to be looked at as a negative thing; it gives space for creativity and to look at things differently. It’s how we come up with alternative revenue streams and the ability to do certain things.”

“Everyone who works with me doesn’t believe in the status quo. The sentiment of ‘that’s how we’ve always done it’ doesn’t mean anything to me, and for better or worse, however the community feels, I’m leaving here knowing that I’ve pushed the boundary of what we can do as a town in all the best ways.”

When asked about the ebbs and flows of her time as Town Administrator, Fisher admits that there were difficult moments to navigate, including the COVID-19 pandemic. She unapologetically addresses the hard decisions that were made under her administration.

“There have been times where the Board was really questioning my leadership, like when we lost the whole Utilities department and the police department. Those are probably the two biggest defining moments where we had to make some tough decisions,” Fisher said.

“And recently, having to decide to make the community center a warming hut instead of an emergency shelter, I got criticized for it and had to defend that decision before the Board.”

In her final Town Administrator Staff Report delivered to the Board of Trustees on May 21, Fisher highlighted what she believed to be the milestones that have been achieved during her tenure.

Fisher noted the strides Nederland has taken to tackle its affordable housing problem head on, from code changes to partnering with neighboring communities and committing to state programs. She also put a spotlight on the work being done for health and human services, including funding a volunteer driver program and mental health training.

The Town’s Water and Wastewater management was also mentioned by Fisher as having improved over the years, with over 150 water meters replaced, all of Nederland’s hydrants inspected and repaired where necessary, and improvements made to the infrastructure and facilities.

Fisher admits that success in municipal government is difficult to gauge, noting that much of what she considers a success isn’t highly publicized. But of all the plans, proposals, and projects that Fisher has championed over the years, she views the change in compensation for Town staff as a great accomplishment for the Town.

“They’re getting paid better than they were, so it’s generally just a really happy culture and I’m not sure we were there five years ago,” Fisher said.

In 2023, Nederland’s municipal employees received pay raises to bring their salaries up to the minimum of the state average, which Fisher and others believe has helped the Town to be a competitive force in the employment market.

When Fisher’s position of Town Administrator was announced open, the Town received a much higher number of applicants than ever before. Of the multiplicity of applicants, four were short-listed.

Nederland officials, from Trustees to Commissioners and Board members, commented on the quality of applicants, stating that they were originally worried about finding a proper replacement for Fisher until they interviewed the four candidates for the position.

“The 19 candidates were incredible, and getting them down to four was difficult,” Fisher noted, adding that there was half that number of candidates when she ran for the position, and that the choice was narrowed down to a final two.

“When I went for the position the salary was $70,000 to $80,000. It’s $127,000 to $147,000 now, and our neighbor counterparts are making $160,000, so we’re paying people equitably, though technically still on the lower end.”

Fisher resigned as Town Administrator on April 16, having accepted a position of Town Manager for Camp Verde, Arizona. Her last day with Nederland was Friday, May 24; her first day with Camp Verde was Tuesday, May 28.

“It’s a fully staffed team of 130 staff members, with almost a $60 million budget. I love that I have the opportunity to work with a community of 13,000, in a place that I’ve loved since I started my bachelors degree there,” Fisher said.

“What attracts me to Camp Verde is their desire to invest in economic development. I think there’s a stalemate here – and that’s okay that Nederland is not there yet – but for me, professionally, I want to be in a community that wants economic development.

“They’re going through everything Nederland is going through, just on a larger scale, so I want to take my skill set to see if I can do it. And that’s authentically me, I’m going for myself and for no other reason,” Fisher admitted.

“I have a career I’m looking to develop and unfortunately the only way you grow in town management is to go to another community.”

Unfortunately, Fisher’s exit from town has been met with an amount of community ire and perceived controversy, which she classifies as more of the misinformation and perpetuated distrust that have permeated Nederland government and politics for quite some time.

Fisher addressed the rumors circulating her compensation from Town upon separation, and her capped hourly compensation for consulting services.

“I’m not leaving with this massive severance, I’m not getting a huge payout. I’ll get my PTO pay, like every paid employee does, and that’s it. So the rumor that I renegotiated to get a six months severance is ludicrous,” Fisher stated.

“I know some people are concerned about the consulting, but we have a lot of land use stuff going on and I have the knowledge. My intention is not to bill the town like crazy; I’m here if you need me, and if not, great.”

She was sure to mention that Camp Verde’s social media was strangely supportive and positive, which was a bit of a shock to her.

After she made her resignation public, Fisher immediately began preparing informational binders for the team she helped build, to guide them through all the different plans and projects that are still progressing, such as the Multimodal Transportation Plan, the Safer Main Streets project, the Comprehensive Plan update, and the regional broadband initiative.

Though Fisher defines her move to Camp Verde as another step in her career plan, her pragmatism doesn’t erase the strong emotions she has for the town and for the municipal staff that she has worked with and alongside over the years.

“I’ve cried every day, and I’m not a crier. It’s very hard,” Fisher said.

“The hardest thing to leave, honestly, are these incredible people. I’ve been there to celebrate their milestones, their accomplishments, every step of the way, and I can only hope the next administrator is like that.

“Staff said, when asked what they’re looking for in the next town administrator, that they wanted someone to take the bullets for them,” Fisher continued. “With all the negativity that we see, I hope for the future that people are more mindful in how they speak to Town staff.

“On behalf of the team that I support, please don’t forget how incredible they’ve been, how much they’ve done. Be more cordial in our communication and seek to understand instead of jumping to assumptions of ill will or wrongdoing.

“The hardest thing about government work is how easily what we’ve done and where we’ve come from are forgotten.”