Starting Dec. 30, Granby’s town staff will have a new position — assistant town manager. The town announced Tuesday that it hired former trustee Nicole Schafer for the position.

Schafer became a trustee in early 2022, replacing former trustee Natascha O’Flaherty at the same time Jeffrey Sneddon replaced Kristie DeLay. Mike Mahoney and Sharon Silva replaced Schafer and Nick Raible on the board Dec. 13. 

Affordable housing initially drew Schafer to the trustee position, but her experience on the board widened her interests further. 

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“Recreation, parks, open spaces, trails and things around economic development — they all just really appealed to me, much more so than I ever anticipated,” Schafer said.

Schafer said she wants to preserve Granby’s values — things like being a small town good for families and ranchers — but also wants to help the town grow.

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“I think the town of Granby is at a really critical junction where we have a lot of wind in our sails, current weather notwithstanding,” Schafer said. “We have the opportunity to grow in a conscientious and appropriate manner, and I’m really excited to be a part of that growth.”

The town advertised the assistant town manager position twice, but Schafer said she did not apply the first time because she thought there may be someone more qualified than her to fill the role. After deciding not to run to keep her trustee seat in November’s election, Schafer saw the full-time position as a chance to do more work for the town on issues she had become passionate about.

Schafer said her experience as a trustee gives her a unique perspective on what sort of things she can do in her new role to best serve the new board because she knows what kind of questions she had as a trustee and what things town staff did that were or were not helpful.

“Having never been a trustee, I don’t know if I would have that perspective,” Schafer said.

A Granby resident since 2008, Schafer has a bachelor’s degree in finance and marketing as well as a master’s degree in executive leadership. She has worked in finance, risk management and the housing industry.