John Scarffe, Nederland.   The new Nederland Board of Trustees learned about dealing with contracts during a regular meeting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 19, 2016, at the Nederland Community Center. Three new trustees and a new mayor started their terms that night.

First the board considered a contract with Robert Half International (dba

Accountemps) for accounting services. The proposed contract was for professional services with the Boulder accounting staffing firm. The previous contract accountant, Mary Erwin, who was a sole practitioner, left the position, so staff began looking for staffing firms to assist with project accounting, and then, more long-term bookkeeping.

Town Administrator, Alisha Reis, said former Treasurer, Eva Forberger, carried the Town to the next level, but they have not been able to recruit well since then. “We had a couple of folks who could not fill that position out. They had personal conflicts.”

Forberger left the position in June 2015, after eight years with the Town. On June 2, 2015 the Board appointed Scott Ehlers to the position of Town Treasurer.

Subsequently, Ehlers resigned. At the time of interviewing, the selection committee had narrowed the choices down to two candidates -- Ehlers and Jeffery Maggard. The Board appointed Maggard as treasurer at its July 21, 2015, meeting, but Maggard submitted his notice of resignation in September 2015, citing conflict with personal obligations. The Board subsequently approved a contract with Erwin in November 2015. She later was not able to continue the work.

The Town has been working short term with a very good professional accountant contracted through Accountemps, but that isn’t affordable for the long term, Reis said. “They’ve been doing a wonderful job, and at the next meeting you’ll have much fuller reports.”

According to background: “Given the importance of solid financial services and the difficulty in recruiting accounting assistance locally, staff recommends contracting with Accountemps, which is a well-known financial staffing firm. The firm vets all candidates it places, including background and financial checks, as well as skills testing and fitting for clients.

Accountemps has identified candidates for the long-term position, and will replace any contract help as may be appropriate. This contract will operate similarly to our contracts for other professional services, such as engineering and legal services. This will be a better solution for the Town in the long run than attempting to recruit on its own.

The Board adopted a $64,000 budget for 2016, Reis said. Robert Half International will assist with placing a person. The Board approved the contract.

Next the trustees considered a contract with MW Golden to build the new Town Maintenance Shops. The Board approved the project in the summer of 2015.

The project was put out to bid late last fall, as voters in November 2015 approved the retention of project grant funds awarded by the State Department of Local Affairs (DOLA).

The Board, on Feb. 16, 2016, approved a further grant proposal for supplementary funds for the project. Those are expected to be awarded in May. In the interim, the project team has prepared a contract to allocate funding for the already approved $1.6 million in project funds ($800,000 from DOLA grant and $800,000 approved as part of the 2016 Town Budget).

Two firms answered the advertisement for construction of the town shops project. The apparent, responsive low bidder was MW Golden of Castle Rock. The Board directed Town staff at that time to continue negotiating with MW Golden to reduce the cost of the project from the original bid, which was over the project budget. Town staff reported the results of that effort at the board’s Jan. 19, 2016, meeting, in which it was reported that additional funds would be needed to complete the entirety of the planned scope of the project, according to background.

The Board reallocated additional funds from the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) budget for 2016 and 2017 to produce matching funds for additional DOLA grant funds. When those funds are awarded, a contract amendment may be approved at that time.

The premanufactured metal building scheduled for the project takes about eight weeks to build in factory. The building will arrive on site in July, with an April approval of the contract.

Reis told the Board that the Town has been informed it has received $240,000 from DOLA, bringing their contribution to $1 million with a town match, which will come from utilities because they will be matching water line funding. The Town had an issue with a tax payer and was able to recapture a large amount for this project, which created the match.

The Town started assembling land in 1988 and completed annexation a few years ago, Reis said. “Do we wish to contract with the apparent low bidder?”

Project Engineer, Joel Price, of JVA, said they sat down with the contractor when bids came back and asked if we could get closer to meeting the budget. They were willing to work with us. Executive Vice President, Jason Golden, pointed out that the economy for construction is really good today, but subcontractors are higher than could have been expected. “We tried to keep your structure at the best value possible.”

Reis said they were able to cut the bid price by $500,000. Price said that after the 2013 flood, the cost of materials such as concrete went way up because of lack of supplies, and Golden said the price is now up to $150 per cubic feet for concrete.

Trustee Dallas Masters asked: “We are taking money from a windfall. Is that typical or do you put funds aside for years? If we delayed this vote for two weeks, would that impact the project greatly?

Reis said it will be very hard to get the building ordered. Eight to 10 weeks is a fairly aggressive time frame. Golden said that typically they are willing to stand behind prices for 30 days, but they’re approaching six months since they bid on the project. “I have concerns about waiting an additional two weeks. I’m the most concerned about my subcontractors.”

Trustee Topher Donahue said, “The Board already approved a contract, and to me it’s a little bit of a technicality to do a project that has already been approved.”

Mayor Pro Tem Charles Wood pointed out that it is unfortunate that this is coming up with new board members. “We could have had a meeting to approve this in the last several months, and that’s unfortunate. We’ve worked through the budget process, and if we don’t execute now it’s a mess.”

Trustee Kevin Mueller said his concern is the process. The process that was mentioned was the integrated design process and to get everyone together a year ago to decide what the goal would be and then allow the design team to meet those goals.

“We didn’t do that,” Mueller said. “We selected a mechanical building and put a lot of insulation on it and an expensive utility system. I think we should stop and start over. We should be able to heat it without spending millions of dollars on heating.

“It doesn’t feel to me like it fits Nederland. It’s opening up the flood gates and spending as much as we can. DOLA requires it be LEED certified, and we asked for forgiveness for that. It’s not in line with our policies or our vision.”

Wood responded that everyone agreed that it was too expensive to go for LEED certification, and we all approved that. To say that we didn’t follow the process is in genuine.

Trustee Julie Gustafson said, “I’m assuming the Planning Commission made a recommendation for approval.” Reis agreed that the commission had, and congratulated us on the direction we were moving.

Mayor Kristopher Larsen said, “I’m in favor of pushing this tonight, and it’s a shame that we didn’t do it before the new board.

Nederland resident Kayla Evans said: “I hope this board does understand that no project you do is ever going to be perfect. LEED certification can be good, but it may not be perfect for this town. We’ve needed the shop for 20 years. We need it desperately.”

Price said they meet goals as they are brought up by the trustees, and then we decide we can’t do that. Then we come to another Board meeting and they come up with new goals.

Wood said that other town boards, the Planning Commission and the Sustainability Advisory Board, reviewed the project and had very positive responses. “It’s a pretty darned good project, and we have funding for it, and we have a chance to get it done.”

The Board approved the contract.

The Nederland Board of Trustees met on Tuesday, May 3, and will meet again on Tuesday, May 17, 2016, at 7 p.m. at the Nederland Community Center.