Dan Altman, who was chosen to be appointed last week, officially joined the board Monday evening at the board’s regular meeting.

“Welcome to the board, Dan. I look forward to our work together,” said Superintendent Derrick Joel.

Altman, a pastor at New Covenant Church, fills the vacancy created on Feb. 14 with the resignation of former board member Dan Hansen.

The board also approved and adopted the plans, specifications, form of contract, and estimated total cost for the Butler Elementary School roof replacement project, considered bids, and awarded the contract to the lowest bidder.

The board voted unanimously to award the contract to Sande Construction & Supply Co. Inc., of Humboldt, in the amount of $1,336,739 for the thicker gauge steel roof.

The project is scheduled to begin approximately June 6 and is expected to be completed by Aug. 12.

Ryan Utley, director of buildings and grounds, previously said the district recently received an insurance settlement for damages to the roof that occurred over the summer of 2020. Utley said they requested bids to replace the current 24-gauge metal roof as well as bids to replace the roof with a thicker 22-gauge metal roof.

“The reason for doing this is because this is an insurance job and from here on out, the insurance company will no longer cover cosmetic damages to steel roofs,” Utley said.

Brandon Hansel, the district’s director of financial services, explained that due to increased claims in recent years due to damages from the derecho storm in 2020 and other elemental damages, the insurance company has taken a financial hit and will no longer cover damages to metal roofs in school policies.

“The theory is, if we put a thicker gauge on there it’ll stand up against the elements longer,” he said.