GIS update presented

At the March 5 Hot Springs County Commissioners board meeting held at the annex building, the commissioners voted and passed the approval of the warrant register for $440,306.21 and payroll for $202,778.42.

Brian Clarkson and Maddie Ross of Ardurra gave the Geographic Information System (GIS) update and said they have scheduled time with the commissioners on April 16 to go over GIS in detail. Ross also said they worked on an online application for the Planner to categorize parcels by their land-use versus classification. They continued drawing and attributing land use change tracts and added new land-use change tracts to the Land Use Change Lookup App. They also worked on adding LiDAR elevations to the County Road Centerlines and LiDAR Experience Application.

Regarding their anticipated work in the next period, Ross said they will continue drawing and attributed land use change tracts and provide the Planner with a list of remaining tracts. They also will possibly create an online editor for the Planner to draw LUC tracts.

Ross continued and said they will work on Airport Applications and review ALP data and applications. They will possibly add additional ALP sheets to online applications. Also, they will continue working on County Road LiDAR Applications and complete a slope analysis for each country road.

Ross added they will begin work 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 also continue to provide support for online applications.

Nate Messenger gave the Hot Springs County Airport Fixed Base Operator (FBO) report and said they had 120 total recorded operations. This amount included four air ambulances, five aircraft overnight, and three requests for hangars. The request for hangars included two King Airs and a Beechcraft Bonanza.

Regarding fuel sales, they sold 1605.96 gallons of Avgas and 550 gallons of jet fuel.

Messenger said, “The month of February was slow at the airport both in traffic and fuel sales. We missed a couple of jet fuel sales due to weather.”

Shane Rankin gave the Road & Bridge report and said they had a “quiet month” where they snow plowed a little, bladed roads where necessary, and performed equipment maintenance. 

Rankin said he was contacted by WYDOT and Mountain Construction and they are looking for a place to stage for an upcoming project.

Rankin informed the commissioners that they have a position open as one of their staff is leaving. 

 Regarding the asphalt hot box for patching, he placed bids in three places and got two bids back, with the lowest being $61,470. He got two bids back for the pickup truck, one is for a 2023 on the lot, and the other is 2024 to be ordered. The commissioners voted and passed the approval to get the lowest bid for the asphalt hot box and the 2023 on the lot truck. The hot box will take six weeks to deliver.

Dusty Spomer of Ardurra gave the Black Mountain Road (BMR) project update and said they have been working on a right of way with the BLM Worland office. One of the other items they are working on is a staging area and the other issue is a nesting area of raptors. 

Spomer also discussed with the commissioners possible funding from the Federal Land Access Program (FLAP). He wondered if they would be eligible and should they pursue it. During the discussion, they noted that the engineering has already been done for the project and as well as the planning. This possibly makes them more eligible to meet the descriptions of what the FLAP could be looking for in their goals. The commissioners voted and passed the approval to appoint Chairman Ryan to be a representative for the application. They also voted and passed the approval to send letters to two landowners who would be involved or affected by the right of way and the BMR project.

John Dorman gave the Maintenance report and said that works is done on the generator hookup. They pumped 600 gallons of old fuel or oil and burned it. Dorman also said they will fill holes in the parking lot and take care of the mud.

Barb Rice gave the Youth Alternative update and said they have nine total juveniles, which include six males and three females. Rice said, “Our collaboration with other people has been really helpful. We enrolled three of our current enrollees in counseling, individual counseling and family counseling, which is huge. Two of those individuals were just substance abuse evaluations. I think we, just as a community, have done a better job of really promoting and advocating for mental health and the value of that. I think we worked closely with DFS.”

The commissioners and Rice discussed the funding of the Prevention program and if it helped. Rice replied, “Absolutely. I think from the beginning, we partnered right off with Prevention as a county. We have gotten a direct benefit of that and access to prevention activities and funding through that. I think it’s huge. I really think that’s an essential component of that for sure, and has benefited us directly in our people, directly. I just also think how much we have changed our approach to our kids and their families and the people that we deal with, and we just do that as a larger concept in making sure that folks who are having access to things that they probably and education, education and other resources that they wouldn’t have maybe done on their own and that just all funnels through that whole prevention idea.”

Les Culliton gave the Planner update and said that the Natural Resource Planning Committee will meet on March 13. Regarding the Land Use Planning Commission, there will either be no meeting on March 20 or only a work session if they do gather. No applications are on the agenda.

Tricia McPhie gave the Prevention/Public Health update and said in a discussion with the commissioners that the collaboration between them and Youth Alternatives is “seeing results.”

Chairman Tom Ryan explained some history of the formation of the entities working together, which includes Jen Cheney, who is an employee of the school district. Under local leadership and through various fundings, they have worked together to help youth and address the suicide program. 

McPhie also said they have been working on a state preparedness response unit, which includes evacuation drills and shelters. They also have sensory bags for students with sensory issues. The bags include blankets and fidgets. 

In other business, the commissioners voted and passed the approval of a Support Letter for the Wyoming Wind River Corridor Resilience Study; the Hot Springs County Airport, Request for Federal Assistance, AIP 3-56-0000-016-2024; the Request for Reimbursement #19 for $1,235.71 for the Big Horn Basin Nature and Discovery Center (BHBNDC); the Request for Payment #20 for $15,086.31 for the Black Mountain Road Project; and the 2024 Wellness Contract with Wyoming Health Fairs for Hot Springs County Employees.

The commissioners and County Attorney Jill Logan held a discussion about the Common Ground building as the commissioners have expressed interest in purchasing it for the community. 

The building was formerly used by the Hot Springs County Counseling Service which was merged into High Country Behavioral Health and moved to a different location in town. 

The Common Ground building is currently being used by Central Wyoming College (CWC) and the Hot Springs County Youth Alternative diversion program in the facilitation of meeting the educational needs of both youth and adults alike.  CWC also provides a part-time tutor to help with Hi-Set (formerly the GED program) preparation and testing. 

The commissioners are interested in acquiring the building to ensure that those programs can continue and requested that Logan proceed to move forward on the potential acquisition of the property. The commissioners commented that this could be a “win-win” for everyone.