The Nederland Board of Trustees (BOT) met on Tuesday, January 3, 2023, for their first scheduled meeting of the year to appoint a seventh Trustee to the Board. The BOT also heard a presentation regarding the Town of Nederland adopting an official recognition of the indigenous populations of the area.

The BOT began their first meeting of 2023 by approving the Consent Agenda. Within the Consent Agenda the BOT approved Resolution 2023-01 which designates the Nederland Town Hall as the official posting location for public notifications pertaining to local government meetings. Notifications will also continue to be posted at the Nederland Post Office, on social media, and on the official Town of Nederland website.

Trustees also approved within the Consent Agenda the official schedule of BOT meetings for the year of 2023. The BOT will stay committed to holding regular meetings on the first and third Tuesdays of every month, while reserving the second Tuesday of the month for work sessions, to be canceled if there is no work to discuss. The first meeting of July in 2023 was canceled due to it landing on the 4th of July holiday.

Also within the Consent Agenda the BOT approved Resolution 2023-03 which is an amendment to the Town Administrator’s Employment Agreement allowing Mayor Billy Giblin to authorize a cost-of-living increase for Town Administrator Miranda Fisher.

On December 6, 2022, Trustee Karen Blakemore’s resignation was made public. During that meeting the BOT approved a motion to appoint a new Trustee through an application process as opposed to holding a special election. Town Staff released a request for applications on December 8, 2022 and received only one application from resident and Nederland Fire Department (NFD) Volunteer John Mountain.

Mountain has resided in the Peak to Peak area for almost two years and has owned and operated his own property management business since 2009. He has actively volunteered for the Arthritis Foundation since 2012, providing budget planning and event coordination for impactful fundraising efforts. Mountain desires to provide “boots-down protective coverage for the town’s social and financial well-being”.

Trustees had an opportunity to ask Mountain questions pertaining to his core values and reasons for wanting to be on the BOT. Mountain spoke passionately about the Nederland community’s love and respect for the outdoors and how he desires to cherish that, as from Mountain’s personal experience “it can be taken away so easily”. Mountain mentioned experiencing the local government in the town where he lived, ignoring progress and attempting to block new businesses, and eventually vote to allow fracking.

Mountain continued to speak about Nederland’s need for more businesses and a potential sales tax increase in order to build more affordable workforce housing and help pave the way for Nederland’s development and growth. He mentioned densely populated workforce housing with proximity to local business and Eldora, noting the Breckenridge Terrace apartment building as an example.

With only Trustee Tania Corvalan, Trustee Jesse Seavers, Trustee Nichole Sterling, and Mayor Billy Giblin present, the BOT needed three out of four votes in order to approve appointing Mountain to the open seat on the Board. Though Trustee Corvalan and Mayor Giblin felt that, especially due to the lack of public interest and involvement in applying for the position, that Mountain should be appointed, Trustees Seavers and Sterling voted against the motion.

Trustee Sterling expressed concern about Mountain’s commitment to the position in regards to the time needed to be dedicated to not just attending the meetings but preparing for them. Mountain currently volunteers on his off hours for the NFD. Trustee Seavers reiterated that he had advocated for a special election as opposed to appointment for how to fill the vacant seat and that he did not believe Mountain was ready to take on the position at this time.

The motion to appoint Mountain to the position of Trustee was denied bya2-2vote.TheBOTwilldecide during their January 17, 2023, meeting whether or not to direct town staff to request applications for appointment again, or to hold a special election.

Town Administrator Fisher presented to the BOT a request from the landowners of an out-of-town parcel to connect to Nederland’s water and sewer system. The property at 879 County Road 128 W has been assessed for water well installation but has been deemed impossible according to the rules set forth by the Colorado Division of Water Resources.

Trustees were tasked with approving or denying the landowners request and, if voting to approve, had to decide whether or not to request that the landowners pay 150% of the PIF, tap, and user fees associated with the property.

Town Staff could not provide any reasons for why the BOT should deny the landowner’s request considering that there is an existing water and sewer main located there for land parcels to connect to and there is no cost to the Town of Nederland. Nederland’s engineering consultant firm JVA confirmed that there is capacity to add the lot, and Lead Utilities Operator Andrew Bliss advocated for the quality of work on the water and sewer main and fire hydrant hook up.

Landowner Gerald Sutherland was present to answer the BOT’s questions regarding his request. Sutherland was asked about his plans for the home that he wishes to construct on the land, to which he replied that he wishes to reside in the house year round. Trustee Seavers asked if the potential for Sutherland to request to be annexed and become officially a part of Nederland, to which Sutherland noted that he wants to support the town and the community, but has to do for his family what is most financially sound in the rough state of the real estate market.

Mayor Giblin made a motion to approve Surherland’s request to connect to Nederland’s water and sewer utilities at the 2022 PIF, tap, and user fee rates. The motion was seconded and approved unanimously. Town Staff will be drafting an official agreement for the landowner to sign at a later date.

Trustees engaged in a discussion concerning Resolution 2021-11A which allows the Sustainability Advisory Board (SAB) to appoint two members to form a subcommittee that will monitor the conditions of the Nederland’s watershed and report back quarterly and annually to the SAB and BOT. The resolution originally passed on July 6, 2021, and was revised on October 19, 2021.

Fisher and Trustee Sterling acted as representatives of the SAB and fielded any questions from the BOT. Sterling noted that the discussion is truly about permitting the SAB to appoint the members of the subcommittee. Mayor Giblin wished for more information regarding exactly how the subcommittee will monitor the watershed conditions and what their reports will be composed of. Town Staff did not want to answer for members of SAB, so the BOT decided to table the discussion until their January 17, 2023, meeting.

Fisher and Trustee Seavers presented to the BOT a request from Pro Tem Tom Mahowald, Trustee Seavers, and resident Atashnaa Medicineshield Werner to adopt the Indigenous People Acknowledgement. The official acknowledgement is designed to act as a “declaration in public recognition of the unceded Homelands of the Tsitsistas (Cheyenne), Inuna-Ins (Arapaho), Nuche (Ute), and all Indigenous people of Turtle Island”.

By adopting the declaration the Town of Nederland agrees to retain the declaration as a heading on the town’s website and social media, post the declaration at the Visitors Center as well as on a plaque in front of Town Hall, and host an educational event with guest speaker and Cheyenne “spiritual elder-historian-storytellerartist” Joseph David Osage.

Trustees expressed a wish for Osage and Werner to attend future discussions with the BOT and to expand on some of the language used in the official declaration. Mayor Giblin expressed a desire to have indigenous people assist and collaborate in this process. The BOT hopes to bring this discussion back onto their agenda in the near future.

The Nederland Board of Trustees meet on the first and third Tuesday of every month. Their next scheduled meeting is on Tuesday, January 17, 2023, at 7 p.m. and can now be attended either online or in person at the Nederland Community Center. For more information go to: https:// townofnederland. colorado. gov/ board-of-trustees.