Town to look at ordinance change

During their Tuesday night meeting, Thermopolis Town Council approved Town Attorney Mike Messenger to draft a change to the town’s ordinance regarding nuisance yards.

Messenger explained he was approached by Nuisance Officer Ame Longwell, who has raised concerns that people who received tags designating their property as a nuisance would simply pay the current fine of $25 and not do anything to clean up their property.

Longwell suggested there be a per diem charge added for every day beyond the 10 days allowed people to clean up their properties.

Another consideration for the ordinance would make it mandatory for those with nuisance properties to come to court. The idea, Messenger said, is to “jump start” some people into cleaning up their yards. Of course, he noted exceptions would be made for those unable to clean up their properties due to extenuating circumstances.

Mayor’s Assistant Fred Crosby added the ordinance change is not so much about the money, but more about getting the properties cleaned up.

In board action, several documents regarding town projects were approved. Documents were provided by Town Engineer Anthony Barnett and include a pay estimate of $233,889.45 for the Springview sewer replacement project, and a reconciliation order for the project to tally up the over-quantities and under-quantities for the project.

Also presented by Barnett and approved by council were a reconciliation order and final pay estimated of $8,700 for the chip seal project.

Moving on to the old fire hall roof replacement, Barnett presented a reconciliation change order to cover items such as matching trim to match other parts of the building, as well as work on drains and a new gutter on the back of the building. The order shows an incrase of $4,096, from $82,885 to $86,981.

The final document approved was a motion to proceed for the Thermopolis Golf Course raw waterline replacement project.

Barnett also updated council in regard to new signage at the entrance to Hot Springs State Park, which will go over the highway. The new sign will hopefuly serve two purposes — to provide signage that looks good and to notify drivers of the underpass and alternate routes into the park if necessary.

Also during the meeting, Main Street Thermopolis Board Secretary Tracy Linko provided an update on Main Street’s activities. To start off, she said, the new trash cans came in this past Monday. She hopes to have additional information soon as to when they will be put out. It was previously hoped the cans would be in by the end of September and there would be a downtown cleanup and celebration of the new cans.

Linko also announced the Main Street program was recognized as a 2019 Min Street Affiliate. This marks the organization’s fourth year as an affiliate, she noted, and it is the only Main Street program in the Basin that’s part of the affiliate program.

Linko invited council to be a part of Main Street’s upcoming events, as Main Street is not just about downtown but the whole community. She noted there was a lot of participation with the flower beds on either side of the flagpole, and expressed appreciation to those who have helped with this and other projects.

Upcoming Main Street events include a Christmas-themed window decorating contest, with voting near the beginning of December.

Police Chief Julie Mathews provided an update on the department’s new patrol vehicles. The delivery date has been pushed back a month due to the GM strike, she said, and she expects them to be here by mid-November. After the vehicles arrive, she noted, it will be a week to get them up-fitted and a couple days for graphics, then they’ll be ready to roll.

Crosby noted there has been some meetings with a developer who is looking at bringing a hotel to town, and the area being looked at is in the area of the El Rancho. The developer wants to know if council would be interested in running a water line to the back of the property.

Concerns raised by council are whether the line would loop up into existing lines or just become another dead-end line. Mayor Mike Chimenti noted he would like to see some construction happening before running the line, so the town’s money isn’t being spent for nothing. Crosby said it would be a project for next year’s budget, and there are several factors that still have to come into place for the hotel.

Barnett suggested council request money for the project from the SLIB Board. Though the board has turned down money for the project in the past, he said with there being development in the community it could increase the chances of getting funding.