John Scarffe, Nederland. The Nederland Downtown Development Authority Board (NDDA) approved a Public Arts Plan for Nederland during the Board’s remote monthly meeting on March 10, 2021. The Board also approved an NDDA Investment Policy, moved forward on the Executive Director transition, approved the Big Springs Parking project developments, and hired Mike Reichert to support 2021District Beautification. 

Mindy Vink presented the NDDA Public Arts Plan to board members for content approval. The public art conversation started last January when community member Patrick Marold approached the NDDA about public art installations. Soon after Mandy Vink visited Nederland and toured the town with members of the NDDAand Town Staff. The NDDA contacted community members to participate in a Public Art Committee. Ten community members comprise the Public Art Committee. NDDA board members approved of the contents within the document. The Plan will be presented to the Nederland Board of Trustees in April. 

The Plan includes four areas, community engagement, budgets, grants and fundraising. The committee desires to acknowledge history, the community and how to tell the story that Nederland is truly unique. The art will showcase the collaborative spirit in Nederland. The committee has developed strategies that support each of the four goals. It will require a lot of work, so it is important to appoint someone to be in charge. They are hoping to bring a draft upon adoption of the plan, and the final version is with a designer and that will be designed in a way to be exploded out, Fink said. The plan acknowledges that every opportunity will grow into others and different funding opportunities. With the adoption of the capital improvement program for Nederland that would open up the project to get legs of its own. 

Board members said it is important for the board to approve the Public Art Plan  and moved it to an action item and then moved to approve it. 

Dana Edwards, financial advisor of Cornerstone Investment Advisors, presented an Investment Policy Statement. The objective of this Investment Policy Statement (IPS) is to clearly outline the overarching purpose and fundamental goals of any investable proceeds held and for the use by the NDDA. “The inherent scope of this policy applies to only unencumbered cash investments of the NDDA. This includes short-term operating funds, long-term reserves, certain bond proceeds and reserves and other receipts from tax and departmental revenues,” according to the proposal. 

The primary objectives for the NDDA Investment Portfolio are safety of principal, liquidity and market rate of return. Additional objectives are tax planning and mitigation as well as specific and agreed on asset allocation.  “To achieve this objective, the NDDA Investment Portfolio will be managed such that both credit risk and interest rate risk are minimized,” according to the policy. Proper diversification will be managed by the NDDA’s executive director, treasurer, or chairperson. 

This policy should be reviewed on at least an annual basis and changes must be approved by the NDDA Board. The use of benchmarks will allow the NDDA to measure its returns against other investors in the same markets. The Bloomberg Barclays US Govt/Credit Float Adjusted one-to-five-Year Index will be used as a benchmark for comparison with the Investment Portfolio’s short-term securities.

Edwards told the Board that the policy statements have been given legal approval. This is a living document and as goals of NDDA change they will try to have regular updating and maintaining schedules.  The Board voted to make a recommendation to the Board of Trustees. Town Administrator Karen Gerrity said it could be added to the Trustees meeting next Tuesday night, March 16. The Board approved adopting the investment policy statement. 

On February 10, 2021, Chair Steve Karowe announced that Executive Director Hope Jordan is resigning and approved an executive director hiring committee. During the February NDDA meeting, Jordan shared with the board her need to transition out of the position in late spring. She offered to assist with the training of her replacement.

A hiring committee was formed which includes Barbara Hardt, Karina Luscher, Hope Jordan and Karen Gerrity. The hiring committee considered the necessary steps to be taken in the process and proposed a hiring timeline to post the position. Hardt told the Board the hiring timeline is flexible, but she wanted to point out they are asking for a different rate of $23 to $28 per hour, and the executive director will have more responsibility because the position has morphed into something that is more time intensive than previously. 

Chair Karowe suggested giving a little more time once the posting goes out. Four weeks might be ideal. Board members discussed not putting an end date on the applications, and Hardt said she had open until filled. Karowe said two weeks is too quick.  “It behooves us to do our best to get the best applications possible,” he said.  Board Member Brent Tregaskis suggested putting the ED on salary so they won’t have to track hours. Jordan said a salary is a good idea. 

The Board also suggested bringing back in a secretary at less wages and then leave the bigger stuff for the ED. Karowe asked, “Do we outsource the bookkeeping and human resources and let the ED dig into the communication?  The idea of a secretary job has a lot of merit and could help us, if it was set at two jobs and if able to adjust the application for one or two jobs. The Board requested the hiring committee adjust the job posting and approved the salary range.

The Board discussed the Big Springs Parking Plan. The Big Springs Parking Committee, after reviewing the survey and the preliminary proposed plans, has determined a potential additional supplemental appropriation that may be needed to complete the project within the original design intent. 

Town Engineer JVA has determined the amount to be an additional $34,000 above their original defined scope. The committee would like to discuss with the Board the above ground work in front of Hub Ned to direct traffic flow and add an additional six parking spaces. “It was not possible to foresee this potential need without the survey and preliminary parking plan from JVA,” according to the memo. The committee thinks the option is a necessity for smooth traffic flow. Six parking spots will be gained in front of Hub Ned so a westbound car coming down won’t be headed toward the Black Forest parking lot. It would include some above ground curb and gutter work and painting to tuck the road closer to Hub Ned.  Board Member Andrew Dewalt said it is a practical thing. They could do the project without that but it makes sense to do it now. The Board approved moving ahead with the project.

Board Members Rea Orthner Wrobel and Claudia Schauffler introduced a proposal to rehire Mike Reichert for DDA Beautification. The NDDA has been funding annual flower planters in Nederland for many years. The program was originally started by Elizabeth Allen, a trained horticulturist who worked very hard to make the program not only beautiful, but as sustainable as possible by installing Farm Tub kits (a tub of water in the bottom of the planter and a water wick system).The purpose of the Farm Tub kits was to lower the amount of labor time watering. The summer of 2020 was the first season without the help of Allen. Instead, the NDDA purchased the flowers directly from City Floral in Denver and hired Mike Reichert to maintain the flowers. 

Reichert also completed other general maintenance within the NDDA in coordination with Nicki Dunn, parks lead for the Town of Nederland. Mike was not involved in the plantings in 2020 but was responsible for daily watering. While it is acknowledged that the Town had some initial loss of a small amount of the flowers, overall, the program appeared to run smoothly. 

 “In addition to the annual flowers, the beautification committee also wishes to further the goals of the sustainability of the program by reviewing the number and location of annual planters and finding opportunities to create perennial pocket gardens, which will take less water over the long term. In addition, we believe the Farm Tub system needs to be better analyzed during the plantings as in the past to see if the daily watering can be reduced to just a few times a week.”

The NDDA Beautification Committee recommended that Michael Reichert be rehired for this position. The Committee asked if the Board wanted to rehire Mike Reichert, continue to purchase flowers and design flower pots and add weeding and cleaning, done under Nikki Dunn. 

Reichert is familiar with the water systems, and Town staff enjoyed working with him. They did speak with Elizabeth, and she will be willing to help train Mike. Reichert said he can fulfill 15 to 20 hours per week. He is going to manage it better and is excited to do it again. 

The Board approved hiring Michael Reichert for Nederland beautification.

The next meeting is planned for April 14, 2021, at 6 p.m. remotely on Webex.

(Originally published in the March 18, 2021, edition of The Mountain-Ear.)