I am Billy Giblin, and I am running for re-election as Mayor!

 

 

Let’s bring together the best of old school and new school to foster Community, Family, Environment and Economy

 

 

About Me

 

I am Billy Giblin. I have been Nederland’s Mayor since September 2022, and I am running for re-election. I have been working to help our community maintain the special character and culture of Nederland, and to balance growth with intention and careful planning for our future. Having lived in the intermountain west, primarily in Colorado, for almost 39 years, I have seen too many mountain towns grow and develop in a way that washed out the character and culture of those towns and forced out the people who had been there for years, if not generations.

Nederland can and should proceed in a way that will make it a model for other towns that want to go forward in a sustainable and well-planned approach with true consideration for the collective. Growth can be done in a way that really considers our quality of life and keeps Nederland viable and accessible for those who live here and want to continue to grow and thrive here.

I am living the same reality that many of you are living. Striving to maintain balance in our lives with relationships, family (including our chosen family), figuring out childcare and education and activities (for those of us who are raising kids), career and work, budgeting, maintaining our health, spirituality, accessing medical care when needed, and involvement with our community. My wife and I own a home and live and work in Nederland. We and our two kids have lived here full time since summer 2016. We love this special community and feel very fortunate to be raising our kids in Nederland.

I believe that Nederland is facing the realities of climate change, decreasing water availability, increasing competition for water rights, increasing wildfires, fluctuations in air quality, limited availability of housing and essential services to our community, and the increased costs of living. We need a Town Government that will face these challenges together with the people of Nederland.

We are fortunate to get to meet these challenges in this beautiful and unique mountain town that offers a community of great people, access to wilderness, skiing, snowboarding, biking, climbing, running, hiking, art, music, Boulder County and BVSD services and resources, Front Range access, food, drink, opportunities to connect with people and nature, and so much more.

 Some of my involvement with Nederland so far:

  • Mayor of Nederland since 2022
  • Nederland Planning Commission since 2020
  • Nederland Board of Zoning Adjustment since 2018
  • Envision 2030 Committee, Environmental Sustainability Subcommittee in spring 2021
  • Peak to Peak Housing and Human Services Alliance (P2PHHS) – Housing Subcommittee and Land Use Subcommittee since spring 2022
  • President of the Board of Directors of Aspen Grove Community Preschool here in Nederland. I helped with the merger of the Aspen Grove and Little Bear Preschools and the transition to create the New Explorers Learning Center in 2019
  • Coach of the Nederland Middle School Cross-Country Ski Team since 2019-2020 school year

My Priorities:

Fostering Community:

  • based on Mutual Respect, Shared Values and Greater Involvement.

Affordable Housing:

  • Our community and economy cannot grow effectively without sustainable, environmentally friendly, 100% ADA conscious, affordable housing.
  • Provide more housing for our local workforce, families with children, fixed income seniors; with priority given to Peak-to-Peak residents.
  • Work in collaborative partnerships with public and private non-Profits, organizations, and businesses (i.e. P2PHHS Alliance, Boulder County, State of Colorado, Eldora Mountain Resort, EFAA, etc.) to ensure the adoption and design of shovel-ready projects so that we can be awarded funding to build more affordable housing.

Education:

  • work with BVSD and NMHS to help guide their planning process to secure an educational niche for NMHS in order to stabilize and increase their enrollment to ensure that we continue to have the option for K-12 education in Nederland.

Environmental Sustainability & Environmental Health:

  • Ensure security of Nederland’s water rights
  • Increase our wildfire resilience
  • Improve and maintain our air quality
  • Reduce our impact
  • Work directly with Town Staff, Nederland Fire, other regional Fire Agencies, BCPH, CDPHE, Boulder County, State of Colorado, USFS and CSFS, CPW and other applicable agencies to ensure wildfire safety, pandemic/endemic resources and response, clean water, clean air, sanitation, and other public and environmental health issues.

Economic Development – Our economy needs to grow in a way in which we can all thrive:

  • Water/sewer infrastructure upgrades
  • Work with the Nederland Planning Commission to identify and amend zoning and code inconsistencies
  • Work to facilitate the construction and management of workforce housing
  • Encourage greater employee compensation packages so those employees can thrive
  • Update zoning to ensure diversity of businesses

Infrastructure:

  • Work directly with Town Staff to fund and upgrade the replacement of broken or inadequate water/sewer lines
  • Identify and establish sustainable revenue streams to improve working conditions and increase compensation packages for Town Staff, Nederland Police Department, etc.
  • Execute the TIP plan to create an accessible corridor between the RTD lot and downtown
  • Work with Town Staff to ensure the repair of roads as needed

Cultural events as a part of economic development:

  • Work to reduce barriers for event organizers to put on these events
  • Work with event organizers to host regular small events that can happen more often (live music in the park, art shows, kids events, etc.)
  • The return of NedFest or something similar