Nederland will lose its town manager next month as its purchase of the Eldora ski mountain continues to stall.
Jonathan Cain, the town’s top staffer since mid-2024, will wrap up his tenure Sept. 24. Weeks later, on Oct. 12, he will take the same position in Lakewood.
It is unclear whether Nederland’s deal to buy Eldora, currently owned by Utah-based Powdr Corp., will close by the time Cain departs. When asked about the timeline of the deal, Cain declined to answer specifics, citing a nondisclosure agreement.
“I wouldn’t have done this if I thought it would hurt the (Eldora) deal,” he told BusinessDen Monday evening at Lakewood’s city council meeting, shortly after his contract was formally approved.
Cain was the architect of the bond financing Nederland is aiming to use to acquire Eldora. Those bonds, which are capped at $225 million total at a 9% interest rate, have yet to be sold.
In July 2025, Nederland announced that it had a letter of intent to buy the ski hill. On Jan. 6 this year, the town board of trustees signed off on the purchase with a $120 million price tag. That works out to about $80,000 per resident.
The contract called for the deal to close by April 30, shortly after a dismal ski season. That date came and went. The town has been mum on the acquisition’s status since.
“I don’t think we would be in the position we’re in talking about Eldora without (Cain’s) grand vision, which is pretty amazing,” Nederland town trustee Luke Miller said at the Aug. 18 board meeting. “So, thank you. You’ve changed the town forever, I hope.”
After that meeting, BusinessDen asked Nederland Mayor Nichole Sterling for updates on the pending purchase. She declined to answer.
“You cannot ask any of these trustees questions about that,” she said. “I have to be very explicit.”
When emailed a detailed list of questions from BusinessDen about how Cain’s departure could affect the Eldora deal, Sterling only provided a statement.
“Jon has been an incredible asset to Nederland and we hate to see him go,” it read. “We know he is going to do great things for Lakewood and look forward to watching from afar.”
It is unclear when Miranda Fisher, Cain’s likely interim replacement, will start. But Sterling said at the Aug. 18 meeting that she and Cain will “absolutely overlap” before he departs for Lakewood. She also instructed town staff to send Fisher the NDA for Eldora.
Fisher was Nederland’s town manager in the several years right before Cain started and stayed on as a consultant for the town.
“My replacement is not up to date just because of the nature of the deal, but she knows Nederland and what the town needs,” Cain said this week.
So far, Nederland has spent nearly $1 million in its pursuit to buy Eldora, BusinessDen reported in early July. At that time, Cain said the deal would close “soon.”
“The transaction has taken longer than originally anticipated because of the complexity of the acquisition,” he said in a July 3 email.
Cain grew up in north Denver and said he wasn’t looking for a job but took the Lakewood position to be closer to family. He lived there for a decade and said the town holds a special place in his heart.
He’s also getting a pay raise, going from a $140,000 annual base salary in Nederland to $320,000 in Lakewood, according to public records.
“Professional management is designed for continuity,” Cain said of Nederland. “And they have a great team up there.”
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