Town will move forward in river restoration without GPR

A ground penetrating radar (GPR) study will not take place on the North Platte River through Saratoga, director of public works Jon Winter said at the Nov. 17 Saratoga Town Council meeting.

Brad Carr, of the University of Wyoming, took some baseline measurements to determine whether the town could utilize GPR as a tool for river reformation. The town currently needs to determine the top of bedrock and a bedrock profile in the river, for which GPR would be unsuccessful. Winter reported that the next step is a seismic study, which the town will look into pursuing.

Winter reported further on recent problems with variable frequency drives (VFD) at the water well, noting that four out of five had tripped, and the fifth, remaining VFD that was left running broke. While the town undergoes repairs to VFDs that broke this summer, Winter said that he is working with Carbon Power and Light in order to reduce amperage and voltage to see if that will prevent more problems.

For now, Winter said that he will contact Precision Electric, who is repairing the VFDs damaged over the summer, to run diagnostic tests on the damaged equipment during repairs. Winter mentioned that he will be looking into single-phase protection for the well field, which has an estimated cost of about $10,000.

Kim Hytrek, of the Carbon County Visitors Council (CVCC), presented a look at tourism in 2015 based on numbers from the CVCC. The office in Riverside saw 958 visitors in July, Hytrek reported. The total income from the 2 percent lodging tax is $380,002.94 so far for 2015-16, up from this time last year, which was $321,879.64. Hytrek credited some of this rise in tourism to the new director, Leslie Jefferson, who has been engaging the public with social media. Hytrek said the stickers handed out at chambers of commerce across the state were another driving force, as well as the Wyoming Road Trip initiative. Overall, Hytrek said it was a very good year.

The council also heard an update from Bobbe Fitzhugh, of Community Builders, Inc., the company behind the Saratoga Master Plan. Fitzhugh informed the council that the last survey had been completed and the team was working on a draft of the next survey. Since the meeting, the second survey is available to be completed by community members.

“This community has a lot to say, and that’s a good thing.” Fitzhugh said. Fitzhugh reported that flood protection was reported as most important by the community on the survey, followed by cleaning up junk and debris on public and private property.

The County Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan, was approved by the council with permission for the mayor to sign.

The next Saratoga Town Council meeting will be at 6 p.m. on Dec. 1 at the Saratoga Town Hall.