NEDERLAND — The Nederland Board of Trustees (BOT) met on Tuesday, January 6, 2026, to reflect on the Town’s overall progress throughout 2025, and discuss Nederland’s goals for the new year, including an exciting new prospect for the currently shuttered Visitors Center. 

Town Manager Jonathan Cain delivered the State of the Town address, subtitled “2025 Reflections and Initial 2026 Direction,” which began with a few words about one of Nederland’s defining moments in 2025: the October fire which decimated up to 20 individual businesses in the Caribou Village Shopping Center. 

On the Lakeview Fire

“Advisory boards offered knowledge and local insight. The Board of Trustees weighed decisions carefully and stood with the community through uncertainty. Regional partners reached out without hesitation,” the address reads. 

“Town Staff carried out daily services and then showed up again when the fire came. Everyone did their part. Nederland endured together, and Nederland will thrive together.”

The address continued to explain how all this occurred under the constraints of a tight budget, meaning that the only path forward was to “focus on the essentials.” 

Comprehensive Plan

Using the newly adopted Comprehensive Plan as a framework, the Town hunkered down in 2025 and focused on “infrastructure reliability, housing, transportation access, environmental stewardship, and organizational capacity,” a feat accomplished by maintaining operational stability, strengthening organizational capacity and leadership, ensuring alignment with the Town’s advisory boards, collaborating with regional entities, and engaging in community partnerships.  

The State of the Town boasted infrastructure improvements made in 2025, including valve exercising being conducted, hydrant repairs and testing completed, and new Badger meters being handled to increase water usage accuracy for billing purposes.

Nederland’s parks, trails, and recreation facilities were noted as having been maintained throughout peak use, summer and winter programming at the Rink was provided, and work on the Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Trails Master Plan commenced throughout the year. 

The Town proudly detailed the many policies which the government passed in 2025, including new Procurement, Town Donation, and Volunteer policies, and highlighted its new, modern, ADA-compliant website. 

Many members of Town staff were also noted to have completed professional certifications across the Town’s many departments, including “significant new water and wastewater credentials,” and CDL licensing for members of the Streets department. 

Hopes for 2026

As for what the Town hopes to accomplish in 2026, the address first confirms that all efforts moving forward, including any “strategic priorities” to be developed by the BOT, are required to align with the Comprehensive Plan.  

The Town lists preparing for the April municipal election, continuing Town Works’ summer maintenance programs, completing sidewalk and crosswalk enhancements on East 1st and 2nd Streets, as well as along the highway, and finalizing the Big Springs Emergency Egress project as just some of their goals for the new year.

Other priorities include authorizing the construction of 13 affordable housing units, updating municipal code, evaluating future uses for NedRINK, rehabilitating Nederland Community Center’s west wing, assessing the Town’s law enforcement contract with Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, and integrating Eldora Mountain Resort into the Town of Nederland.   

“Nederland begins 2026 steady, engaged, and prepared to align direction with the Board and the community,” the address reads in closing. “Residents, advisory boards, volunteers, business owners, regional partners, and Town Staff each carried out part of the work in 2025.

“That shared effort, grounded in care for the place we call home, is the foundation for the year ahead.”

Cain also was sure to highlight the Town’s ability to improve their capacity and to always be thinking of how to serve the community. 

“Our department heads here had a really good 2025,” Cain told Trustees. “We’ve been strengthening expectations of what a department head does, and communication between each other and the public. And we’ve been coordinating to make sure we’re supporting consistent service delivery.”

Visitors Center

The State of the Town address, and the surrounding conversation regarding 2026 priorities, led Trustees right to the matter of the Nederland Visitors Center, which the Town has had issue running as a full-time business. 

During 2026 Town Budget discussions, the Board agreed to shutter the center for the majority of the year, and to open only during the peak spring and summer months. Since those discussions, it has been reported that several community organizations have requested to lease the space and operate it.  

“Under this approach, the Town would lease the space for a one-year term to an eligible organization that would provide visitor services and support the local business community,” Cain explained in the Agenda Information Memorandum. “At the end of the year, the Town Board would evaluate the arrangement to determine whether to continue it in 2027.”

Though no action was required from the BOT, Town staff was requesting direction on whether to develop proposed selection processes, “service expectations, and draft lease parameters,” for a one-year lease operating model.  

It was suggested that the Board consider requiring tenants to maintain visitor services, as well as current business listings and promotions; to manage the attached public restrooms; to continue retail sales of Town-purchased merchandise; to remain open during peak tourist times; and to provide the Town with metrics related to tourism.  

Mayor Pro Tem Nichole Sterling asked if there had been more than one organization interested in running the Visitor’s Center, ostensibly for the Town, to which Cain answered there were three interested parties to come forward so far. 

Sterling asked whether such a partnership would include some sort of revenue sharing plan, to which Cain said it could certainly be considered for future arrangements. 

Trustee Luke Miller asked specifically why the Town would require someone else to run the Visitors Center as opposed to the Town just doing it themselves. Cain reiterated that the Town has not had the ability to fully staff the business or make it profitable for some time, and that if the Town were to consider running it themselves it would need to be a line item in a supplemental budget. 

There was a list of possible expectations to be placed on those who staff the center which included representing the Town’s branding; providing accurate and neutral business and event information; adhering to the Town’s accessibility standards; ability to coordinate with Town staff and local businesses; adjust staff hours seasonally; regularly report safety issues related to the facility; and retain boundaries for any operator-led programming or promotion. 

The majority of Trustees agreed they all suggested expectations should be included in the scope of a lease.     

Honoring Cornell

Trustees also adopted a proclamation honoring the public service of Roger Cornell, who has served on the BOT, the Planning Commission, and the Board of Zoning Adjustment for several terms.  

“His participation in town boards and commissions contributed to deliberations on land use, planning, and municipal policy that informed governance of the community,” the proclamation reads. “His long involvement in civic work has provided institutional knowledge and continuity to public decision making, and reflects sustained commitment to community involvement.

“At the conclusion of his service, the Town also acknowledges the ongoing work of those who now and in the future carry forward civic responsibilities for the good of the community.”

Chair of the Planning Commission Jim Reis spoke a few words in thanks to Cornell for his service to the Town.

“Roger Cornell served the community of Nederland and its residents without a break in service since 1986. During that time he was the driving force in updating the 1981 zoning map and the development of the first building codes in 1996.

“He was there to work on the first Town Comprehensive Plan in 1987 and its four subsequent updates. Roger was a key contributor to the 2011 Town Master Infrastructure Plan, and worked with the staff on planning and resiliency efforts after the 2013 floods.

“The impact of his contributions to Town are vast and immeasurable.” 

The Nederland Board of Trustees meets on the first and third Tuesday of every month. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, January 20, 2026, at 7 p.m. and can be attended either online or in person at the Nederland Community Center. 

For more information go to: https://townofnederland.colorado.gov/board-of-trustees.