Council approves second reading

Tuesday night, the Thermopolis Town Council approved the second reading of an ordinance with RT Communications, allowing the company to put telecommunications lines on town property to provide and maintain communications lines, except where they are restricted.

In other action, council approved of a street closure for Oktobrewfest. The closure is for Broadway from Fourth to Fifth during the event, which is on October 6. Council also approved of the use of the old fire hall for the bands to set up.

Oktobrewfest will be from 11 a.m until 7 p.m. this year, and include activities such as music through the event, a bouncy house, Cornhole tournament and various food and non-food vendors.

Mayor Mike Mortimore was approved to sign letters of support for the Big Horn Basin Nature and Discovery Joint Powers Board and the Hot Springs Greater Learning Foundation’s pursuit of grants from the Laura Musser Foundation and the Wyoming Cultureal Trust Fund. The grants would be used to help build the Big Horn Basin Nature and Discovery Center’s Children’s Outdoor Learning Area.

In October of 2009, the town joined with the Hot Springs County Commissioners to form a joint powers board to oversee the planning, construction and operation of the Nature and Discovery Center. The Children’s Outdoor Learning Area is the first phase of the venture. The Joint Powers Board and Greater Learning Foundation are working together to seek grant funding for the children’s area.

Toddi Darlington, chair for the Joint Powers Board, further described the project, which will include entrances into the state park, a small parking lot and sidewalks around the lot and the children’s area. Sidewalks will also take people from the leased piece of property for the center — the former drive in — to the entrance of the state park.

Darlington described the Children’s Outdoor Learning Area as a fancy playground that is educational. It will have a classroom atmosphere and they are working with Nature Explore, a national classroom park program, to bring in certified teachers to do outdoor classes. Among the elements will be lessons in how the water flows from the river and the dam and is used for agriculture and recreation.

Police Chief Steve Shay reported he is looking at upgrades to the 9-1-1 system and is getting some quotes together.

Director of Public Works Ernie Slagle reported the snow is being cleared off the streets and they look good, and there is a plan to address pothole issues when the weather gets warmer.

Town Engineer Anthony Barnett said a pre-construction meeting has been scheduled for next Wednesday with Wilson Brothers, WYDOT and all the utilities for the water transmission line replacement project.

With regard to water, Mortimore spoke to the issues that have arose regarding water in the Owl Creek and South Thermopolis districts. Mortimore said the town water is safe with regard to total trihalomethenes (TTHM), but some of the districts have readings that were off because of how their water flows and gets stagnant.

The town has been meeting with other districts, the mayor said, to develop plans to help them. He added that they are all part of the same community so they’re trying to find a way to help the situation.

Council member Bill Malloy reported on the Wyoming Association of Municipalities (WAM) Winter Convention he recently attended.

Malloy attended a “cracker barrel” session for towns with populations 500-4,000 where people can meet and discuss problems. One of the topics, Malloy said, was towns undergoing state audits. He noted this might be only for towns that don’t audit, but some of the clerk/treasurers who had gone through the process and said the auditors really dig deep.

Others at the session have the same concerns as here in Thermopolis, such as having to raise rates. Many communities, Malloy said, automatically raise their rates a certain percentage annually, and there seems to be more and more that are starting to contract their garbage disposal out.

Among other activities at the conference, Malloy also attended a session about how to properly address state boards and legislators when making requests and a workshop on human resource management.

The WAM Summer convention is scheduled for June 13-15 in Pinedale.