Two candidates are running for mayor of the Town of Nederland in upcoming elections: Billy Giblin and Tom Mahowald. They are replacing Julian Taylor who moved out of town after he was elected mayor.

There will be a candidate forum at the Nederland Community Library on

Tuesday, August 9, 2022, at 5 p.m. The election is Tuesday, August 23, 2022.

Billy Giblin

Billy Giblin has been a homeowner in Old Town for more than six years, since July 2016. He lived in the Fraser Valley for about 22 years from 1985 to 2007. He also lived in Utah in Moab, Salt Lake City and outside Park City for about nine years from 2007 to 2016.

Giblin attended Catholic schools in Binghamton, New York, and graduated from high school in 1981. He attended SUNY Canton ATC, Canton, New York, and graduated in 1983 with an associates degree in individual studies in science, SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry, NYS Ranger School, Wanakena, New York, graduated 1984 with AAS in Forest Technology, Metropolitan State College of Denver, where he graduated in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and Salt Lake Community College where he graduated in 2010 with AAS in Energy Management.

Giblin has worked in the residential energy efficiency industry since 2008. Presently, he has works with Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET) since 2018. RESNET created and administers the Home Energy Rating System (HERS) and the HERS Index, the industry standard by which a home’s energy efficiency is measured.

Giblin helps to train, mentor and oversee folks who represent the 90+HERS Provider companies, who in turn oversee the national network of more than 3,000 HERS Raters and Rating Field Inspectors. Prior to this type of work, he had a career as a wilderness guide, river guide, ski instructor and outdoor educator from 1993 through 2008.

Giblin and his wife have been together for more than 15 years, married for over nine years, and have two kids, one in Nederland Elementary School and one in preschool at New Explorers Learning Center in Nederland. “We enjoy staying busy working on our home, playing with our kids, river running, skiing, biking, running, making art, music, and spending time with our family and friends.

Giblin has been on the Nederland Board of Zoning Adjustment since 2018, the Nederland Planning Commission since 2020, Envision 2030 Committee, Environmental Sustainability Subcommittee in spring and summer 2021, Peak to Peak Housing and Human Services Alliance, the Housing Subcommittee and Land Use Subcommittee since spring 2022, He was president of the Board of Directors of Aspen Grove Community Preschool in Nederland in 2018 to 2019 and helped with the merger of the Aspen Grove and Little Bear Preschools and the transition to create the New Explorers Learning Center in 2019. He is coach of the Nederland Middle School Cross-Country Ski Team since the 2019 school year.

Giblin’s top three priorities if elected would be fostering community based on mutual respect, shared values and greater involvement, providing more housing for our workforce, families and to be able to age in place. “Our community and economy cannot grow effectively without adequate housing. Our economy needs to grow in a way in which we can all thrive.”

Giblin would work with the Boulder Valley School District and the Nederland Middle School and High School to help guide their planning process to secure an educational niche for NMHS to stabilize and increase their enrollment to ensure that we continue to have the option for K-12 education in Nederland.

For the environment, Giblin would ensure security of Nederland’s water rights, increase wildfire resilience, improve air quality and reduce impact. Regarding Envision 2030, Giblin said he was on the Envision 2030 Committee and the Environmental Sustainability Subcommittee.

“I believe that COVID reduced public participation to the degree that it is not as valuable or representative of a guiding document as it needs to be. As Envision 2030 is an important step in the creation of our next Comprehensive Plan, I believe that we should revisit and rework Envision 2030 now that life has somewhat ‘normalized’ with COVID and encourage greater participation by more members of our community so that we can delineate a vision that is truly shared by a larger number of people.

Regarding affordable housing and short-term rentals, Giblin said he would work directly with Town Staff, P2PHHS Alliance, Boulder County, State of Colorado, Eldora Mountain Resort, EFAA, and other public and private organizations to ensure the adoption and design of shovel-ready projects so that we can be awarded funding to build more affordable housing.

Presently we have a STR code in place. It seems comprehensive and there seems to be no significant movement to amend. If it was to be amended, it seems that updates may need to address the challenges with inconsistent enforcement, and with possible legal ‘workarounds’ that allow entities to operate STRs in homes not used as primary residences.

“I am living the same reality that many of you are living. Striving to maintain balance in our lives with relationships, family, figuring out childcare and education and activities (for those of us who are raising kids), career and work, budgeting, maintaining our health, spirituality, accessing medical care when needed, and involvement with our community. I have lived in the intermountain west, primarily in Colorado, for over 36 years.

“I have seen too many mountain towns grow and develop in a way that washed out the character of those towns and forced out the people who had been there for years, if not generations. I am running to be Nederland’s Mayor because I want to be more involved in helping our community maintain the special character and culture of Nederland, and to balance growth with intention and careful planning for our future.

“Nederland can and should proceed in a way that will make it a model for other towns that want to go forward in a sustainable and well-planned approach with true consideration for the collective. Growth can be done in a way that really considers our quality of life and keeps Nederland viable and accessible for all of us who choose to live here and want to continue to grow and thrive here.” Giblin’s website is at billy4ned.com.

Tom Mahowald

Tom Mahowald lived in Nederland for the first time from 1973 to 1975 on Doe Trail in Big Springs. Since 2016, he has lived in the Dyers subdivision and built their home in 2021. Previously, he lived for many years in south Boulder, plus stints in Chicago and Frankfurt, Germany.

He attended Fenwick High School in Oak Park, Ilinois, CU Boulder, and has an MBA from the Thunderbird school at Arizona State University.

He is a consultant focused on the intersection of renewable energy and capital. He has grown sons in Denver and Boston, and a retired wife Dawn. He is an avid hiker, skier, adventure traveler, diver, music lover and problem-solver.

Mahowald has been on the Board of Zoning Adjustment from 2020 to 2022, the Wild Bear Board from 2018 to 2019, Board of Trustees as Mayor Pro Tem in 2022, Envision 2020, Town Clean-up days, Sustainability Advisory Board and Downtown Development Authority.

His top three priorities if elected would be better infrastructure including water, electricity, sewer, gas, traffic, parking, pedestrian safety, bridge, wildfire egress, including food pantry, community services, watershed security and wildfire safety – all bedrock existential community needs. He is in favor of rationalizing consistent municipal code, long-term financial stability and governance – including clear guidance for our existing and new businesses.

Governance should reflect shared community values – especially on longer- term issues like community safety and downtown development. “I believe that our ‘community’ includes our town and the surrounding P2P mountain region.”

Mahowald agrees with the direction Envision 2030 is heading. Having worked with three of these teams, he felt like he got the “basic foundation” needed to understand how the community sees itself, where it would like to go, and what our challenges are now and for the future, giving me a foundation to be a good trustee and now mayor.

Regarding the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with Boulder County, after the current (extended) IGA expires on December 31, 2022, he favors walking away from the existing IGA and starting over with a clean slate, based on our expressed community wishes and Nederland Master Plan (now being updated). We have east-west interests (Boulder County) but we also have north-south interests (Peak to Peak intermountain area- Black Hawk to Estes Park).

Mahowald is currently the Board of Trustees liaison to the Sustainability Advisory Board (SAB), where we are making remarkable strides to operationalizationize our declared carbon reduction and conservation and preservation goals. “I am also very focused personally on protecting our watershed and surrounding forestland.”

Regarding affordable housing, Mahowald said that being in Boulder County, these prices are becoming unreachable for many, including town staff, teachers and police and fire. That said, our nationwide median is now over $450,000, pushing all prices up.

We have some “levers” I am exploring, including more county and federal- supported options on land our town owns. Affordable housing needs to be close to transportation options, including walking.

The Town’s infrastructure needs are one of his top priorities, especially water, waste, traffic flow, parking and high- speed internet options beyond Century Link. Encouraging business development is another top priority, and this is closely tied to less rickety infrastructure.

We have a kindergarten with only 11 children, because people go “down the hill” to work – bringing their kids with them to Boulder schools. I am already working on bringing 21st century businesses to town, not just mining, pot shops and restaurants.

Community values define our quirky town, and those values are defined and reinforced around great cultural developments including Frozen Dead Guy Days, High Peaks Arts Festival and Caribou Room shows. Back Door Theater and Farmer’s Market bring out our best, and they bring sales tax revenue and local-spend. We have a local jewel in the Eldora ski area, and we do not leverage that as well as we need to.

As “acting mayor” for the 90 days since Julian Taylor’s departure, I am already doing the heavy lifting on Nederland’s behalf. This is a hard job, not a ceremonial one. I’m finding that it takes more time and energy than my rather demanding “day job” in environmental consulting and finance, but I am willing and delighted to do it, to help lead our town to a better place. I’m “bullish on Nederland.”

His website is at https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommahowald/.