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

Town board approves additional fire protection

By: Dan Karpiel | The Surveyor | October 29, 2020 | Local News

The Berthoud Board of Trustees held a regular business meeting Tuesday evening and addressed six agenda items. The meeting was conducted under Zoom protocols.

Community garden lease – As stated in a staff report: “Since 2013, the Berthoud Local Non-Profit has been operating and managing the community garden located at Pioneer Park. This has been done through an informal relationship with the Town and has provided a beautiful community garden for anyone in the Town to enjoy. Each year, the garden is planned, planted, and harvested by volunteers and leftover produce is donated to a local food bank.

As the garden has evolved, the Town has supported Berthoud Local’s efforts to enhance the

Garden … Town staff is also enhancing the irrigation system in the garden to make it more efficient, manageable, and to separate it from the Pioneer Park irrigation system.

In order to further enhance and formalize the relationship between the Town and Berthoud

Local have discussed and prepared a no cost lease agreement for the community garden.”

The agreement drawn up is for a term of five years, with either party able to back out of the lease after giving 90 days’ notice. The board also agreed to contribute $1,000 to the garden to offset some of the incidental costs associated with operating the garden (i.e. rototiller rental, cost for seeds, etc.)

A motion to approve the lease agreement was made, seconded and passed unanimously.

The trustees passed a resolution in support of ballot question 3B.

The trustees unanimously approved an Intergovernmental Agreement between the town and Berthoud Fire Protection District (BFPD) which would allow BFPD to lease space near the Interstate 25 and Highway 56 intersection upon which to construct a building to house Berthoud Fire District Vehicles and equipment. The term of the lease is 10 years. This lease would not require the Fire District to pay the Town for the use of the land but would require the land to be maintained by the District and to provide any needed improvements at their cost. The District would also be responsible for covering the property under its insurance. Upon

expiration of the lease, the District would either remove the improvements or turn them over.

A satellite fire station in the I-25 area would benefit coverage of the Loves facility, the Serenity Ridge Subdivision and any development in the Wilson Ranch subdivision.

Walt Elish, the town’s Director of Economic Development, gave a presentation concerning an incentive policy for business development within the town limits. The purpose of the policy is to create an environment that would promote and provide a positive economic impact to the town. The trustees discussed the incentive policy and made suggestions to be incorporated into a final draft of the policy.

Elish also provided an update of the Berthoud Recovery Fund.

A discussion between the town board and the Berthoud Area Transportation System (BATS) Board of Directors was held to research the best ways to assist BATS in fulfilling its mission. It was decided the town board needed to host a study session on the subject in order to develop a list of cogent questions to ask before bringing a third party into the discussion.

Town Board holds dinner meeting with Thompson School Board

 

Last Wednesday, Oct. 21, the Thompson School District (TSD) Board of Education held their bi-annual fall meeting with (some) of the Berthoud Board of Trustees. While all seven members of the TSD Board, as well as Superintendent Dr. Marc Schaffer, were present, only Mayor Will Karspeck and Trustees Tim Hardy and May Soricelli attended on behalf of the Berthoud town board.

The meeting did not have an official agenda and, in the words of TSD board president Lori Hvizda Ward, “we just like to have an open conversation,” a comment that was met with approval from Karspeck and the other two Berthoud trustees.

The two boards discussed the developments at the Thompson Careers Campus (TCC), located on the same property in Loveland as Ferguson High School, the TSD’s alternative high school, which recently opened its doors to students from across the district.

Dr. Schaffer stated there are currently about 175 students enrolled it the programs at the TCC, which offer certificates in a number of areas related to healthcare services, construction and design, skilled trades and information technology. The pathways offered assure that students who complete their program, “are immediately employable and making a living wage,” in Schaffer’s words.

Chris Kirk, Berthoud Town Administrator who was also present, gave a brief outline of the work being done on Berthoud’s most recent comprehensive plan, which will be formally presented this spring. All were pleased with the expansion work done at Berthoud’s two elementary schools that will help absorb new students who come to town with the current population boom.

Schaffer and the TSD board stated that both Turner and Berthoud High have plenty of room to handle more students but that, looking long-term, another elementary school or even a K-8 school in Berthoud, will have to be considered. Locations discussed as possibilities included on east side of town by the Farmstead development as well as on northwest side of town near the TPC Colorado development area. While growth has not had an immediate impact on school enrollment, both boards acknowledged increases are coming as many new homeowners either have very young children or no children at all, yet.

Lastly, the boards discussed the perception that Berthoud is thought of as the “stepchild” of the TSD, a notion board members said they hear regularly but say is a misperception. Stu Boyd, longtime Berthoud resident and educator now represents Berthoud on the TSD board, said that Berthoud is certainly not forgotten in long-term planning of the board nor when addressing short- and immediate needs within the district.

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