Berthoud Weekly Surveyor | Covering all the angles in the Garden Spot

School district and Berthoud work together on new FFA program

September 29, 2017 | Community News

Rudy Hemmann

The Surveyor

The Berthoud Board of Trustees held a regular business meeting Tuesday evening.

The trustees heard a presentation by Senior Accountant Cindy Leach regarding the proposed 2018 budget. Special revenue funds, the water fund, wastewater fund, and drainage fund were all covered by this preliminary look at the proposed budget.

The board approved two long-term bulk-water purchase agreements, one with the Heron Lakes Development Corporation and the second with the Edwards Development Company. These long-term agreements will allow the developers the freedom to build on their properties with the knowledge that the cost of the water for their subdivisions will be stable for the terms of the contracts.

Funds for the Weld County Road 44 bridge-replacement project were requested by the Public Works Department. An information sheet regarding the issue notes the bridge has been under temporary repair since the 2013 flood. Bids for the project were received last month with Dietzler Construction winning the construction portion of the project and Rocksol Consulting Group, Inc. the construction management portion. The supplemental request, which will be made next month, will be $1.4 million. The town’s portion of the total bill will be $133,182.89. Everything else is to be reimbursed by the federal government, the state (CDOT) and local agencies.

A motion authorizing staff to award the contracts to Dietzler Construction and Rocksol Consulting was made, seconded and unanimously approved.

The trustees unanimously approved a motion proclaiming Oct. 6 as Berthoud Agriculture Day. The action was taken to honor Bill Markham for the many contributions he has made to the Berthoud community. The Markham family has been active in agriculture in and around Berthoud for more than 110 years. Berthoud Agriculture Day will be observed annually on Oct. 6, which happens to be Bill’s birthday.

A proclamation establishing Berthoud Agriculture Day was read into the record by Mayor Mulvihill.

An organization near and dear to Markham’s heart is the Future Farmers of America (FFA), which until recently had been absent from the Thompson School District curriculum, but due to the efforts of Markham and Town Administrator Mike Hart, the district has reinstituted an FFA program. As part of the program, a property located northwest of Berthoud which had been, in effect, given to the town by the owner, Ilene Jaskowski, was offered by the town for use by the district’s FFA program. Margaret Krespo, chief academic officer for the Thompson School District gave a brief presentation acknowledging the collaboration between the district and the town, as well as the efforts by Markham and Hart to make the Jaskowski property available to the district for use by the FFA and 4H programs.

A motion directing town staff to proceed with the draft of an agreement with the district for joint use of the Jaskowski property was unanimously approved.

By a unanimous vote the trustees approved the appointment of Christian Samora to the position of town clerk. A second unanimous vote approved his appointment as clerk for the local licensing authority.

During reports Mulvihill announced two of the three people in the running for the town administrator position had dropped out and the search for qualified candidates would begin again.

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