River permits to come

Saratoga Mayor Ed Glode will move forward with river repairs in the face of early warming.

“There’s a chance that it’s going to stay warm like this and the river’s going to come up a little further and they won’t be able to get in there, and at that point it turns into a fall deal,” Glode said.

This year the river is really impaired, so even if there isn’t very high water, the banks are still in danger of destabilizing and causing concern, Glode said. Since the long term river restoration project will take a few years, Glode said, the focus now is on major impact areas, including safety on the highway bridge and slightly upstream.

The permits through Army Corps of Engineers that they are asking about should be announced in about two weeks, and Glode said that any concerned citizens should attend the March 15 Saratoga Town Council meetings for updates.

The Saratoga Outfall Project has essentially been put on hold for now while the Department of Environmental Quality analyzes any alternative options for Saratoga. Glode said the April 1 deadline is no longer a concern, and Saratoga will continue to use the lagoon come April 2. While rates went up for inflation unrelated to the project, there was an unestablished fee for the outfall project that would have the rates raise to a maximum of $7.20, and if an alternative is discovered that will go away, Glode said.

Glode, town clerk Suzie Cox and director of public works Jon Winter all attended the Wyoming Association of Municipalities (WAM) conference two weeks ago. There, they learned about training options for public officials and Community Builders, Inc.’s plan to create a better option for officials that won’t take as long as the current and only option.

The classes are set to be presented in June in Cody and may be offered online. They will be available to all councilmembers, clerks and members of boards and commissions, basically anyone holding elected or appointed office.