Paul Hanley

Courtesy Beyond Your Base

Weld Re-8 School District Superintendent Alan Kaylor said the district will pursue a mill levy and bond election question in 2023.

He made the announcement during an Aug. 11 workshop meeting as the school board was discussing the relocation of the Fort Lupton Public and School Library.

The focus of the mill levy and bond election may be on building needs, he said. In the spring, the board heard about a potential $15 million worth of repairs and renovations.

“We need to meet with district staff and map out what this is going to look like for us,” Kaylor told the board. “We need money to rehab our buildings.”

Kaylor said he planned to meet with Paul Hanley, the managing director of Beyond Your Base, a consulting firm that deals with ballot tax questions. Kaylor said he’s had recent meetings with Hanley to talk about the process.

Kaylor’s announcement came during a board discussion about board members serving on a transition committee as the district moves library locations. The discussion also involved the potential of a number of intergovernmental agreements to help run the new location.

One option is an intergovernmental agreement between the city of Fort Lupton, the library board and the school district. Kaylor said the district attorney will not support that because the library board is an advisory board and not a governmental entity.

Another idea is an agreement between the city, the school district and the library. Board member Cody LeBlanc thought it best that the city “not be involved.” A third option is to draw up an agreement between the district and the High Plains Library.

“The Fort Lupton board goes away, and the library becomes a branch of the High Plains Library,” Kaylor said. “I don’t know that we’ll be able to kick the can down the road. I think we are going to have to be part of a conversation with the city council about an IGA.”

When the library changes locations, Kaylor said that will leave about 10,000 square feet of unoccupied space in the high school.

“Access will be through the doors at the front, but there will be extensive remodeling on that side of the building,” he told the board. "If you sign up (for the committee), it will be for the long haul.”

Library officials are optimistic that the new building will be open in June.

“If they could vacate in early June, that would give us the summer to address upgrades,” Kaylor said.