Commissioners discuss four RFIs submitted for old airport property

At the October 3 Hot Springs County Commissioners board meeting held at the Annex, the commissioners held a discussion about the Requests For Information for the development of the old airport property. Four RFIs responses were submitted for the property. They are from Central Wyoming College who offered their support for any future developments; from Daniel C. Wychgram and Hans H. Wychgram for a proposed residential airpark; from Dorman Rentals, LLC for their interest in the old airport hangars; and from Meri Ann Dorman, on behalf of the Hot Springs Shooting Complex Committee, for its interest in the possible Wyoming Shooting Complex.

Ardurra’s Brian Clarkson and Maddie Ross gave the Geographic Information System (GIS) report and said they uploaded the remaining land-use change files (2012-1981) to cloud storage. They also drew and attributed land-use change tracts from 2006, 2007, and 2009. They downloaded and processed FEMA LiDAR for all county roads. Created a digital elevation model, hill shade, 2-foot contours, and 5-foot contours for a 500-foot buffer on all HSC county roads. They worked on Standard Operation Procedure documentation for Road and Bridge and Planner applications and updated a four-month project schedule. They also continued training analysts for HSC GIS service work.

Regarding anticipated work, Ardurra will continue drawing and attributing land use change tracts and add new land-use change tracts to the Land-Use Change Lookup App. They will upload county road topo elevation rasters and contour lines to ArcGIS Online and begin developing county road toto online applications. Additionally, they will begin work on NextGen 911 layers and gather and process publicly available data. They will work with the Sheriff and Assessor to obtain the existing address point layer and append data to the new data model. They will continue providing support for online applications. They will obtain additional county road easement/ ROW documents from Cody Stewart, begin mapping descriptions, and add to the Road & Bridge Department application.

Nate Messenger gave the FBO report and said they have 228 total recorded operations at the county airport. Of those, they had eight air ambulances, 10 aircraft overnight, and two requests for hangar space. Both were single-engine piston aircraft.

Regarding fuel sales, they sold 1539.52 gallons of Avgas and 4322.5 gallons of jet fuel. Messenger said, “In the month of September we saw a slight decrease in traffic and Avgas sales, however, jet fuel sales were up from August.”

Messenger continued and said, “The seal coat and mark final paint were completed. All filters in the self-serve units and the trucks were replaced per Phillips 66 branding requirements. We faced a challenge with the annual Fly-In on September 16, as Worland held theirs the same weekend. That was not supposed to be the case, but they moved the date ahead and apparently forgot we were hosting one. We still had some success though, serving 115 meals, and 10 aircraft showed up for the event. I received some positive feedback for hosting the model airplane event at the same time. The people seemed to enjoy watching them fly.”

Messenger added, “I attended the Wyoming Airport Coalition conference in Gillette last week. Some good information was put out about snow and ice removal, and some information on alternative sources for funding. Wyoming State Lands office has some lower amount grants and loans that are underutilized. Work continues on the Jones Hangar. Mr. Jones has asked me to look into what we can do to make getting an electrical permit a simpler process. I am drafting an email to the State Fire Marshal’s office to try to find out what the hang up was.”

Messenger also said, “Chris Schmeltzer with CB Equipment out of Powell has offered to lease us another 4066R tractor. This unit will have a cab with heat and A/C and is equipped with a loader. The lease will be for 10 months, 100 hours, and cost $3,000. We have $2,500 in the budget for a lease, and could make up the remainder from the equipment line item.” The commissioners voted and passed the approval for the $3,000 lease.

Shane Rankin gave the Road & Bridge report and said they are wrapping up the summer’s work and that the fall blading is almost completed. Almost all the county roads have been mowed, with some local roads that need to be done again. Also, they are doing some exploration of the Kirby #2 gravel pit and they estimate they have 15,000 to 20,000 cubic yards of material that will be available for the Black Mountain Road project. The entire project estimates they will need a total of 20,000 to 25,000 cubic yards of material. Rankin said they dug about 20 holes in the exploration.

Rankin also reported that they did not get awarded the High-Risk Rural Road grant for a guardrail. He explained the reason was “purely because of the cost of materials. The materials have gone up threefold since the last time we did a guardrail project. I think they’re getting more bang for their buck doing the striping. Guardrails just kind of have taken a backseat right now.”

John Dorman gave the Maintenance report and said they do not have any new projects at this time. In the previous week, they worked on the trees in front of the courthouse. Jadeco started work on their generator. They will coordinate schedules with the Senior Center to do work. They will gather data for the detention center plumbing project. They will get a price for gutters at the EOC building. Dorman said he discussed with Rapid Fire out of Cody about the detention center’s fire detection and suppression system. They are working out a price to potentially do the work. Commissioner Phil Scheel discussed with Dorman about the intake shower in the detention center and wants to make sure the installation is ADA-compliant. Scheel said he wants “to do it right and done correctly” since they will spend money on it.

Tricia McPhie gave the Prevention and Public Health report and said they have ordered COVID boosters, but there is a manufacturing delay and they do not have an estimated time of arrival for them.

The commissioners also voted and passed the approval of the Grant-Agreement Contract No. 234030 with the Wyoming Department of Health for $25,000 to Strengthen Wyoming’s Infrastructure and Workforce.

Bo Bowman gave the Planner report and said that the Natural Resources Planning Committee will meet on October 11 and the Land Use Planning Commission (LUPC) will meet on October 18. Bowman added that all seats are now filled for the LUPC. Also, Bowman said they did their annual gravel pit tour with the BLM and they submitted to the DEQ a five-year renewal application for the Road & Bridge shop for water disposal. The commissioners voted and passed the approval of the application.

Bowman also said that he is working on a manual of standard operating procedures for his planner’s office to be given to his replacement after he retires. Bowman added he will participate in training the new hire as well.

The commissioners and Bowman discussed the 518 Arapahoe Street building and the process of working with DEQ for the assessment and abatement of asbestos for the building. Bowman said there is no cost to the county for the assessment. However, DEQ does not have funds for demolition. Some of the collaborators in the project, Shurie Scheel and Meri Ann Dorman, said there are grants for feasibility studies available. There was also discussion about the common wall that connects to an existing building where businesses operate. There was also a discussion about the roof.

Bowman also discussed with the commissioners that he and County Clerk Becky Kersten are working on the road name changes for the Red Rim Ranch.

Commissioner Paul Galovich gave an update on the State-Wide Shooting Complex Committee. They recently submitted their proposal to a 12-member task force that is in charge of the decision process. Galovich said that one of the new requirements for the complex location is to have a minimum size of 800 acres and a maximum of 2,500 acres. There will be an online meeting on October 20 and a second meeting in Cody on November 17 as they continue the process. Requests for proposals will be in April and then a final decision thereafter.

Galovich said a lot of what they submitted in their proposal overlaps with their requirements, and that the proposal was repeatedly brought up in discussions to give examples. Galovich added that he believes they are “ahead of the game.” He also noted that the task force is not interested in BLM land, but rather they are looking for private, county, or town lands to be considered. Also noted was that the land does not have to be contiguous and there can be a nearby location for other activities.

Another point that they discussed was the matter of wind. Galovich produced research that Hot Springs County has minimal wind in the state of Wyoming and much less compared to other competitor counties. Galovich said, “If it comes to fruition, it will bring huge opportunities.”

County Attorney Jill Logan and Meri Ann Dorman gave a presentation about some opioid settlement funds where they discussed the process of how to distribute them to different agencies. Dorman said they brainstormed a plan and hoped to distribute the funds by the end of the year. The agencies involved receive these funds through a reimbursement process. Logan added that “there is a lot of work involved” with “many strings attached” involving the settlements and added, “more money is coming”. The commissioners voted and passed the approval of the settlement strategy for $67,401.65 which is composed of two grants.

The commissioners held a discussion about the recent WACO meeting. Chairman Ryan expressed his concerns about the mandatory training required by the state’s Department of Audit even for those who are volunteering for an unpaid position on a board or other entity. There was discussion about how the Department of Audit could remove elected people from their office if they failed to comply with the training. Chairman Ryan said there are many legislations or statutes that protect elected officials and define the process of their removal from office. It was also noted that there was no funding for the trainees for their travel, lodging, and other expenses that would be incurred from attending the mandatory training. The burden of the costs would fall on the county or possibly the individual.

Jim Olsen presented himself to the commissioners, seeking support for a possible building or location for pickleball athletes. There is a growing population in Hot Springs County of pickleball players, many of whom play at the tennis courts in Candy Jack Park or in the Armory. Olsen said that there were only 4 million players in 2020 but in three years that interest has exploded into 40 million players in the United States. Olsen was interested to see if there were grants available. A physical building or a tent-like structure was discussed, and if the facility could be indoors versus outdoors. Chairman Tom Ryan said that there isn’t a county location that might be suitable for the idea, but Ryan suggested Olsen visit the Recreation District Board to explore the idea and see if there might be grants there. Another idea suggested was the new Senior Center building that was formerly ShopKo as a potential location that has space for pickleball.

County Treasurer Julie Mortimore and County Clerk Becky Kersten submitted the FYE 6/20/2023 Statement of Receipts & Expenditures as a result of an audit report. The total revenue of the receipt was $10,589,490 and the total expenditures were $7,689,711. The commissioners voted and passed the approval of Chairman Ryan’s signature on the report. They also voted and passed the approval of the accounts payable, totaling $558,774, which includes $191,331 for payroll.

In other business, the commissioner voted and passed the approval of the Wyoming Business Council Grant Application Resolution 2023-01; the Black Mountain Road Request for Payment #15 for $40,673.46; the Big Horn Basic Nature and Discovery Center (BHBNDC) RFR#14 for $789.48; and appointed Paul Berry and Jeb Schenck to the BHBNDC as Joint Powers Board members.