John Scarffe, Nederland. Candidates running for Nederland mayor and the Board of Trustees participated in a Meet the Candidates event Tuesday, March 10, 2020, at the Nederland Community Center Theater. Originally scheduled to begin at 6 p.m., the event started later after an emergency meeting of the Nederland Board of Trustees regarding the Corona virus. 

During his opening comments for mayor, Candidate Dan Harrower withdrew from the race, but his name will still be on the ballot. He said he is thankful for this amazing town, and since he decided to run, he has found out a lot about being mayor.

The Town has not forecast well on affordable housing, and language regarding affordable housing will impact homeowners in this town and is infringing on civil liberties, Harrower said. The Town has many people enjoying Eldora, and Eldora is not going away.

Traffic and parking become part of the problem, and it’s frustrating to all of us. Harrower said that in his opinion, we should get compensation for the pain we endure from Eldora. We need traffic design, a bridge, a roundabout, and Eldora should make changes so it doesn’t affect the town.

“I have the skills to do the job as mayor, but I need to listen to more people in town,” he said. “I’m withdrawing my name this year from the election, but I want to run for Mayor in 2022.” 

Moderator Jennifer Livingston with The Mountain-Ear opened the event, and said it was good to see the ballot so packed. Born, raised and educated in Nederland, Livingston has been covering Board of Trustee meetings for about a year and was asked to moderate the forum tonight.

Questions for the candidates were submitted prior to the event, and candidates received an email with the two questions being asked by Monday, March 9, 2020, allowing for at least 24 hours to prepare. One of the questions selected was asked of the mayoral candidates, and one of the questions selected was asked of the Trustee candidates. 

The candidates did not know what these additional questions were ahead of time. An informal meet and greet occurred in the hallway to begin the event, and then the candidates sat at tables in front of the stage. 

The Town of Nederland will conduct its regular municipal election on Tuesday, April 7, 2020. During this election, registered voters in Nederland will be electing a mayor and five Trustees. 

Running for Mayor are Kristopher Larsen and Chris Perret. David Shortridge is a write-in candidate for mayor and his name will not be on the ballot. Running for Trustees are Tania Corvalan, Eric Coombs Esmail, Mary Mead, Jonathan Baumhover, Lindsey Danforth, Julian Taylor and Karen Blakemore.

During the event, the public submitted additional questions on index cards provided, and snacks were provided. At about 6:45 p.m. the candidates gathered on stage. Moderator Jennifer Livingston with The Mountain-Ear collected the index cards for determining the two additional questions to be asked. 

Mayoral candidates spoke first, followed by the Trustee candidates. Mayoral candidates had two minutes for an introduction and had 90 seconds per candidate for question one, two and three and then 90 seconds per candidate for closing statements. 

Transitioning to Trustee candidates, each candidate had two minutes for an introduction. 90 seconds for questions one, two and three, and 90 seconds per candidate for closing statements. 

To keep the candidates to their allotted time, timekeeper Cynthia Bakke sat in front of the candidates with a green, yellow and red card. The green card appeared during the first minute of speaking, the yellow card when the candidate had 30 seconds left and the red card when the candidate ran out of time. 

For full profiles of the candidates, please see the February 27, 2020, and February 20, 2020, edition of The Mountain-Ear. 

(Originally published in the March 19, 2020, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)