The Nederland Downtown Development Authority (NDDA) met on Wednesday, October 11, 2023, at 6 p.m. to hear an update on the Town of Nederland’s branding and marketing campaign and to vote on drafted evaluation criteria to be used in assessing any proposal or request for funding that comes before the board.

Godot Communications Inc. (GCI) presented an update to the board. GCI has been contracted by the Town of Nederland to develop a branding and marketing campaign. This contract is for 80 hours of community engagement, and is planned to manage the current flow of tourism with a focus on educating tourists about the area’s history and wildlife.

GCI presented a report on their first session with community stakeholders, held on Tuesday, October 3, and mentioned two sessions coming up in late October. GCI has planned to meet with at least 225 Nederland residents for constructive feedback, from which the branding of the Town will be created.

The first session involved stakeholders defining Nederland beyond the identity that tourists have already established, and the reputation formed over several decades as a tourist destination.

Words like “hearty” and “funky” were used to describe the town. One example from the session, exemplifying Nederland’s particular brand of irreverent humor and cheekiness, was the suggested slogan, “We take bets on how many winters you’d survive up here.”

The presentation from GCI reiterated the Town’s aim to manage tourism and educate tourists through a visual identity ad campaign, rather than developing an advertising campaign to increase tourism. They extended to the board members an invitation to attend future sessions, and the core team of 15 stakeholders from the initial meeting are expected also to extend invitations to more Nederland residents and business owners.

An evening networking event with GCI is scheduled for Monday, October 30, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Nederland Community Library. A community action planning workshop is scheduled for Tuesday, October 31, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Nederland Community Center.

Board members were planning to discuss whether to continue funding a Traffic and Safety program, which was responsible for the hiring of flaggers for the 2023 leaf peeping season. The NDDA has had difficulty hiring a company for the job and, according to Executive Director Kate Masingale, learned this year that traffic flaggers must be certified by CDOT.

Concerns were raised by the public and complaints were made to Town staff about flaggers hired by the NDDA to mitigate traffic during busy leaf peeping weekends, specifically the weekend of September 23. Town Administrator Miranda Fisher noted that the flaggers controlling traffic on the state highway were not properly certified by CDOT, and were only in training to earn certification, which can take up to six weeks.

“People were questioning, based on the flaggers’ behaviors, what was their training, what were their qualifications. A lot of concerns that were brought to my attention were that they weren’t really paying attention and they were goofing off,” Fisher said.

“I’ve also since heard a lot of really positive things. A lot of people felt that having the flaggers really helped move traffic well through town.”

Fisher noted that Nederland Parks Manager Nicki Dunn is a CDOT traffic control supervisor and could have been contacted to verify whether NDDA flaggers were in violation of CDOT rules. NDDA Chair Ron Mitchell accepted responsibility for not ensuring the flaggers he hired were certified, though he stated that the weekend of traffic control was overall successful, since there were no accidents or major issues.

Mitchell moved to postpone the discussion until their next meeting on November 8. The motion passed with a 4 - 3 vote.

Board Member Scott Papich presented the matter of draft Project Evaluation Criteria, to be voted on by the NDDA. The criteria are to help the board review proposals for special event funding and infrastructure projects. They focus on the proposal’s timeline, estimated revenue generation, and whether the project falls under the NDDA’s jurisdiction.

After the discussion on the criteria during the meeting on September 13, Papich took the 12 suggested questions and developed a flow chart so that questions could be directed to specific types of proposal: event, infrastructure, or a service.

In addition, the board asked Papich to change the language involving their assessment of conflict of interest in reviewing proposals, specifically addressing the “appearance” of conflict of interest.

Papich produced what he felt to be cleaner language: “We should objectively and proactively identify conflicts of interest. Any proposed event, infrastructure or project that entails clear conflicts of interest, or if a DDA or Board of Trustees (BOT) member, or a business connected to a DDA or BOT member, will benefit or prosper more than other businesses in the community or in the CBD, then the proposal should not be influenced by member(s) of the DDA who are in specific conflict (either by voting or even in our discussions).”

BOT liaison to the NDDA Tania Corvalan asked for there to be more consideration in the questioning for projects that do not have an immediately measurable or obvious financial benefit to the CBD, such as public art and beautification.

Concerns were raised about whether the criteria would be used as a tool, to assist the NDDA in more constructive and pointed discussions; or a policy, which some board members believed would lead to long or gridlocked debates over every proposal as a result of the perceived rigidity of the criteria language.

Board members voted to postpone action on this item until their December meeting, while Papich was asked to change some language to make the intent of the criteria clearer.

The NDDA voted to approve appointments of board members on committees for 2024. NDDA Vice Chair Andrew Dewart and Corvalan were appointed to the Performance Space Committee; Board Member Danielle Crouse went to the Public Art Committee; Board Members Barbara Hardt and Catherine Valen were assigned to the River Walk Committee; and Board Member Steve Karowe and NDDA Treasurer Steve Rowntree were placed on the Wayfinding Committee.

Board members were to approve appointments to a new Parking Committee, which would be expected to work from the results of the Transportation Multimodal Plan. This is expected to be completed by April 2024, to help develop parking solutions for Nederland.

A motion to table action on this item until December was made and approved. A nod of four was given in approval of the NDDA receiving monthly updates from Town staff regarding advancements in parking initiatives.

Four members also voted to change the November 8 meeting to a Work Session so the NDDA can collaborate with contracted consultants Downtown Colorado Inc. (DCI) to establish a financial strategy for each of the NDDA’s set goals. DCI’s timeline specified an initial planning meeting with key stakeholders to take place, as well as a survey to be conducted, sometime between late September and mid-October.

The Nederland Downtown Development Authority meets the second Wednesday of every month. Their next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, November 8, 2023, and will be held online as well as in person at the Nederland Community Center. For more information go to: https://townofnederland.colorado.gov/ downtown-development-authority.