Boulder County The Book

Boulder County, Colo. – During a ceremony on April 22, the Boulder County Commissioners recognized the important role that volunteers play in the community by awarding $6,000 for 17 programs.

Every year Boulder County invites volunteers involved in county programs to submit proposals requesting up to $500 per proposal for special projects or to defray the cost of materials, fees and equipment. Funding is capped at $6,000. The volunteers whose proposals are chosen are individually recognized during National Volunteer Week and the funding goes to the programs in which they participate.

The volunteer recipients for this year are listed below in alphabetical order:

-Fay Benson, Parks & Open Space, Extension, 4-H – $500 for water quality experiment supplies so that youth can participate in this year’s 4-H National Youth Science Day;

-Conrad Bishop & Chris Randall, Parks & Open Space, Park Patrollers: Anglers – $300 for vests that identify these volunteers as Park Patroller volunteers;

-Walter Boner, Jr. & Raven Starr, Public Health, Medical Reserve Corps of Boulder County – $500 for emergency blankets and first aid kit supplies for their emergency “ready” bags;

-Amanda Carroll & Kristin Nelson, Community Services, Community Justice Services, Juvenile Assessment Center (Justice System Volunteer Program) – $300 for various books and DVDs addressing social justice issues to be used for the special activities programming;

-Matthew Diemer, Public Health, Open and Affirming Sexual Orientation and gender identity Support (OASOS) – $250 for gender-identity themed fiction books and DVDs for youth to increase the long-term resources within the program;

-Nicole Drake, Community Services, Community Justice Services, Juvenile Assessment Center (Justice System Volunteer Program) – $400 for gardening tools for youth to create and maintain a garden. This activity will help them learn about growing their own food, composting, and sustainability;

-K.C. Dutcher & Kirsten Larsen, Community Services, Community Justice Services, CS Mentoring Program (Justice System Volunteer Program) – $400 for mentors and mentees to receive low-dollar value tickets to local theaters and a local pottery studio. This award will help those pairs who could not afford to do this without financial assistance;

-Fran Eichenauer, Community Services, Aging Services Division, Long-Term Care Ombudsman – $225 to be applied toward the conference fee of a 3-day training that will focus on helping to deinstitutionalize the culture and environment of living in a long-term care facility;

-Carol England, Parks & Open Space, Cultural History – $200 for artifact cataloging software and a manual for museum registration methods to assist with the management of artifact collection;

-Eric Etchill, Public Health, Addiction Recovery Center – $300 for the creation of materials and the purchase of books on substance abuse and addiction resources specific to Native American culture and customs; 

-Jo Ferranto, Parks & Open Space, WildWork – $425 for additional tools for fence removal projects;

-Brittni Hernandez – Housing & Human Services, Casa de la Esperanza – $500 for scientific and graphing calculators, bilingual dictionaries and thesauruses, school supplies, and educational software to enrich classes and activities; 

-Paula McKey, Bill Peterson & Mark Siebold, Parks & Open Space, Partnership Initiative and WildWork – $150 for several Parks-related books that can be given away as prizes to encourage more volunteers to complete the online volunteer project evaluation. Winners will be drawn at random;

-Adrienne Mihelic, Public Health, Community Health, Tobacco Education and Prevention Partnership – $500 for cameras, photo developing, presentation materials, and T-shirts for a youth photovoice project regarding youth tobacco use;

-Ruth Newell, Parks & Open Space, Cultural History – $350 for artifacts such as a washboard, antique grain mill, and branding iron to create an artifacts kit;

-John Stransky – Parks & Open Space, Park Patrollers: Horse Patrol – $200 for long-sleeved shirts that identify these volunteers as Park Patroller volunteers;

-Danette Tye, Sheriff’s Office, On-Scene Victim Assistance – $500 for shirts that identify volunteers as Victim Advocate [...]

Boulder County, Colo. – North 63rd Street will be closed between State Highway 119 and Lookout Road from Sunday, May 2 through Tuesday, May 11 to accommodate the replacement of the BNSF Railroad track crossing.

All access across the tracks will be prohibited, including bicycles and pedestrians. Additionally, the RTD Route J stop between 63rd and Lookout will be closed; the J will use a detour at 63rd and Jay Road. Riders of the RTD BOLT route between Boulder and Longmont that use the Highway 119/63rd Street stop are advised to use alternate stops during the closure to avoid work zone activity.

The May 2-11 closure is part of the larger 63rd Street/Highway 119 intersection project that includes a series of multimodal improvements, including lengthening turn lanes and improving pedestrian and cyclist intersection access by adding shoulders and sidewalks. Additionally, transit stop facilities for the BOLT will be enhanced to provide safer boarding and de-boarding conditions at the intersection.

“As a result of this closure, we anticipate shortening the duration of the overall road construction project at Highway 119 and 63rd by up to two months,” Boulder County Transportation Engineer Mike Thomas said. “This will save up to $30,000 in project costs, with the added benefit of reducing commuter time spent navigating through construction zones in the area.”

Originally scheduled to extend through the end of August, the intersection project is now expected to be complete by early July.

The $3 million intersection project is funded primarily by state and federal money, covering approximately 90 percent of the cost, with the remaining 10 percent split evenly between Boulder County and the City of Boulder.

For more information, please contact Mike Thomas in the Boulder County Transportation Department at 720-564-2655 or