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

Town board discusses Berthoud Reservoir Rebuild project

August 24, 2016 | Local News

Rudy Hemmann
The Surveyor

The Berthoud Board of Trustees held its second meeting Tuesday evening under the leadership of newly-installed Mayor Steve Mulvihill, and in spite of a couple of rough spots, the general consensus is he is doing a good job, especially in seeing to it that each trustee is able to voice his/her opinion on each issue brought before the board.

The trustees moved through a full agenda with deliberate speed.

Public Works Director Stephanie Brothers introduced the Berthoud Reservoir Rebuild Project to the board. According to an information sheet provided by town staff, the reservoir had been used to store water for the water treatment plant for several years, and had not been dredged to remove silt or mineral build-up. This became an issue about three years ago when a yearly-occurring algae growth was abnormally bad, causing taste and odor issues with the treated water. The raw-water issues were resolved by installing a raw-water bypass line between the end of the raw-water feed to the reservoir and the treatment plant.

The plan included dredging the reservoir once it had dried sufficiently to allow the work to take place. This plan included constructing a barrier to segregate the deeper eastern portion of the reservoir from the shallower western portion, making it easier to monitor and control water in the east end. Water for the treatment plant could be drawn from the east end of the reservoir for mixing within the plant during the summer months and also could be used as the exclusive raw-water source during the winter months.

The western portion of the reservoir could be used as a public amenity after being restocked with fish.

Brothers reported the low bid of $1,208,012.90 was submitted by Western States Reclamation, Inc. (WSRI). She was questioned by board members regarding the apparent low amount of the bid when the next highest bid came in at nearly $1.5 million. She countered by stating she had checked with other contractors currently doing business with the town and with other customers of WSRI and found them to be a highly professional and competent company that has experience with the type of work required to complete the project.

The trustees unanimously approved the recommendation of staff to award the bid to WSRI, finding them to be the most cost-effective and competent firm for the project.

Following discussion of two options for enhancements to the skate park, the trustees directed parks and recreation staff to proceed with design option #2 as presented by the contractor, American Ramp Company (ARC), to submit a supplemental budget item to the board for 2016, and to review enhancements as part of the long-term budget process.

The trustees heard a presentation by Community Development Director Curt Freese concerning a conditional-use application. An excerpt from the information sheet provided states, “The applicant is requesting conditional use approval for nine existing directional wells located off of Weld County Road 7. The wells were originally drilled in 2013 by Sundance, and received approval by the State (or the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission) in October of 2012. An application for the conditional use was made by Sundance, with meeting dates set for Dec. 10 of 2013; however, that meeting was postponed by the then town planner, and was not rescheduled.”

The document continues, “In late 2014, the local Sundance holdings were bought by Extraction Oil and Gas, who was subsequently informed by the town of the existing violations. Extraction and its attorneys began to work with the Town in late 2014 and 2015, regarding potential new wells (Extraction has not made any subsequent applications regarding new wells), and resolving the violations of the existing wells Extraction acquired, resulting in this application.”

Following the presentation by Freese the trustees unanimously moved to approve a conditional-use agreement for the oil and gas wells as the BDE wells.

The board unanimously approved a resolution adopting regional hazard-mitigation plans.

The trustees heard a presentation brought forward by Town Clerk Alisa Darrow and citizen Patrick Dillon concerning a proposal for a youth- advisory commission. The proposal was well received by the board members. The mayor and trustees had suggestions for Dillon and Darrow about the proposal, which they may consider implementing.

The board unanimously approved a resolution supporting the Larimer County Commissioners in their efforts to get a ballot initiative for a county mental health facility approved by voters this November. Larimer County currently relies on a Weld County facility for individuals with mental health issues.

The trustees approved the appointment of incumbent Ian Tinney and newcomer Laura Nelson to three-year terms, to end Aug. 31, 2019, on the Historic Preservation Committee.

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