During the regular virtual meeting on Wednesday June 9, 2021, the Nederland Downtown Development Authority Board (NDDA) voted to send a recommendation to the Nederland Board of Trustees to appoint two new members to the NDDA Board. The Board also heard an investment policy update and discussed the Board’s meeting frequency.

The goal of the NDDA is to promote economic development and infrastructure improvements in the downtown district. Board applicants must be either a property owner or business lessee operating within the Downtown Development district. Vice Chair Brent Tregaskis led the meeting in the absence of Chair Steve Karowe. He said this is an exciting time to have new appointees to the Board, which has two openings and two candidates.

Board members serve four-year terms. In June 2021, Brent Tregaskis and Claudia Schauffler’s terms on the NDDA expire, and neither one is seeking reappointment. The Town received applications for the two vacancies from Danielle Crouse and Steve Rowntree.

The applicants both addressed the Board. Danielle Crouse said she has a business near the Kathmandu restaurant dealing with Nederland Arts, and she decided it would make sense to become more involved in the community. She has been helping with Nederland public arts, and this is an opportunity to be involved in the NDDA and have a voice present for artists.

Steve Rountree said he is a director at Eldora Mountain Ski Resort and has lived in the area for 13 years. He has made improvements at Eldora, and a healthy relationship between Eldora and the Town helps Eldora. He looks forward to that relationship. Within the last year he has moved to Nederland and lives on 1st Street, so he is interested in changes on 1st Street to create a welcoming environment.

Tregaskis, who is general manager at Eldora, said he has been on the NDDA Board for five years, and has decided to leave the Board. It is important to have someone from the mountain resort involved, and Rountree is willing to put in the time and energy to have a good relationship with the Town.

Tregaskis called for a vote, and the Board approved recommending Crouse and Rountree to the Board of Trustees for appointments to the NDDA Board.

NDDA Treasurer Ron Mitchell introduced an amendment to the NDDA investment policy. The Board of Trustees requested that the NDDA Board include language in their investment policies that state that they will not knowingly make investments in oil, gas, and military vendors. The protocol for investments was also requested to be addressed.

It has been proposed that the Treasurer bring all investments to the Board for a full vote. If approved, a resolution would be drafted for Board of Trustees approval. Mitchell said he will bring this back with a resolution.

Mitchell also brought up the Board’s meeting frequency. The NDDA Board meets monthly, and sometimes the agenda is so full that the meetings are too long. Mitchell said it is hard for him to have meetings in the evenings and suggested breakfast meetings at 7 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and would like to have the Board try this for a couple of months and put an hour-and-a- half time limit on the meetings.

Various board members said that some months they need more time and sometimes they don’t. They tend to plan their professional lives knowing that they have evening meetings. If the Board needs more frequent meetings, they can call a special meeting. Tregaskis said this is not an action item, but that the board received good feedback. Mitchell agreed to come back to the Board in July on this issue.

The next meeting of the Nederland Downtown Development Authority will be on July 14, 2021. For more information, go to https:// nederlandco. civicweb.net/ Portal/ MeetingInformation. aspx?Org=Cal&Id=433