Plastics and politics

The Saratoga Town Council met at 6 p.m. on Aug. 21 at the Saratoga Town Hall with all the council attending.

It was business as usual with the approval of the minutes for the meeting on Aug. 7 and agenda. The financials were approved in the sum of $112,413.74. Saratoga Mayor Ed Glode went over correspondence from Platte Valley Community Center (PVCC) and the Carbon County Visitors Council. The annual PVCC fundraiser on Sept. 8 and is named Bon Voyage, being themed on travel, many of auctions will feature travel packages. The ticket to the fundraiser is $40.

Lee Ann Stephenson, democratic senate candidate for District 11, got up before the council to introduce herself.

“Many people know me as the mayor of Riverside’s wife and half owner of the campground there,” Stephenson said. “What many people don’t know is I am a retired state employee. I worked for the Attorney General’s office where I managed the domestic violence program department for the state of Wyoming.”

Stephenson said she came with more experience than many knew.

“I am really excited about promoting the area with tourism and working with criminal justice reform,” Stephenson said. “I am also traveling around to all the municipalities and listening to hear what the communities desire. That is why I have been going to council meetings because I believe I need to bring the ideas and concerns from this district to Cheyenne.”

Randy Stevens, town resident, came before the council to get a grade permit for his driveway.

He said he had given all the information to the town’s planning and zoning commission and was frustrated he had to come before the council. After Stevens explained he had given the proper information the council listened to Stevens and granted him the permit unanimously.

Glode told the council about the meeting of Carbon County Carbon Council of Governments (CCCOG) that was held on Aug 15 in Saratoga at the PVCC. He stressed that voters needed to be educated about the differences between the 5th Penny tax, also known as the One Percent Sales and Use Tax which funds services for all Carbon County communities (see the August 22 Saratoga Sun story “6th penny talks”) and the 6th Penny Tax also known as the Specific Purpose Excise Tax that is for a specific project in each community.

“By Nov. 9 we need to have some kind of project or list of projects that Saratoga would like to accomplish to CCCOG for the specific purpose tax,” Glode said.

“We need to have ideas when we go to that CCCOG meeting,” Will Faust, council member said.

Glode said the town had asked for $1.9 in a memorandum of understanding (MOU) from Wyoming Industrial Siting Council (ISD) concerning the impact that the Gateway West Transmission Line project would have on the town.

ISD agreed on the MOU that the town would be impacted, but funds allocated were $1.5 million. The council approved the MOU.

The town will use the funds to put more camping sites around the lake with water, put a road out there and extend the water lines north of town.

“There will be a road built and water system will be put out there,” Glode said. “It is fairly interesting that the total tax on this project is $7.9 million and we were able to get a consensus from the ISD we deserved $1.5 million.”

Richard Raymer, town council member, said the Saratoga Fire Department was doing fundraisers around town and he hoped the town would do all it could to support them.

Rob Bifano, Saratoga Police Chief, said Natalie Adams, a part time dispatcher had resigned.

He asked for the council to accept the resignation and allow him to advertise for a new worker. The council approved the resignation and to look at getting new part-timers.

Jon Winter, public works director, said there was a resignation from Stephen Schierman, another water department operator. This means the water department is down two workers. The council approved Winter to advertise to fill the position. Raymer pointed out that with the new upgrades, the water treatment plant should need less manual work and one replacement worker would likely suffice.

Winter said the department had been doing road patchwork and painting school crossings. He added that Carbon County Road and Bridge would be taking their requested 3,000 cubic yards of airport millings in the week to come.

Raymer said the airport board was looking at prices of landing fees at two airports as models for the airport to consider. He said board members were doing research on both models to be ready at the next meeting to have a price structure ready to put in place. He said there definitely would be a landing fee implemented in near future.

Council member Steve Wilcoxson said he wanted to make the council aware of his concern that the plastic coming in to landfill not being recycled had potential to leach into the ground. He also pointed out that the plastic not being recycled meant they were being put in the trash and not being crushed and taking up more room in the pit. Raymer did address the contamination concerns.

“I can respond a little bit to that,” Raymer said. “I can’t even begin to tell you how many monitoring wells that are out there and they monitor multiple times of year at different depths to check if there is any contamination going on.”

Ordinance 846 was approved on its second reading with all board members voting aye. The ordinance amends Title 15, chapter 15.04 building code, section 15.04.080 concerning permits, application fees and to provide an effective date.

The second reading of Ordinance 847, regulating mobile home parks within the town limit, was held. The ordinance is amending section 18.57.010 plans and specification; 18.57.020 permits; 18.57.40 requirements generally; 18.57.060 refuse disposal; 18.57.070 registration of occupants; 18.06.320 mobile home; 18.06.330 mobile home parks; 18.06.490 recreational vehicle; 18.06.500 recreational vehicle park; 18.21.020 permitted uses.

Wilcoxson said he could not support the ordinance.

“I told Will (Faust) that at this point and time, I have a hard time supporting this and I want to say why,” Wilcoxson said. “For one thing what we are doing is in RD 6000 and I don’t know too many people in RD 6000 that are going to make complaints.”

He said there was little low income housing and he felt it actually benefited the town without the amendments. Wilcoxson admitted he didn’t like a lot of regulations.

“What we are doing is limiting the right of the people to use their property in RD 6000 when they have been able to before,” Wilcoxson said. “If we had taken the time to talk to the people in RD 6000, it might be different.”

Faust explained the ordinance was setting up a process to make it legal to live in a recreational vehicle.

He concluded that he felt the people of RD 6000 should be consulted more than had been.

The ordinance was approved with Wilcoxson dissenting.

The next scheduled Saratoga Town Council meeting is at 6 p.m. Sept. 4 at the Saratoga Town Hall.