John Scarffe, Nederland. Nederland High School graduates for the Class of 2020 will be recognized by declaring July 25, 2020, as “High School Graduate Recognition Day.” The Nederland Board of Trustees approved the proclamation for graduates during a virtual, online meeting on Tuesday, June 16, 2020, at 7 p.m. with a work session regarding water and sewer rates and fees preceding the regular meeting at 6 p.m.

Mayor Kristopher Larsen said members of the community brought the idea of a proclamation for seniors to the board because seniors are missing so much. The proclamation declares July 25, 2020, as “High School Graduate Recognition Day” in Nederland to honor the graduates from Chinook West and Nederland High School. 

“This has been a challenging year for high school students, especially seniors, due to the pandemic,” according to the agenda information memorandum. At the June 2, 2020, meeting, the board discussed ways to honor the local high school graduates. Administrators agreed that proclaiming a special day in the graduates’ honor was a great idea and July 25 is the day Nederland High School plans to hold an in-person graduation ceremony. 

Chinook West held their graduation at the end of May. Along with the declaration, the graduates will all receive a letter signed by the mayor in recognition of their achievements.  

Principle Elertson said, “It’s been challenging, but they are working on public health guidelines for an event on July 25. I’m super grateful, and this is probably the biggest honor that I’ve seen so far,” he said.

The board approved two requests from the Nederland Downtown Development Authority (NDDA) to use their funds for an electrical box at the Barker Meadows planned performing space and port-a-potties in town. Regarding electrical power, NDDA Executive Director Hope Jordan said the NDDA requests borrowing $15,000 from their funds for electrical at the performance space. 

The transformer was installed for free, and the electrical panel needs to have shelter. The NDDA Board approved a shed at the February NDDA Board meeting. The board received a budget estimate from Nederland Public Works for $15,000, so the NDDA put that before the trustees.

At the February 2019 NDDA meeting, town staff asked for financial support to construct the electrical meter at the performance space. The board formed a task force to work with the Parks, Recreation, Open Space Advisory Board (PROSAB) to come up with a plan to develop the performance space. 

At the December 2019 NDDA meeting, town staff presented the final electrical design which was the basis for quoting construction costs, and at the February 2020 NDDA meeting, they presented and discussed the completed electrical design and an oversight committee was appointed comprised of members of the NDDA board. 

At the February 2020 PROSAB meeting, the PROSAB Board discussed and approved the proposed structure for electrical at the performance space. The electrical at the performance space at Guercio has already been constructed, but no resolution had been completed to activate the TIF funds for reimbursement to the town.

At the June 10, 2020, NDDA meeting, the board unanimously approved $15,000 to cover the expenses for the electrical installed at the Guercio performance space.

Trustee Eric Coombs-Esmail said he wants the actual costs broken down. He also heard comments from folks that it wasn’t built where it was agreed upon. During public comment, residents agreed that it wasn’t exactly where it was supposed to be and questioned why the transformer is so far from the shed.

Public Works Manager Chris Pelletier said they never agreed on the exact location of the transformer, and he has been working with Xcel regarding it. “It is imperative to reduce costs and stay in budget and to move the transformer as close to the final destination of the panel as possible,” Pelletier said. 

Regarding funding for port-a-potties, Jordan told the board that because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the town has closed public restrooms but has set up port-a-potties. In March 2020, the town decided to close all public restroom facilities at both Chipeta Park and the Visitor Center. 

Studies have shown that coronavirus has been found in human waste up to a month after a person with a positive COVID-19 test has recovered, according to the agenda memo. Studies also show that droplets from human speaking can hang in the air for at least eight minutes and that the virus can stay on surfaces for up to five days. 

To address the restroom concerns expressed by businesses, in March 2020 two porta-potties were dropped at Chipeta Park, which were serviced one time per week. In May 2020, one was dropped at the Visitors Center, which occurred on a Friday. 

Within 24-hours of dropping that port-a-potty at the Visitor Center, it was full and could no longer be used, so town decided to drop an additional ADA port-a-potty at the Visitor Center and increased servicing for those port-a-potties to two times per week. The cost for the port-a-potties are coming out of the Parks Department budget, but with an annual budget of only $15,000, the Parks Department cannot maintain the cost of keeping and servicing the port-a-potties through the summer season, according to the memo.

As a result, at the June 10, 2020, NDDA meeting, the board approved $4,120 to pay for the port-a-potties in town. Jordan told the trustees the rental costs would run through September 2020 and includes the amount for one more port-a-potty at the Visitor Center, if needed.

Trustees expressed concerns that por-a-potties don’t support public safety as well as cleaning town bathrooms once per day and asked if the funds could be used to meet sanitation requirements in town bathrooms. Pelletier said the town doesn’t have the staff or the budget to transform the public restrooms. 

The town has spent a lot of money upgrading the Visitor Center restrooms including roll down doors. Jordan said that if funding were approved tonight, it will be part of a Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) grant to see if they can get some of the funds back.

Pelletier said he will work with Town Clerk Miranda Fisher to assess costs to improve bathrooms further. Fisher said they close the Visitor Center at 4 p.m., so they are trying to offer something available to the public at night. 

Mayor Pro-Tem Jonathon Baumhover said it would be worthwhile to look into the Visitor Center bathrooms. They would be required to be hermetically sealed, but it would be an easy installation. It is worth giving a look at costs to renovate the bathrooms. “I’m for this because it adapts to a situation that we are not sure how to handle and we are doing our best.”

Larsen said this is a non-ideal stop gap, and the board directs town staff to research how to retrofit bathrooms and look at FEMA money to see if this project would qualify for reimbursements to make that happen, so they have a permanent solution for the future. The board approved.

Fisher said she has been working on a schedule for work on Envision 2030, an update of the town’s current Vision 2020, which guides work on town policies and goals. The process will start with a July kick-off month to get public feedback and ask boards and commissions the SWOT questions (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threat) to guide the conversation, plus an online survey and paper surveys in the library.  

The next meeting of the Nederland Board of Trustees will be July 7, 2020. Go to https://nederlandco.civicweb.net/Portal/Default.aspx for more information.

(Originally published in the June 25, 2020, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)