At Tuesday night’s regular meeting of the Berthoud Board of Trustees, the board filled some vacancies on the citizen volunteer boards and elected to authorize town staff to move forward with further development of the town’s park and recreation amenities.

The first order of business for the board was filling several vacant seats on three of the town’s four citizen committees – the Planning Commission, the Parks, Open Space, Recreation and Trails Committee (PORT) and the Historic Preservation Committee (HPC).

For Planning, the board voted unanimously (7-0) to approve suggestions by the interview committee, which included Mayor Pro Tem Maureen Dower and Trustee Tim Hardy, to appoint Karen Anderson and re-appoint Sean Murphy to the board. There were six applicants in total for the two open positions and Patrick Dillion, who reapplied for a second term, was not approved.

For PORT, the board voted also unanimously to approve the suggestions by the interview committee, which included Trustees Jeff Hindman and Lonnie Stevens, to re-appoint Jose Cabrera and Tim Grover for three-year terms and re-appoint Phil Klein for a one-year term. Finally, the board voted, again unanimously, to approve lone applicant Cheryl Szydlo to the open seat on the HPC.

Berthoud resident Ryan Armagost submitted applications for openings on both Planning and PORT but was not approved by the board for any of five combined openings. Stevens stated that Armagost “had some really great ideas … even though we didn’t approve him.”

Berthoud Public Works Operational Manager, Keith Knoll, outlined the town’s snow removal plan. Knoll’s presentation stated that snow removal is a shared responsibility between town maintenance staff as well as residents and business owners.

Snow removal priority, as in most municipalities, is a tiered approach from arterials or major thoroughfares (e.g. Mountain Ave., Berthoud Pkwy., etc.) to collectors, defined as “roadway streets that connect major arterial roads to local roads,” and finally to local, residential roads; listed as priorities one, two and three, respectively.

Knoll stated that snow removal/mitigation procedures depend upon both season and storm accumulation totals. Ice and snowmelt materials are applied for more minor storms (fewer than 3” of accumulation) and only to arterials while plowing operations take place when more significant storms arise. Storm accumulation totals in excess of 3” will see the town use snowplow vehicles, with priority one roadways getting precedence. Larger storms will see more serious efforts put into place, those such storms are rare occurrences.

Finally, the board listened to and engaged in an informative question and answer segment with Deputy Town Administrator, Jeremy Olinger, who presented some preliminary plans, known officially as Request for Proposals (RFPS), for both Town Park and the planned Richardson Park (located north of Loveland Reservoir between Berthoud Pkwy. and Hwy. 287) development proposals.

Town Administrator Chris Kirk shared some good news as relates to the proposed park developments in saying, “I think we are in a position financially to build both Town Park and Richardson in the next two years, with cash,” indicating that the town will not have to take on debt, in any form, as it did with the Waggener Farm Park development currently in its final stages, for either project. Kirk did caution that cost estimates may change and the work may have to be done in phases, however, the town is in very strong financial position.

Planning and details will remain fluid based upon several factors, but the goal of town staff and the firms working on the design concepts remains in line with the park’s master plan put forth in 2018. The guiding principle for Town Park would be to create a central community gathering area and for Richardson to be a destination park. Kirk explained that due to the space being created at Waggener, needs for specific amenities can be adapted. The board was complimentary of the initial plans put forth.

After fielding questions on a wide array of topics ranging from the specifics of design concepts to town finances, the board voted unanimously to allow town staff to enter into contract negotiations with OLC Design for design and construction documents to develop Town Park and with DTJ Design to do the same for Richardson Park.

The next meeting of the Berthoud town board will take place on Oct. 12.