Dear Nederlanders,

Last Tuesday October 19th, I was one of the 4 people who remained in the BOT meeting at the Community Center following the Eldora deal public comments.

Our fire chief and Chris Kelley from The Mountain-Ear were 2 other people who remained in the room.

Generally, when I attend the BOT meetings online there are no members of the public in the room; and perhaps 1-2 people online. I repeatedly have heard BOT trustees verbalizing that they wished that there were more members of the public present as they deliberate decisions.

Whether any of us like it or not our little town is on the precipice of change and growth. The Eldora purchase is a transition that the BOT, without previous public opposition, has created with the intention that the town be a more active driver and architect of that growth.

I have two questions for those currently opposed to continuing the Eldora deal and a request for our Board of Trustees.

To those of you who are so passionate about dropping the deal my questions to you are: How do you plan on us recouping the 2.5 million dollars already spent? Secondly, how do any of us know that no one in your group is working on another deal with developers or investors for their own personal gain?

Personally, I have some concern and curiosity that some individuals in our community may be using the deep apprehension and fear that has developed as the result of limited transparency from the BOT to fuel their own deals. A classic divide and conquer approach.

To our BOT, PLEASE give us some data to assure us, the taxpayers, that this deal is still a viable vehicle to propel our town into sustainability.

We need concrete assurances not platitudes that we the taxpayers and town retirees will not be holding the bill.

I invite my fellow Nederland residents to do their due diligence on this topic. There are premises being made based on AI assessments created from available public data. Are we going to assume that these assessments have all the variables they need to be accurate just because it is AI? We as a community so often become polarized and remain stagnant.

Calling up for a mayoral recall will only create more instability during this time of our Town Manager transition. That will only make us more unstable and vulnerable. I invite each of you to join me at these meetings. When we become enraged, our brains lose the ability to make complex decisions.

We need to be present, curious, respectful and engaged.

Respectfully,

Teresa Robertson

Nederland resident 27 years