John Scarffe, Nederland.   The Nederland Board of Trustees selected Allen Apt as the new trustee from three applicants during a regular meeting at 7 p.m., June 20, 2017, at the Nederland Community Center. The Board also discussed selecting a Town administrator and considered the Owner Project Requirements for the Biosolids project.

At the May 16 Board meeting, Stephanie Miller resigned her position as Trustee, so the Board immediately announced the vacancy for a Trustee to serve a term ending with the next Municipal election in April 2018, according to background information. Three applications from Alan Apt, Eric Merkt and James Rawsthorne were submitted by the May 31 deadline. Apt and Rawsthorne attended the meeting.

Apt moved to Nederland eight years ago and served for three years on the Nederland Sustainability Advisory board. He is a retired computer science book publisher and has been a free-lance writer, contributing to Denver, Fort Collins and Boulder newspapers.

He is the wilderness chair for the Colorado Chapter of the Sierra Club. He served on the Fort Collins City Council from 1993 to 1997. He was chair of the Fort Collins Natural Resources Board for several years and was on the City’s Commission on Disability for seven years, according to his application. He also served on the Fort Collins Planning and Zoning Board and on the Larimer County Planning Commission.

Apt told the Board that being at the meeting reminds him of what a tough job this is in terms of the agenda the Board keeps and their responsibilities. If selected as a Trustee he would dig in and get to know what the goals are. His experience on the Fort Collins Council would help him get up to speed.

He is now retired from book publishing and is focused on volunteering. His son was in Special Olympics and got involved on ski patrol in Eldora, which led him to move here.

Eric Merkt is a data systems consultant focusing on energy for regulatory commissions, governments and utilities. He was a mechanical systems engineer for the U.S. Air Force and Biological Science Technician for the U.S. Forest Service. He has no direct prior board experience, according to his application.

Rawsthorne is a 15-year Nederland resident and property owner. He was a 12-year employee with the National Renewable Energy Laboratories and has two years of experience with Mathematica Policy Research.

He is a senior web designer and a four-year employee with NOAA ocean research.

He told the Board that he lives in Big Springs and has worked in renewable energy and as a lobbyist. “I really care about Nederland. It’s a great hometown.”

After discussion, the Trustees agreed that having someone who has been on a town council in the past would eliminate some of that learning curve. The Board appointed Allen as the new Trustee. He was sworn in and took his seat on the Board.

During his Trustee report, Mayor Kristopher Larsen brought up the search for a new Town administrator and said he has been working with legal counsel to decide how to make a decision. One of the three final candidates for the position, Therron Dieckmann, withdrew from the race, leaving Karen Gerrity of Camp Eden Road and Michael Foote from Reading, Pennsylvania, and Gillette, Wyoming, as the remaining two candidates.

Larsen said he has input from half the Board on which candidate they prefer. He would like to hear from the rest of the Trustees, notify candidates of the decision and negotiate for the new town administrator.

Trustee Kevin Mueller said the process then is to email Larsen about their preference and Larsen will collate them and pass the decision back to the Board as to whether it was unanimous. “Is it ethical not to do this publicly?” he asked, “It’s the most important position for the community, and we should have a public process.”

Town Attorney Nina Petraro said the Board only needs to have one official act in the public. Larsen said an alternate plan would be to have a public meeting and come to agreement in that manner. “I’ve been trying to do this for a month, and I can’t get everyone together.”

Larsen suggested collating the information from the Trustees and releasing it in a public meeting on July 6.

Mayor Pro Tem Charles Wood said the Board ended up with four top candidates and had two separate meetings to interview the candidates. The public was invited, and they asked a lot of questions.

“The second of four has dropped out and now we have only two left. We want to have one candidate that we want to negotiate with,” Wood said. Larsen said that if everyone will email the name of the candidate they prefer then they can move forward.

Trustee Topher Donahue said if it’s not unanimous the Board should do what Kevin wants. “We have to tell the public why we have made a decision. Unless it’s unanimous, we should have this conversation in public.”

Larsen said: “Right now I’ve heard from three trustees and it’s two to one. We could have a meeting next week or in early July when we can discuss this and a couple of other things. We have several things that would play into an additional meeting.”

Public Works Director Chris Pelletier introduced the Owner Project Requirements (OPR) for the Biosolids project. At the March 7 Board meeting, the first draft of an OPR was presented and staff was instructed to present a clearer list of requirements that incorporated more technical parameters.

For the following March 21 meeting, an OPR fact sheet created by Engineering Firm JVA was presented, and JVA was asked to create a more comprehensive fact sheet for review, according to background. It was decided that a workshop would be necessary for the Board to discuss the details of the latest version of the OPR fact sheet and develop an OPR.

On May 10, OPR guidance documents were provided to all Trustees. Comments for feedback were to be given to staff by May 24, but no comments were provided by this date, according to background.

Pelletier said that Trustees, staff and representatives from JVA had a workshop last week and identified the project’s main goals as meeting Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) regulations and specifications, maintaining the necessary timeline to hit the required bench marks for scheduling and funding for project completion, the project must not exceed $2 million, and it must be constructed using environmental and energy efficient practices that are in line with Nederland’s goals of sustainability.

With these goals in mind the OPR was created for Board approval. Mueller said that he provided comments in January and March, but didn’t see his comments reflected in the OPR. He wanted to see them develop measurable goals.

The OPR states that they want to have environmental and energy efficient practices, Mueller said, but he doesn’t see what is being measuring. The Town’s policy from 2012 says the Town shall develop measurable goals, and that’s the easiest way to determine whether we are successful.

“When we redid the Waste Water Treatment Plant initially, it didn’t figure in taking trips down Boulder Canyon,” Mueller said. The intent was to store sludge for three years. After three years, the Town would have enough money to put in a screw press and turn the sludge into a class B solid.

“We’re not following that path. I’d like us to get back on schedule with the intent of plant.” Specifically, he’d like the OPR to talk about how the community desires to become net zero. The next step should be stepping toward net zero waste, so that nothing comes out of the plant except usable material.

Larsen suggested that they add that the next step in becoming net zero. Mueller said the OPR hasn’t followed the tenants for LEED, [Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, an internationally recognized green building certification system offering third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at reducing energy and water usage, promoting better indoor air quality and improving quality of life.] They previously had provided a scoring card, and most things were checked off, but from that version to this one, “we seem to have lost everything. Now it’s gone, and JVA is going to perform the emissions.”

Mueller said he also would like to see remote monitors, so Chris doesn’t have to get out of bed. “It doesn’t mention it. If it’s not written down, it’s not going to happen. Hauling trucks was never part of the original project.”

Pelletier said the current plant was designed so trucks could pull up and remove the byproducts created there. It was necessary to remove the materials. It all won’t fit in the pond. Adding a coagulant makes more sludge, and it’s out of our control. They have to separate the sludge from the other organic materials. “We don’t have room to store the sludge.”

Mueller said: “I provided these recommendations back in January. I’m sorry I can’t make every meeting. Can we get a goal written down in the OPR? I don’t want to be stuck in a year from now when trucks go up by 15 and we say, ‘Hey, we did our best.’”

Donahue said: “We think these are measurable goals. This is one of the best OPR’s I’ve seen since I’ve been here. I’m in favor of adding the number of truck loads to what we have.”

Larsen said they will add into the introduction that this is the next step toward net zero. The industry standard is remote monitoring and let’s put that in there. Put the data in there so two years from now we can make a calculation on how many gallons are used. Track the number of trucks, specifically calling out the use of kilowatt hours and how many gallons with a goal of 18 percent as solid waste, which is a state requirement. That is one of the goals we can measure.

The Board approved the OPR.

(Originally published in the June 29, 2017 print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)