By Surveyor Staff

Newly elected Berthoud Mayor Pete Cowdin has reportedly resigned unexpectedly before even being sworn-in Tuesday.

Outgoing Mayor David Gregg announced at the beginning of Tuesday’s Berthoud Board of Trustees’ meeting, that town staff and trustees received a letter of resignation from Cowdin earlier in the day. It was unclear what the letter actually said other than Cowdin chose to not take the oath to be Berthoud’s next mayor. Cowdin ran unopposed for mayor this election.

Attempts to reach Cowdin for comment, Tuesday, were unsuccessful.

The outgoing trustees then went through board reports and each trustee gave brief statements about their time on the board, and some provided words of encouragement to the incoming trustees before the oath ceremony. Newly elected trustees Jeff Hindman, Brian Laak, William Karspeck and Kelly Dunkelberger took the oath of office.

According to town attorney Greg Bell, because Cowdin declined to accept the position, state statute states that David Gregg retains the position until an elected successor has been sworn-in. Bell called this an “unusual situation” and directed trustees to their options moving forward.

According to Bell, Colorado State Statute states that a mayoral appointment can be made by a majority vote of the board or the board can choose to hold a special election for the public to decide.  A special election would have to be held between 60 and 90 days, according to Bell.

The newly elected board chose to postpone further discussion and a possible selection until the April 26 meeting at the earliest. They also chose to postpone the selection of a mayor pro-tem and committee selections until a new mayor is selected as well.