Greeley City Council will soon vote to appoint a new member to the Water and Sewer board. Whichever candidate council picks will be the second woman to serve on the board.
By Kelly Ragan
On June 15, Greeley City Council will vote to appoint a new member to the city’s Water and Sewer board. The decision will come between two applicants – Stacey Kjeldgaard or Cheri Witt-Brown.
Either way, the next board member will be the second woman ever to serve on the Water and Sewer board, said councilmember Tommy Butler at a city council meeting Tuesday.
City councilmembers interviewed both candidates at their Tuesday meeting.
Stacey Kjeldgaard
What she does now: Kjeldgaard is an executive director with the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners.
Other relevant experience: She’s served as a board member for the 19th Judicial Victims Compensation Board as well as a victim’s advocate with the Greeley Police Department. She also helped start and operate Rocky Mountain Prostate Center until it was sold to a Fortune 500 company.
“I feel I’m a fit for this job because I bring a unique blend of agriculture experience,” she said. “I think there is a unique urban-rural pull that needs to be addressed, particularly in the city of Greeley.”
She’s a farm kid, she said, who grew up around the Greeley-Weld County Airport.
Sugar beets brought her family to Weld County, and she said she saw first-hand how agriculture and water go hand-in-hand. The farm she grew up on neighbored feedlots, so she developed an early awareness of the importance of water. Her husband, she said, works as an agronomist, and together they have investments in agriculture.
Why did she apply: During the city council meeting Tuesday, Kjeldgaard said her background in agriculture played a part in inspiring her to apply for the position. Beyond that, she was intrigued by the Terry Ranch Project and the tension between Thornton and Ault regarding water rights.
Top priorities: If selected for the role, Kjeldgaard said her top priority would be learning as much as she can.
“Read, read and read,” she said. “If appointed, in all honesty, I would meet with the staff, meet with the board, and spend a lot of time learning. I attended a lot of the meetings posted on YouTube, but until you actually sit in that seat, you don’t really know.”
Cheri Witt-Brown
What she does now: Witt-Brown is the executive director of Greeley-Weld Habitat for Humanity.
Other relevant experience: Witt-Brown has owned and operated multiple construction and design businesses, according to her application, including a general contracting company on the Western Slope. That experience, she said, has helped her to further understand Colorado water resources at large. She has also served on various City of Greeley committees, including the Greeley Housing Task Force and the Development Task Force and Code Update Advisory committees. She also served on the Clifton Water and Sewer Board on the Western Slope.
Why did she apply: Witt-Brown said she wants to give back to the community where she works and lives with the perspective of someone who works with Greeley’s vulnerable populations.
Top priorities: Witt-Brown said during her interview that if she was selected, she had four specific priorities in mind.
Witt-Brown said her top priority would be to balance the rapid growth in Greeley with its water needs, along with ensuring the board committed to making necessary infrastructure improvements, while reducing the cost to the community.
After that, her priorities include implementing and updating a sanitary and sewer master plan, a water distribution plan, and expanding the city’s non-potable (read: not drinkable but useable for other stuff) resources.
For more
City council will vote June 15. To watch the meeting, go to https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCegM3TAyGPayKBUHIeQCv6w.