Flying into holes

During the Riverside Town Council meeting Thursday, Riverside council member Liz Swynarczuk resigned from the position of Park Director and turned those duties and projects over to council member Cheesbrough.

Cheesborough will find herself working closely with Encampment residents Josh Craig and Shannon Fagan on the Frisbee disc golf tournament slated for June 23-24. Fagan said the tournament is named “The Tale of Two Cities” because Encampment’s nine hole disc course will be used along with the nine hole disc course in Riverside.

The council approved Friday, June 23 as an appreciation day for community support of the tournament and set Saturday, June 24 as the day of the tournament. After the tournament, awards will be given at the Bear Trap with a band to follow. Riverside will sponsor a hole with a flag on the course of Encampment.

The council purchased four picnic tables for $4,000 and a dog station for the park at the cost of $345. The park has recently had wood chips spread around the kids’ area and new basketball nets are going to be put up. The west side fence will be replaced and any damaged street signs were also slated for repair.

The council will use the town of Encampment’s mosquito service to fog the town of Riverside.

Putting solar panel lights down by the lagoon is a future project the town is considering. Insurance renewal through Wyoming Association Risk Management (WARM) is coming up and there is a substantial increase. The annual rate will skyrocket from about $600 to $5,000 on July 1.

“WARM was formed back in the day when Wyoming communities were paying up the wazoo for insurance, so municipalities got together and pooled resources,” said Mayor Leroy Stephenson. “Now the smaller communities are being pushed out because they are considered the biggest risk with not paying a lot.”

Stephenson told the council the transfer station is still in transition, but the town would be utilizing Saratoga’s landfill in the foreseeable future. Rates are inevitably going up says Stephenson.

“The only way to keep rates down is to recycle and for people to consider what they are throwing away,” said Stephenson. “The way to hold down the price is to ship less garbage, People who don’t recycle or separate their trash need to pay.”

The next meeting of the Riverside Town council will be 6 p.m. May 11 at town hall.