Island open for now

Veterans Island Park will not be closed just yet Saratoga Mayor John Zeiger said at the April 15 Saratoga Town Council meeting.

“With the high water, we are not going to begin work as soon as we had hoped. So we are probably talking July now. It will remain open unless the water starts flowing over,” Zeiger said.

Previously, Saratoga Town Engineer Chuck Bartlett projected that the park would be closed mid-April to install the abutments for the pedestrian bridge project. The project itself would consist of constructing a bridge from the hot pool to Veterans Island.

In lieu of Bartlett’s absence at the meeting, Councilman Steve Wilcoxson said Bartlett explained to him the high water level prohibits the trucks from being able to make it across the river to the island.

“They can’t get concrete trucks across the river there,” Wilcoxson said. “He said as soon as that water drops down, they’ll want to get going on [the project].”

Organized events will not be allowed at Veterans Island this summer

Earlier in the meeting, the council passed two ordinances. Ordinance No. 823, which amends the 2013/2014 fiscal year budget, will adjust the expenditures of the Saratoga Riverwalk Project Fund by $190,000.00 and the 911 Fund by $6,000. Saratoga Town Clerk Suzie Cox said that a line item went missing from last year’s budget.

“It wasn’t until we started spending the money from the bridge across from the hot pool side to the Veterans Island side that I realized that line item had been taken out totally in 2012/2013,” Cox said. “So I contacted both the auditor and Mr. Thompson and asked how I go about getting that back in and they suggested that we amend the budget from last year and put that back in.”

The adjustment from the 911 fund, Cox said, arrives “from an over-expenditure that some of the things that Tom [Knickerbocker] was doing to update the 911 system over there in Encampment. We will take it out of the investment fund.”

Ordinance No. 824 amended a municipal code for the town of Saratoga. The ordinance said that it will “adopt a portion of the current statues of the State of Wyoming pertaining to the Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on Highways” which includes Wyoming State statutes 31-5-10 through 31-5-1214.

Saratoga Police Chief Tom Knickerbocker said that ordinance is to keep Saratoga up to to date with any amendments to the traffic code.

The next Saratoga Town Council Meeting will take place 6 p.m. on May 6 at Saratoga Town Hall.