SCWEMS seat to be available in Encampment

Encampment Town Council met Thursday to deal with old and new business in the town

The council quickly worked its way through the agenda before voting to go into a closed executive session to discuss issues of personnel and potential litigation. There were several items of old business the council discussed and ruled on, and many items of new business.

Among the new business items were the first reading of the budget, hiring of seasonal employees and landscaping of the town office. Old business discussed by the board included fire hydrant replacement and a conversation about the use of the town’s sound system.

The town agreed to share a water line with the town of Riverside on a temporary basis. This will allow the Sierra Madre Water and Sewer Joint Powers Board (sewer board) to clean a holding tank and repair a damaged valve in some equipment at a water tank the board manages. The sewer board will temporarily divert water into a distribution main installed by the town of Encampment allowing the sewer board to complete its maintenance and repair without any interruption in service to Encampment or Riverside.

Town council members also pointed out it would be an opportunity to test the town’s distribution main, which was installed in case of emergency.

The town approved the purchase of nine new fire hydrants. The council originally had approved the purchase of four hydrants, but as the project progressed, the need for more became apparent and the town agreed to purchase nine. In other old business, the council considered requests from organizations and private individuals to use or rent the town’s sound system for events. The Grand Encampment museum requested the use of the equipment for its 50th anniversary event, and a private individual requested use of the system for a wedding in August.

After discussing the issue of the sound system for several minutes, the council agreed that it would loan the equipment to the museum, but would not make it available for the private wedding.

In the future, the council said it would consider requests from civic organizations to borrow the equipment and such requests would be approved or denied on a case-by-case basis, but private requests for the system would be refused. Board members cited issues of liability for that decision, with several members pointing out that there are private vendors that rent such equipment at a fee, and the town should not be in the business of renting equipment to private individuals.

The council acted to approve camping in public places this summer. This ordinance is generally passed each year to accomodate an influx of people during special events during the summer. The council voted to pay $185 plus travel and lodging expenses to send police chief Grayling Wachsmuth to Casper for a conference hosted by the Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police.

The council also agreed to solicit letters of interest to replace the town’s South Central Wyoming Emergengy Medical Service (SCWEMS) representative whose seat is expiring in June and who will be vacating the seat. The council will advertise for the SCWEMS representative, as well as three part time seasonal employees, and will advertise for bids for propane for fiscal year 2016/2017.

The council spent some time discussing landscaping options for the town hall building, but tabled the discussion pending further research into options.

The council also amended its budget and performed a first reading. It was necessary to amend the budget due to instrumentation issues at the water plant, the purchase of a sewer router and reallocation of line items on the budget.

The council finished off the evening by voting to go into closed executive session to discuss personnel and possible litigation issues. Executive sessions are not open to the public.

The next meeting of the Encampment Town Council will be 7 p.m., May 12 at town hall.