Town council receives update on fall clean-up

At the Sept. 15 Thermopolis Town Council meeting there was scheduled to be a report on the Thermopolis Golf Course updates, but no representative was present.

Mayor Mike Chimenti then moved on to an update from Suzanne Samelson, president of Main Street Thermopolis.

She first thanked Tony and Lisa Larson for their hard work on the flower beds in the downtown. She said, “They are beautiful adornments.”

Samelson then brought up fall clean-up and asked the council about potentially coordinating with the town to do it during the street sweeping. She said, “We could do the clean-up the evening before and stage the trimmings in the gutters for the sweeping if that works for you.”

Samelson also reported on the decorative lighting throughout the downtown area. She said, “The lights continue to enhance the look of our downtown and we thank you for the ongoing support of them.  We had some damage from a downed branch and will be working on correcting that.”

Samelson then updated the council with their recent activities. One was about Wyo Wednesdays/Shop Smart, Shop Safe a campaign led by Wyoming Business Council and Wyoming Main Street. She said, “We kicked these shop local initiatives off in June with a contest with a prize of a gift basket filled with locally made goodies.  We distributed window stickers promoting Shop Smart/Shop Safe/Shop local.”

She added, “We purchased several hand sanitizer stations with funds from Wyoming Main Street.  We have one set up on the sidewalk in front of Discover Thermopolis and we have been bringing it to the Farmers Market on Saturdays.” Also at the Farmers Market, they have been selling Main Street swag and that has been well received. 

For upcoming activities, Samelson said, “We are looking ahead to planning Shop Small Saturday, November 28.  Board members are participating in a Marketing and Promotion Committee of Wyoming Main Street to share ideas of how best to promote and run events safely as the weather brings events indoors.”

Samelson also reported about a pilot Façade Improvement Grant which is being offered by National Main Street.  The program provides grants for façade improvements in twelve rural Main Street communities nationally with the goal of preserving valuable historic resources in rural communities, many of which are economically distressed and generating tangible economic benefits by increasing the sales of local businesses. She said, “There was a great response here in Thermopolis – nine building owners, which was more than the other two Wyoming communities who are part of this pilot, Laramie and Rock Springs.  The interested building owners are fine-tuning their applications.”

She concluded her report and said, “Main Street Thermopolis is working with Brian Beadles, from the Wyoming State Preservation Office (SHPO!) to expand the National Register of Historic Places boundaries to coincide with the Main Street Thermopolis Historic Downtown District.  The goal is to facilitate more historic buildings in our downtown to be eligible for certain grant opportunities.”

Fred Crosby, the assistant to the mayor, informed the council that the state is pulling out with the town with their support of court software and requested a motion to purchase a new, different software license. He said that the state is transferring the software resources to a private company that costs approximately $11,000 to $12,000 and an additional $6,000 per year for maintenance. Crosby and Town Clerk/Treasurer Tracy Van Huele explored a software system called Caselle which they already use for their billing and payroll, Caselle has a court program as well. Caselle’s court program is similar in cost but maintenance is less, $2,000 per year. The price for the software is $10,075. The State will end its software service on July 1 of next year. Van Huele said, “I would like to start this sooner than later, so the transition is smooth.” 

One of the main issues about changing to the new software is - Will the data from the older software transfer successfully into Caselle? Mayor Chimenti suggested that they table the software transition until they can confirm the data will convert into Caselle properly. 

Crosby also reported that the recent storm around Labor Day caused a lot of tree branches to break off and many citizens have been cleaning them up. Citizens were leaving the branches and collecting them so that the town could pick up the refuse. However, Crosby said that citizens are now leaving furniture such as recliners, mattresses and box springs, garden refuse and even entire trees and all the extra materials are piling up beyond just what storm damage caused. Crosby is going to talk to Chamber president Meri Ann Rush to put out a notice of these issues and the guidelines for the proper disposal of materials like this. Crosby wants the public to know that dropping off broken tree branches to the dump is free. 

Mayor Chimenti asked about the new Nuisance Officer as the issues brought up by Crosby would be in that department. Police Chief Julie Mathews said that the new Nuisance Officer is getting training and will be ready around December or January to address these things.

Mathews also reported that there will be a drive-thru flu clinic at the Public Health Annex on October 7 and wanted to address the issue of traffic flow. Mathews requested permission to block the alley next to the Annex so that the traffic would flow in one direction and drivers would not disrupt it by going down the alley. Vehicles would enter through 4th Street and go through Arapahoe. The Council voted and passed a motion to block the alley for the event.