Commissioners hear STIP District 5 WYDOT highway project plans

At the August 20 Hot Springs County Commissioners board meeting, Pete Hallsten, District Engineer and Randy Merritt, District Construction Engineer, both from WYDOT, gave the commissioners their State Transportation Improvement Program Presentation (STIP). Cody Beers, District 5 Public Relations was also present along with other engineers and representatives in the public audience.

Merritt gave the commissioners an overview of WYDOT and the STIP Development, which included their district projects. Merritt said that in Fiscal Year 2025 there was $362,470,085 in Surface Transportation funding. These are constructing dollars only and do not include bridges or electric vehicles. Regarding State vs Federal funding, the national average is 70% State / 30% Federal. However, in Wyoming, the State is 27% and the Federal is 73%.

WYDOT’s District 5 covers 1,336 miles of road, 264 bridges/structures, 7,351 culverts, 160 miles of guardrail, 13,000 signs, and 2,572 miles of fence. 

For Fiscal Year 2024, the STIP projects in place are the reconstruction of Hot Springs County Black Mountain Road for $5,520,000 and pavement rehabilitation for Highway 20 Thermopolis to Kirby for $8,290,000. The total is $13,968,000.

For Fiscal Year 2025, work will be done on the highway from Thermopolis to Meeteetse in the Gooseberry area for overlay and chip seal work. Also, the Broadway Bridge will be rehabilitated. Merritt noted that emergency medical services will be rerouted to go through Hot Springs State Park to access the hospital. 

Also, for vehicles that require high clearance, a detour route will be used. The detour will be going east on Broadway, crossing the railroad tracks, a left turn to the north on 2nd Street which will be parallel to the railroad and then meets East Park Street, then a right turn to east to cross the Park Street bridge meeting the Hot Springs State Park. 

For Fiscal Year 2026, there will be additional mill overlay and chip seal for Thermopolis to Meeteetse in the Owl Creek area.

For Fiscal Year 2027, there will be a mill 3-inch overlay and chip seal for Broadway Street. For Fiscal Year 2028, there will be a 2-inch overlay chip seal on Grass Creek Road. For Fiscal Year 2029, there will be a 1-inch mill with a 2-inch overlay chip seal from Shoshoni through Thermopolis and in Wind River Canyon. For Fiscal Year 2030, there will be a mill 2-inch overlay and chip seal for Thermopolis to Meeteetse in the Cottonwood area.

The commissioners voted and passed the approval of the Revenue and Expenditure Report for $13,408 for a plus change from the original totals and the Special Accounts Payable Warrant Register for $40,000 for the Hot Springs County Fair Board.

Stephanie Conrad gave the Emergency Management (EM) report and said she attended the Campori event in Gillette on August 5-10, where she worked under the supervision of Campbell County’s Dave King. Conrad said King is an EM for 26 years and “I felt like it was a really good opportunity for me to learn the basic EOC protocol. I learned a lot from him and the other people that were working there. It was a really great opportunity.” 

Conrad also reported that she is working with Public Health in the planning stages of a full scale exercise where they might use the grandstands at the fairground. According to Conrad, there has not been a full scale exercise in Hot Springs County for 12 or more years and that “it’s going to be a great test for our response skills and coordination with other first responders. And I think it’ll be a huge step forward in exercising our emergency operation plans. And we’re hopeful that if this one turns out well, that we can do one like once a year on different things that are already in our POV.”

Regarding the primary election, Conrad said she checked in at all the polling places and left handheld radios for all the election judges just in case they were having an issue. The police department and dispatch were scanning those as a protective measure. No issues were reported at the time.

Conrad also reported there is a red flag warning in the county for fire starting on August 21 at 12 noon. 

Barb Rice gave the Youth Alternatives report and said they had 14 total juveniles in the program, which included eight males and six females. Four of them were to be released at the end of the week. 

Rice also said that five students participated in the Alive! At 25 program in Powell. The program will be coming to Hot Springs County in the near future. They also mowed and cleaned up the skate park and they received $5,000 from the Rec department to replace the mats. They plan on doing that in the fall.

Additionally, Rice reported that they were finishing up the last couple of weeks for their backpack program and summer food delivery. Also, they received a small grant for the materials to create a soft room with the Sheriff’s department where they can do forensic interviewing or interview victims. 

The commissioners and Rice discussed how there has been a shift in terms of services through community colleges and workforce service to do job training programs for careers that are not in typical higher education, such as trades. Students can get their certification in a variety of trades, such as electrical or get their commercial driver’s licenses. There is even a simulator available to learn how to drive commercial vehicles. The commissioners and Rice also discussed how Hot Springs County falls under the jurisdiction of Central Wyoming College.

County Assessor Daniel Webber presented a request for Approval of Rebate #3-24 for Parcel #3529 for Tax Year 2024 (District 102). There was a John Deere Motor Grader 722F that was listed twice on the tax roll. This necessitates a rebate of taxes for $1,564.23. The commissioners voted and passed the approval of the rebate. 

The commissioners held a discussion about a Community Development Block Grant that a letter of intent would be due by August 30. The grant money could potentially be used to address a variety of issues, per the direction of the commissioner’s application. Chairman Ryan expressed concern about the short turnaround to getting the letter written. They would have to narrow down which focus to have in their application. Some of the areas discussed included the Common Ground building, the fair building, and the county’s property on Arapahoe Street. 

However, Commissioner Phil Scheel expressed interest in moving forward to try anyway and wanted to get the groups of people involved in the areas discussed to come together and see if there would be any low hanging fruit and “let those folks weigh in” and they “don’t want to miss this opportunity.”

After further discussion, the commissioners voted and passed the approval to pursue the grant application. 

In other business, the commissioners voted and passed the approval of the Notice of Award to Wilson Bros. Construction Inc. for the Black Mountain Road Project; the Fiscal Year 2024 Airport Infrastructure Grant Agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration for $103,572 for the Hangar Construction (Phase I - Design); and the appointment of Carol Dockery as a member of the Natural Resource Planning Committee.