John Scarffe, Nederland.  The Nederland Downtown Development Authority Board selected a new Board member and re-appointed another during the Board’s meeting on Wednesday, July 12, 2017, at the Nederland Community Center. The Board also elected interim officers and discussed hiring a firm to conduct a debt authorization election in November.

The NDDA Board must elect officers for one-year terms starting July 1 and ending June 30 per the bylaws, according to the information memorandum. Current officers were Chair Katrina Harms and Treasurer Mandi Kneer. The vice-chair position was open.

Harms suggested they vote for interim officers until new Board members could be approved by the Nederland Board of Trustees. Harms and Kneer were elected interim officers in the current positions and Susan Schneider was elected interim vice-chair.

The Board had two positions open with terms from July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2021. Brent Tregaskis, who filled a vacant position mid-term ending on June 30, applied for reappointment. New applicants were Ron Mitchell, Gary Pekarek, Claudia Schauffler and Paul Conway.

Applicants had an opportunity to introduce themselves, and then the Board asked questions of the applicants before voting for two applicants to be forwarded to the Board of Trustees for appointment. Harms said she was happy that all five applied, and they will be able to speak in the order the applications were received.

Ron Mitchell, general manager and owner of the Nederland Central Business District Redevelopment, LLC, said he was one of the founding members of NDDA, helped raise $25,000 among Nederland businesses to set up the organization and was Board chair.

He has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical and structural engineering and business from the University of Colorado and has 52 years in real estate development, management and operation.

Mitchell has attended 17 Downtown Colorado, Inc., conferences and two Colorado Municipal League conferences. “I am passionate about helping bring about a bright future for the Town of Nederland,” Mitchell wrote in his application.

Mitchell has two projects he would like to work on with the NDDA Board, he said. He would like to see the town put in place an Entertainment District and the River Walk.

Most merchants have given approval orally to these projects. “Those are things that could be done with a lot of manpower but not necessarily dollars,” Mitchell said.

The Board of Trustees has to pass an ordinance that will allow an Entertainment District. Then a merchant’s board must come forward with an organization that will run it, Mitchell said. The NDDA can be an adjunct. The Greeley Downtown Development Authority owns a lot of furniture and equipment which they haul in to events that have been very successful.

Gary Pekarek said he is the least experienced business owner with the new Brain Freeze ice cream store, which opened in early July. He has a master’s degree in business administration and grew up in Longmont. He attended the Colorado School of Mines and was a geophysicist, working on global, multi-million dollar projects and bringing people together.

Two years ago, Pekarek bought property north of town and moved here a year ago, he said. He can help improve communications between the NDDA Board and Nederland businesses and aspires to be a member of the NDDA. His pet projects are fireworks next year and the little piece of space across from the Visitor Center. “There’s nowhere to sit down town,” he said.

When trying to open Brain Freeze, the town and Safebuilt, which enforces Town codes, wouldn’t let him share restrooms with the Ubon restaurant across the street from his store. He said he had to put in an ADA ramp and restrooms, and he fulfilled his responsibilities. Teresa Crush-Warren organized a protest on July 3, and then the mayor handed him a temporary license.

“Communications between Board and the people might be broken,” Pekarek said.

“Maybe I can help fix that.”

Claudia Schauffler said she has a background in health care but no finance experience. She has been an activist on political campaigns, and moved to Nederland from Georgia 11 years ago. She bought an existing business, the Shop, and moved it into the Caribou Shopping Center.

“I love my business. It is my retirement,” Schauffler said. She also works as clinic operations manager for Clinica Family Health Services in Boulder, where she has day-to-day direct supervision of technicians and records.

“I want to promote Nederland, because if Nederland is successful, my shop will be successful. I think a lot of what Ron’s doing is great,” Schauffler said. She tells people about the Carousel of Happiness and loves being next to it. “If this Board isn’t where I’m meant to be, I will find someplace else.”

She was also chair of an adoption agency board and of Atlanta’s National Relief for Women and participated on informal boards gathering medical supplies for foreign countries. “My project would be visual appeal. We could do a lot to make the town look more interesting. More branding and marketing of the Town would be huge. It’s all here.

We just need to market it.”

Paul Conway first came to Nederland in 1971 and has been living here for 13 years after retiring from Maryland. He has just opened Ned Natives, right next to Wings of Lace, and is trying to gain support for local artists and create a venue for them. He is also manager of Doc Conway’s Property Improvement Company.

He would like to see infrastructure and parking addressed. “I’m into building bridges between people,” Conway said. He has served on the Maryland State Chiropractic Board and the Berlin Parks and Recreation Board in Maryland and is familiar with interpreting statutes and regulations.

“I’d like to see the charm of Ned remain but adapt to the times. It’s a beautiful place and I’d like to see what I can do,” Conway said. He’d like to help out Eldora Mountain Resort, where he works, and is very proud of the things they do up there now. He cares about young people, and these children cannot afford $500,000 start-up homes.

Brent Tregaskis, president and general manager of Eldora Mountain Resort, said he filled someone else’s shoes on the NDDA Board. “There’s a lot to learn. I’m just getting my stride. It takes a couple of years.”

Tregaskis said his background is relevant. He has 20 years in the ski industry and was on the Chamber of Commerce Board in Bear Lake, California, acting as chairman for two years. He was a Board member for the Visitor’s Bureau and Events Resource Office, chairman of Government Affairs and a member of the Regional Traffic Advisory Committee.

Without a chamber of commerce, this was the closest thing that Nederland had, he said. He would like to create ways to get people to stop here by enhancing the community and making it more visually attractive. That includes better wayfinding, such as where the grocery store is, and a river walk and parking.

Board members wrote down their selections and voted for Brent Tregaskis and Claudia Schauffler to be recommended to the Board of Trustees as NDDA Board members.

The Board discussed the debt authorization election. Since there is little likelihood that the Town will have an election in November or April, given that bond elections take a bit of time to set up, the NDDA is back to doing it on its own, according to the information memo. “We will have to spend the money on a firm to help us do it.”

Collins Cockrel & Cole (CC&C) has the endorsement of the Board’s legal counsel and has experience with special districts like the DDA. Harms said the quote from the firm of $9,000 to $10,000 didn’t include the financials.

“Our lawyer is willing to work with CC&C,” Harms said. “They were comfortable around $15,000. The lawyer said we can borrow against operating funds to cover anything that would go over the $15,000. I feel like we need to do this now.”

Kneer said they have to budget for legal every year, but she feels disheartened by the sudden change in a huge cost. “We’re going to have to go back to the Town. We could make it because we have reserve funds from the years before.”

Harms said they also need to think about another election in six years. Kneer said that may be in four to five years. “If we have to ask for less money, we’ll have to do it more frequently.”

Harms said the Board needs a bunch of people to go to the Board of Trustees to do this. “We have to show the Trustees we have the support of the business community.”

Tregaskis said he has reservations about going for November. “We haven’t built enough bridges.” Schneider said, “I think getting the debt authorization to pass is getting out the vote.”

Harms said it will require a two-part mailing. You have to announce the election, and that announcement says you must designate one person to vote.

Schneider said that one person votes on behalf of the business owner and one person on behalf of the business partnership. Harms said that the $15,000 would include legal fees, but creating the financial statement would be separate.

Tregaskis asked if they will do some kind of survey or straw poll to get a gut check on whether it will pass. Harms said the NDDA Master Plan will be presented to the Board of Trustees on Tuesday [July 18] and wants to rally people to come to the meeting. If 10 people show up on Tuesday, the Trustees would say, “Okay.”

The Planning Commission approved the Master Plan unanimously in May, Harms said. She would like to have an NDDA Board meeting the next night or the next week and say, “We’re going.”

Tregaskis said, “I think that’s why you have to hire somebody.” Kneer said, “I would go with CC&C at this point and move forward.” The Board approved engaging the CC&C firm to become the Designated Election Official.

(Originally published in the July 20, 2017 print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)