On April 2, 2024, the Nederland electorate will vote to seat three vacant positions on the Board of Trustees (BOT). Residents will also be tasked with electing a new Mayor of Nederland, which could potentially create yet another vacancy on the Board. Furthermore, the BOT is currently looking to appoint a seat left vacant by a Trustee’s recent resignation, with only one resident having expressed interest to fill that role.

With nomination petitions currently being accepted for the upcoming municipal election, and with so many seats vacant, there is a question of who will step forward to take the oath, for in recent years Nederland has experienced a lack of community engagement when it comes to participation in local government.

The municipal election held on April 5, 2022, yielded 425 eligible ballots from the population of over 1400. Five candidates ran for three Trustee seats, and only one candidate ran for Mayor. Mayoral Candidate Julian Taylor received 293 votes, while Trustees Karen Blakemore, Tom Mahowald, and Tania Corvalan received 285 votes, 235 votes, and 228 votes respectively.

Taylor’s victory created a vacancy on the BOT, and, complicating the situation, shortly after taking his oath of office Mayor Taylor resigned, creating the need for a special election, which was scheduled for August 23, 2022. One week before the special election, Trustee Jonathan Baumhover resigned.

On August 23 the residents of Nederland voted to elect Billy Giblin as mayor with 254 votes, and Jesse Seavers as trustee with 217 votes. Giblin and Mayor Pro-Tem Mahowald were the only two Mayoral candidates, while Seavers ran against two other candidates for the position of Trustee.

Trustee Nichole Sterling was appointed to fill Baumhover’s seat on September 27, 2022.

On December 6, 2022, Trustee Karen Blakemore resigned; the vacant seat was filled by John Mountain by appointment on February 7, 2023. Mountain served for just over six months before resigning on October 17, 2023. Mountain’s seat on the Board is currently still open.

Applications for appointment are being accepted until January 12, 2024, with potential appointees expected to attend a special orientation meeting on January 9 and to be interviewed by Trustees on January 16. The appointee’s term would also end in April 2024, and therefore any appointee would also be expected to run for a full term in the April 2 election.

Mayor Giblin and Trustees Eric Coombs-Esmail, Seavers, and Sterling all have their terms ending in April. Nomination petitions for the Trustee and Mayoral positions were released Tuesday, January 2, with a deadline of 6 p.m. on Monday, January 22.

The steady decline of civic engagement is not solely a Nederland issue, as public distrust in government, media, and fellow voters, affects engagement on both a local and national scale.

According to 2023 research data from Pew Research Center (PRC), public trust in the federal government is at a record low. Reportedly, 1% of Americans say they trust the government to do what is right “just about always,” and 15% say they trust them to do what is right “most of the time.” These numbers are the lowest reported trust measures in seven decades of polling data.

PRC data for 2019 indicated that 64% of Americans believed that their fellow citizens’ trust in each other was shrinking, and listed several reasons for such societal and political problems. The data included written responses which cited Americans becoming more “lazy, greedy, and dishonest,” with some blaming the government’s “poor performance,” 10% blaming the news media, and 49% believing people were “less reliable than they used to be.”

69% of Americans believe the federal government intentionally withholds important information from the public, while 61% believe that the news media deliberately keeps certain information from the public, and 44% believe both entities withhold information.

Jan van der Spoel, Executive Coach and Mentor in the realm of interoffice politics and relationships, stated in a 2021 essay that voters rate trust in their elected representatives based on behavioral consistency, competence, respect, and a shared cause.

The solutions to a lack of any of these four aspects include “don’t make promises you can’t keep,” “make understandability a prerequisite,” “treat others with respect,” and “working together towards a nicer society for all.”

In addition to an overall distrust in their government, several other factors contribute to low engagement between officials and their constituents, including New Public Management (NPM) practices that focus on running a municipality like a business, and a lack of civic learning.

A report by Dr. Stephen Schwalbe, published by the American Military University, indicates that NPM, developed in the 1980s, aims to improve the efficiency of public service using private sector management models, and views citizens as “customers” of the local government. In such a system the BOT acts more in a service-delivery role, as opposed to a collaborative system where Trustees develop policies through listening to community voices.

The Brookings Institution published a research article in 2020 about the importance of civic learning, which provides youth with education on the processes of government, with experience in proper civil discourse, and with the opportunity to develop their own “civic behaviors,” which dictates how they engage with their communities.

According to the article, “students who receive high quality civic education are more likely to understand public issues, view political engagement as a means of addressing communal challenges, and participate in civic activities.

“The outcomes are equally as influential on civic equality, as there is evidence to suggest that poor, minority, rural, and urban students who receive high-quality civics education perform better than their counterparts.”

Embracing civic learning and other initiatives to improve the public perception of its government can help to build positive engagement.

The Psychology of Citizenship and Civic Engagement by S. Mark Pancer states that “when citizens participate as decision makers in community organizations, those organizations provide services that are more appropriate, accessible, and better utilized. Such organizations tend to be more representative, inclusive, accountable, and effective.

“Neighborhoods with higher levels of civic participation have a greater sense of community, better leadership, lower rates of crime, and their citizens are healthier and happier.”

But Nederland has its own unique problems that serve as major obstacles in the way of anyone considering running for office. Apart from the daunting number of big projects that represent major change for Nederland, there is, among the public, an unwillingness to take on the ire of the passionate community, as well as a deep belief that Town staff and Trustees are conflicted and corrupt.

The following quotes are from residents across the town who spoke to The Mountain-Ear anonymously on the subject of how they felt about running for public office in Nederland.

“I served on a county board for six years and I would never do it again. Having to deal with big personalities on the board, personal attacks from the public, and to work for years on something and it still failing to reach the finish line, is beyond frustrating. I personally wouldn’t run here because it’s such a small town; I like being able to go to the B&F without getting yelled at,” said one long-time Nederland resident.

“I’ve been to one or two board meetings; I gave my honest opinion on AirBnBs a couple of years ago. It was so contentious and I just never returned. Why wouldn’t I run for Trustee? I couldn’t suffer the abuse,” said a 10-year local business owner.

“I was on the DDA several years ago and I would be stopped on the street and yelled at, and I wasn’t getting paid to deal with that, I was a volunteer. I think it’s the people who bring that hateful energy, and bring national politics into things happening at a local level, that cause people to think twice about volunteering their time,” another local business owner stated.

There were also younger locals who, when considering the amount of work involved in reading through the Town’s lengthy agenda packets and the commitment to attend at the two monthly meetings, expressed not having the experience, the time, or the patience for such public service.

“I feel like I don’t know enough of what’s going on. Not to sound selfish, but I don’t think I could dedicate my time to something like that,” said a local 28-year-old.

“I’m honest and I’m passionate, but I don’t take any bulls***; and all the homework and long meetings that’s involved sounds like a living nightmare to me,” said a member of the Nederland workforce.

“It seems so beyond thankless. It really takes a certain kind of person to commit to such work,” another noted.

Some residents questioned the effectiveness of the BOT for many reasons, from the belief that Nederland has a history of delaying and postponing progress, to the belief that those decisions that are made are done so without consideration of the people.

“With the other boards I serve on and organizations I volunteer for, I just don’t have the time; plus, I would have a hard time navigating the entrenched politics that’s involved. I really do feel that some serve with good intentions and care about the issues, but there are those with other motives,” said one local volunteer.

“I think the Board is counterproductive to the actual change that needs to happen. I vote in every election and I care about the issues, but serving on a board must feel like constantly treading water without making any real progress,” said a member of the Nederland electorate.

“The reason people don’t run for Town boards is they know anything they say or do won’t make a difference anyways. When we go to Town meetings, when we fill out surveys, when we share our thoughts online or in letters, the Town doesn’t listen.”

“If the Town wants people to run for the boards they should allow the boards to have more input overall on behalf of the people the boards are supposed to represent. Otherwise who needs that in their lives?” Another local voter spoke out, referencing major projects that have come before the BOT, including paid parking, childcare, the Chipeta Park pump track, and downtown redevelopment.

There were others who gave colorful and blunt responses to the prospect of running for office, with the majority speaking against such a prospect, and a polite minority expressing that they did not have the time. Some were more creative in how they voiced their opinion on local politics.

“I feel that this election I’m going to write in Fred the Cat for Mayor. Better to herd an actual cat,” said one such local.

Nederland’s own recent past, regarding the vacancy on the Board left by Taylor upon his election to the Mayoral position, is another issue that has led some members of the community to distrust the government and local elections.

After the April 5, 2022 election, the newly elected BOT opted to hold a special election to fill the vacant seat left by Taylor, as opposed to appointing the candidate from the ballot with the next highest number of votes. There were five candidates on the ballot for three seats; the candidate with the fourth highest number of votes was David Sites.

The decision to hold a special election was contested by members of the public, who stated that the BOT were within their legal right to appoint a losing candidate for Trustee to fill Taylor’s Board seat and have done so in past circumstances.

This matter led to a lawsuit against the Town, which was dismissed by the judge as they deemed the evidence provided to be inconclusive.

One month after the August 23, 2022, special election the BOT opted to appoint to fill the vacancy left by Baumhover. Trustees directed Town staff to open a new application process for the appointment as opposed to appointing the candidate from the ballot with the next highest number of votes.

There were three candidates on the ballot for one open seat; Steven Cepek was the candidate with the second highest number of votes, with 184 votes to Seavers’ 217.

On December 19, 2023, the BOT created an amendment to Nederland Municipal Code, codifying Trustees’ option to appoint in the event of an election-created vacancy.

The amendment reads: “If a Trustee vacated the position upon being elected and taking the oath of office for the Mayor office, resulting in a vacancy for the Trustee office, the BOT shall fill that vacancy by appointing the candidate from the same election who received the highest number of votes and was not elected to an open Trustee position.”

Despite what some may see as intentional misconduct and a slight to potential civil servants, others view as a Board hard at work to “course correct” into becoming a more transparent and accountable entity.

“I find these policy issues invigorating because it’s better than watching MSNBC and yelling at the TV; that’s never gotten me anything except high blood pressure,” Mayor Pro-Tem Tom Mahowald told The Mountain-Ear.

“And though it’s taken us a while to gel as a Board, I think we’re getting pretty good at it. If my time was up I’d feel like I’m leaving the party too early,” Mahowald said, referring to the time it took for the BOT to reach common ground and to begin prioritizing the Town’s biggest issues.

“I think that for the people that don’t feel they can do this, they can do this. Anybody can do this,” Mahowald said. “Whether you come from government or not, you can learn how to do this, it’s not that difficult.”

“There’s nothing more that you can do for your own psyche than to have a seat at the table. I’m doing a lot more on the executive committee on DRCOG and on the finance committee, the Nederland Food Pantry, RTD, and on top of that I have a very demanding consultancy, but you can carve the time out, it can be done, especially when it counts.”

Mayor Giblin expressed to The Mountain-Ear the importance of an engaged community and the reasons why he serves, why he decided to run for Mayor in 2022, and why he’ll run again and continue to serve in 2024.

“I was on local government for 4 years before I ran for Mayor and I wanted to show people you can have a life, you can have a full-time job, a family, a mortgage, and still be the Mayor.”

“It isn’t easy. There’s a lot of compartmentalization involved, a lot of patience, of understanding, and of letting things go. It is intimidating, and I want to acknowledge and respect that people are feeling that, but it is doable,” Giblin said.

When asked why he is choosing to run again, Giblin assured that his mind is on Nederland’s future, and on how his decisions will affect the community in the long term.

“Having a family is a big motivation for me to run; I definitely want to be a part of helping build a place they can be proud to live.”

“I’ve seen so many towns grow in a way that’s problematic, and they now have to figure out problems that they never planned for because they put the cart before the horse. And I feel now that there are some people with both feet on the accelerator, but we need to be steering carefully and applying the brake in the right way. We need to be growing respectfully,” he stated.

To the question of how he navigates the heated concerns of community members, Giblin explains how he uses objectivity and empathy when speaking one-on-one with Nederland residents.

“I don’t advertise that I’m the Mayor, and sometimes you have to lay out some boundaries, but what I’ve always tried to do is treat people in a way that they know they’re being heard. I try to listen to folks even if they’re on the other side of the spectrum politically, I try to listen to what they say and be empathetic and validate their belief that they have the best interests of the town in mind,” Giblin said.

“If you care and you have an idea of how Nederland should progress, now is an important time to be involved. Being a Trustee means being one of seven votes on these major issues. You need to feel confident that you’re committed to it, to doing the work, reading the packet, and being motivated.”

For those dissatisfied with Nederland’s current representative-based government there are few solutions apart from running for office to try to make a difference. The Town of Nederland could become a “home rule” municipality, which is a prospect the BOT has discussed before but was dismissed as it would take more community engagement than is currently required.

Home rule status refers to when a municipality adopts a Charter as its governing document, which allows the town to customize more accurately what they can do to address community issues, as that town would no longer be bound by the Colorado Constitution and statutes regarding a statutory town.

A petition signed by 5% of the town’s registered voters is required to begin the process of converting to home rule. A Charter Commission of at least nine members would then take a year or longer to draft a new town Charter, after which it would be given to town electors for review.

Despite the prospect of Nederland becoming home rule having been discussed in the past as a solution to certain issues, including the issue of trustee vacancies created by mayoral elections, the Board has decided to table any further discussions pertaining to home rule, stating that it is too extensive an undertaking for them.

Though Trustees are not discussing home rule, they did offer to the townspeople to take up the challenge themselves. The petition would have to be circulated, signed, submitted and deemed official, and those in support would have to appoint nine people to represent the entire community and draft a binding document that protects and promotes the best interests of Nederland and its people.

But regardless, whether Nederland is a statutory or a home rule town, the onus is on the people of Nederland to get involved, whether it be running for a seat, having your voice be heard at a meeting, or exercising your right to vote.