Commissioners hear report on county GIS documents

At the first December Hot Springs County Commissioners meeting, Brian Clarkson and Maddie Ross of T-O Engineers gave the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) update.

They reported they have scanned septic permit documents from 1985-1988, 1993-1997, and 1999. Those files were then returned to county planner Bo Bowman. Additionally, they worked with Shane Rankin of Road and Bridge (R&B) to improve the performance of the Road Maintenance Field Maps App and allow R&B personnel to add maintenance records and create new features completely offline.

Ross and Clarkson also said they revised the Road Maintenance Editor and created a training document for that app, which includes instructions for setting up the app for offline use. Also, they met with Rankin and Ben Curran in Cody for an R&B training session.

Regarding upcoming work, Ross and Clarkson will add asphalt patch, moving, and gravel pit tracking to the Road Maintenance applications. More septic permit documents from 1977-1984 will be scanned, and those files returned to Bowman. Those septic files will be uploaded to cloud storage. Also, they will continue mapping land-use changes and obtain additional county road easements//ROW documents from Cody Stewart. They will begin mapping descriptions and add GIS layers to the Hot Springs County Open Data and GeoHub as approved by the commissioners. 

Nate Messenger gave the FBO report and said that there were 158 total recorded operations at the Hot Springs County airport. Of those aircraft, five were air ambulances, five were overnighted, and there were four requests for a hangar. Those requests included three small aircraft and one Falcon 900 jet. The Falcon jet is 25 feet high, 65 feet long, and 65 feet wide. However, Messenger said that jet did not spend the night. 

Regarding fuel sales, they sold 1,131.59 gallons of Avgas and 1,257.6 gallons of jet fuel. Messenger added, “Fuel sales were better this month, and traffic is being affected by the winter weather.” Messenger continued and said, “Bemidji Aviation is hauling UPS freight in for the holidays again this year. They got off to a later start than previous years, starting Tuesday, November 22.

The commissioners voted and passed the approval for the 2023 Hot Springs County Airport Crack Seal Project Contract.

New county maintenance supervisor, Frank Davis, gave the maintenance report and said they received a quote for the generator installation for the law enforcement center.

Also he reported, a compressor stopped working at the county annex and they are waiting on the part to fix it. Additionally, they will have a new Bobcat for snow removal. It was shipped on December 1 and they hope to receive it by Christmas. 

Shane Rankin gave the Road and Bridge report and said they had a busy month with plowing snow and sanding the roads. They also did sign maintenance. Rankin also said that put the GIS work on hold because the operators could not use the app when they went out of cell service. However, Rankin said he went to Cody for GIS training and they are working on offline mapping. 

The commissioner voted and passed the approval of the Homeland Security Grant for Inter-Operable Communications and the Certificate of Final Completion for the West Cottonwood Creek Road Culvert Repair. 

Rankin also reported that one of their trucks hit an antelope and he said, “I don’t think we’re going to need to put it through the insurance.” Most of the damage is cosmetic, and the cost is cheaper than their $5,000 deductible. Rankin said he doesn’t see anything mechanically wrong inside. There was no fluid leaking, and the radiator was OK. 

Bo Bowman gave the Planner report and said the Natural Resources Planning Committee will not meet until January and that the Land Use Planning Committee will not meet in December either as they do not have any items at this time. 

Regarding septic applications, Bowman said, “It appears that the 2022 septic season has now ended given the weather outside… But what I’m going to do is contact all our local installers and get them all up to speed on some of our procedures and conduct business a little bit differently next year. No details yet, but I’ll also contact landowners who have a few permits that were approved and nothing’s happened. So I’ll confirm that that’s still the case.”

Bowman also discussed the difficulty of supply chain issues and the limited amounts of plastic components. These issues delay the construction of new homes or other properties. 

Bowman also discussed his work with T-O Engineers on the GIS applications and how the scanning of documents is proceeding. 

Barb Rice gave the Youth Alternative report and said they have 12 juveniles, which includes four females and eight males. There are also 15 students for the high set, which includes 12 16-17-year-olds and three 18, 19-year-olds. Rice said, “It’s pretty cool to see the process work” and that her students are doing a “good job” and she is “proud of them.” Rice added that some of her students are working and some are full-time.

Rice also reported that her students participated in helping with the Tree Festival and Christmas baskets. Also, they will do their final food drive downtown and they will pack all the Christmas boxes and on December 17 do a drive-thru pick-up. 

Bill Gordon gave the emergency planning report and presented the Homeland Security Grant that pays half of his salary through reimbursement. The grant was reviewed by county attorney Jill Logan and has the same language as previous years. The commissioners voted and passed the approval of the grant for $33,400. 

County Attorney Jill Logan presented Resolution 2022-11 for the appointment of a special prosecutor for a confidential matter. According to the resolution document, they selected Washakie County and Prosecuting Attorney John Worrall for the matter. The commissioners voted and passed the approval of the appointment.

The commissioners held a public hearing for the Malt Liquor License for Bailey Enterprises Pit Stop #10. There were no public comments given. Mike Bailey was present and said that they will remodel their store to segregate the alcohol products for 21+ age customers. Baily added that they have a zero-tolerance policy for selling to minors, which includes immediate firing. Also, all employees receive Tips Training. The commissioners voted and passed the approval of the malt liquor license.  

In other business, the commissioners voted and passed the approval for RFR #5 for the Black Mountain Road Project for $58,409.41; RFR #3 for the Children’s Outdoor Discovery Area TAP Grant for $2,872.39; and RFR #4 for the Children’s Outdoor Discovery Area TAP for $3,457.74.

The commissioners also voted and passed the approval of the Special District Non-Compliance Report. In this report, the following entities are in non-compliance with the State of Wyoming Department of Audit, Public Funds Division: Hot Springs County 4% Lodging Tax D/B/A; Hot Springs Travel and Tourism, Hot Springs County Recreation District, Kirby Ditch Irrigation District, and Lucerne Water & Sewer District. Wyoming Statute 9-1-507(j) (ii) requires the County Commission to place a public notice in a newspaper indicating the special district is in danger of being dissolved due to the failure to comply with the legal reporting requirement.

The cost of the public notice will be assessed to the special districts. See page 9 of this issue to read the legal notice.