Update provided on BHB Nature & Discovery Center

At Hot Springs County Commissioners meeting held last Tuesday at the Annex building Toddi Darlington and Joe Moon, with Jeb Schenck, presented to the commissioners a design update on the Big Horn Basin Nature & Discovery Center plans. They showed them colored architecture sketches from a ground-level view and a top-down view. They also explained the features they plan to construct which include a water feature, how a dam, water, and erosion work. They also will have a feature that discusses the petroglyphs and the formations of Legend Rock. The history of the area will be featured at their interpretive center.

They also held a discussion about the construction money that they hope to get from TAP grants. They plan on having two phases of construction. The first phase of the construction will address the entrance. The second phase will construct the expansion. Darlington said that during this year they hope to put in a letter of intent for their first round of construction.

Barb Rice gave the Youth Alternatives report and said she had 13 total juveniles, which included nine males and four females. Rice also explained, “It’s really important for me that our kids are able to remain in this community and not removed from this community to be held securely somewhere or to be taken to some other facility if we can hold them here. So we do that hold as part of what I do. We do what is called a 48-hour hold. If we had a situation with a juvenile and they cannot get to court till Monday or something and they don’t pose a risk to themselves or harm to somebody else or something, we stay with them until we can get them to court on Monday. Or maybe we have somebody who shows up in the community. We have to wait on somebody to get here, a parent or something to come to have them released to us or whatever. It’s just a really important thing that we do.”

Rice also said they have 15 juveniles in the classroom with 12 enrolled in the ages 16-17 group and three 18+ enrolled. Rice additionally reported that of those 15 enrolled 13 are currently employed. Regarding the student’s community service, Rice detailed how their efforts have fed the community by preparing food bags that served 132 families and 334 people. The recent summer they delivered meals to 457 kids. Rice added, “I just don’t think they get enough credit for the goodness that they do.” Regarding their classroom instruction, Rice said that have 785 total hours put in. 

 Hot Springs County Sheriff Jerimie Kraushaar presented the Small Rural/Tribal Grant Application for some new body cameras for his deputies. The grant is a 50/50 match and Kraushaar said he already has the money to cover the half needed. He explained that his current cameras are near their seven years of their end of life and they are having technical issues. Also, with their current cameras, they have to burn CDs and transfer them manually to the County Attorney’s office for evidence. The new cameras would have the video footage stored on a cloud-based server and would be much more user-friendly for all parties involved.

The grant is for $18,250 which includes five cameras and five years of storage. $13,750 of that amount is solely for cloud storage $4,500 is for the cameras. The commissioners voted and passed the approval to apply for the grant.

Carson Rowley of T-O Engineers gave a draft scope of work for the HSG Hangar Project and sought the commissioners’ approval for the Independent Fee Estimate work order. Rowley said that the FAA gave a comment and that they are “OK with it” and he reminded the commissioners that they are eligible for reimbursement from the FAA. The specific dimensions of the hangar have not been decided upon yet.

In other business, the commissioners voted and passed the approval to change the July 4 commissioners’ board meeting and move it to Wednesday, July 5 at 9 a.m.