The Nederland Board of Trustees (BOT) met on Tuesday, July 16, 2024, at 7 p.m. to vote on the new Industrial Pretreatment Ordinance, which aims to further regulate restaurants and breweries. The BOT also revisited decisions regarding board appointments and paid parking.

The Board formally welcomed Nederland’s new Town Administrator Jonathan Cain, whose position officially began on July 8. Cain has worked in local government since 2016, when he started as the Assistant Director of Parks and Recreation for Gilpin County.

Cain has a Bachelor’s degree in Politics and Government from Ripon College and a Masters in Political Science and Public Policy from the University of Colorado Denver. He has worked as the Director of Community Relations and Engagement for Clear Creek County from 2020 to 2022, and before accepting the position with Nederland he had been the Assistant City Administrator for Idaho Springs since 2018.

The BOT voted on Ordinance 864, which repeals and replaces several sections of Chapter 13, Article II of Nederland Municipal Code pertaining to the pretreatment of wastewater from restaurants, breweries, and industrial users. The code changes are intended to bring the Town into compliance with its wastewater effluent discharge permit, administered by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and in adherence with the Clean Water Act.

Utilities Manager Andrew Bliss detailed the changes made to the ordinance, including the removal of a requirement for industrial users to install a flow monitoring device, clarification that the Town Administrator or designee is authorized to enforce the ordinance, and clarification as to requirements that apply to food service establishments and those that apply to industrial users.

Bliss informed local businesses of the ordinance through email on June 24. A second email was sent on July 2, clarifying what Bliss described as confusion and misinformation about the regulations within the ordinance.

The July 2 email specifies that most Nederland restaurants already have grease traps and that this ordinance does not require restaurants to have to replace them.

“I expect little impact to restaurants because I believe they all have grease traps and maintain them to some degree,” the email reads. “Maintaining grease traps is in a restaurant’s best interest because it prevents their own sewer pipes from clogging.”

As for breweries, or “industrial users,” Bliss explains that the Town’s wastewater plant has a BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) limit of 488 milligrams per liter (mg/L). According to Bliss, beer has a BOD of 75,000 mg/L and wort has a BOD of 150,000 mg/L, meaning that breweries cannot pour their beer and wort directly down the drain.

Bliss suggests within the email that breweries water down the remaining liquid from their brewing process and “release it back to the wastewater plant slowly.”

Mayor Pro Tem Nichole Sterling asked about the possible cost for breweries to come into compliance with the ordinance. Bliss answered that the majority of the changes breweries would need to make would be to their processes and would not require much expense for purchasing and installing new equipment.

Sterling reiterated that businesses may have no other option but to comply with the Town’s ordinance, as the ordinance ensures Nederland’s compliance with state regulations in order to maintain its wastewater effluent discharge permit.

She asked Bliss about how a delay in approving the ordinance would affect the Town’s compliance, to which he answered that day-to-day the Town operates safely, but stated his worry that something might soon trigger the need for an expensive plant expansion.

When asked how close the Town is to triggering a plant expansion, Bliss answered that he would need to look into that.

Bliss mentioned plans to conduct one-on-one meetings with business owners between the BOT’s approval of the ordinance and the date of its implementation in June, 2025. Trustee Tania Corvalan suggested that the discussions with affected businesses should precede passing the ordinance, as feedback from the outreach may result in additional amendments to the ordinance.

Trustees asked Town staff how they would like to move forward, to which Bliss stated his preference to return within a month with an ordinance based on feedback from greater community outreach.

The BOT agreed with Bliss’s suggestion and the matter of action on Ordinance 864 was tabled.

The Board revisited two topics on which they took action during their July 2 meeting, beginning with a discussion about the paid parking trial period to be administered and managed by Interstate Parking.

Representatives for Interstate Parking met with Town officials on July 9 and stated that the roll-out date of August 15 was too close for them to successfully implement “community engagement, website development, and kiosk installation.” Concerns were also raised about reaching the expected revenue of $57,500 due to the trial period having been shortened.

It was recommended either to delay the trial period until Spring 2025, which would give the Town time for more adequate community engagement and to resolve the issue of free parking for employees of local businesses, or to immediately implement community registration and education and expand into a full contract by leaf-peeping season.

Sterling also suggested that the paid parking trial period can begin at any time before next spring once the proper signage and equipment is prepared and resident registration has been completed. Trustees approved the looser timeline.

Cain specified the Town’s next steps, stating his belief that Interstate Parking will be agreeable to such a timeline and that Town Attorney Jennifer Madsen will edit the language within the contract. The Town will begin planning a resident registration process.

The BOT also revisited their decision to appoint Everett Nielsen and Nathan Smallwood to the Nederland Downtown Development Authority (NDDA). Nielsen and Smallwood were voted onto the Authority by the BOT on July 2, though the NDDA had recommended Ron Mitchell and Smallwood for the positions, with Mitchell receiving seven votes of recommendation from the Authority.

According to the Agenda Information Memorandum (AIM) prepared by Corvalan and Sterling, this discussion was requested because “members of the NDDA, members of the BOT, and community members didn’t understand why the BOT chose to appoint a person who only received one vote to the NDDA board instead of the person who received seven votes.”

On June 12, the NDDA voted to recommend Mitchell and Smallwood, though the BOT is in no way bound to those recommendations. Per the NDDA Bylaws, “The Town of Nederland Board of Trustees is not obligated to appoint DDA Board Members nominated by the Authority and may appoint DDA Board Members of their own selection.”

There were no letters from the public or from NDDA members about this matter included in the July 16 agenda packet.

It was also stated within the AIM that the July 2 meeting was not recorded and therefore the Board’s discussion regarding the reasons the decision was made to appoint Nielsen over other candidates could not be followed.

The AIM also notes that the motion to appoint Nielsen passed by a 3-2 vote, and poses the question to the Board whether anyone who voted for Nielsen wanted to reconsider their vote. Trustees Corvalan and Tierney Maris were absent for the July 2 vote.

Sterling made two motions during that meeting to appoint Mitchell; neither motion was seconded and therefore did not go to a vote.

According to the BOT’s Rules of Procedure, a “vote of a majority of all members of the Board in office at the time” is all that is required when voting in new officers. Trustees also can protest any ordinance or resolution and submit their reasoning to record.

An official protest must be filed no later than “the next regular meeting following the date of passage of the objectionable ordinance or resolution.” However, no such protest had been filed.

There has also been discussion of expanding the NDDA’s roster, currently set at nine members. Corvalan had made two suggestions during the NDDA meeting on July 10: “[D]oes the Board wish to allow the NDDA to make other appointments to the board?” and “[D]oes the Board wish to appoint Mitchell to the board in addition to Everett?” These questions appeared again within the AIM.

Mayor Giblin, in an effort to explain the BOT’s decision, restated his own critique of the NDDA, claiming “infighting and dysfunction” which impedes the Authority’s ability to properly operate. Giblin also noted that Downtown Colorado Inc., during their analysis of the NDDA’s impact on the business community, found that many business owners were unaware of the organization and its function.

Corvalan made her case for Mitchell, indicating that he had championed many projects for the NDDA that were successful. She stated her dissatisfaction with the BOT deciding to vote completely opposite to the recommendation of the members of the Authority.

Trustee Aaron Tye was asked to clarify his vote for Nielsen during the July 2 meeting. Tye responded that when he asked Mitchell to give an example of a time on the NDDA where he had recused himself, Mitchell did not provide such an example and instead segued into an unrelated topic.

When Tye’s reasoning was questioned by Sterling, he specified that he did not have any negative feelings about Mitchell and was not diminishing all Mitchell had done for the NDDA. Tye added that he believes Nielsen deserves the chance to prove himself, just as he was given the same opportunity.

Town Attorney Madsen clarified that the BOT had the power to decide if the NDDA were to be permitted to expand their board by two members. Madsen suggested that Trustees first receive feedback from the NDDA concerning the reasoning for needing the expansion. Even if Trustees were to approve expanding the NDDA board, the BOT still retains the right to approve who is then appointed.

Trustees voted on Ordinance 865, regarding the right-of-way vacation of West 5th Street. Upon approval of the ordinance, and pending a quit-claim for their portion of the right-of-way from the owner of the abutting property, the street would become part of the Town-owned parcel at 750 West 5th Street.

The request from the Town of Nederland is evaluated based on the value of the land; the current use of the land; any potential future use of the land, including the ability at some future time to exchange or dispose of the land in a manner that might benefit the public; an evaluation of the public benefit of retaining the land, as well as the benefit in disposing of the land; and whether the manner of land disposition proposed is consistent with Nederland’s Comprehensive Plan.

Ordinance 865 was approved unanimously.

Trustees also received an update from SE Group on the progress of the Comprehensive Plan and Subarea Plan. SE Group has held public open houses, online surveys, workshop meetings specific to downtown redevelopment; and focus groups on land use, housing, and sustainability.

SE Group will be shifting from the research and outreach phase to drafting the Comprehensive Plan update, with a plan outline to be presented to the Nederland Planning Commission on July 24. The draft is tentatively planned for presentation to the BOT in September, with a final draft to be delivered by October.

The Nederland Board of Trustees meets on the first and third Tuesday of every month. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, August 6, 2024, 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.