Closed for Halloween

The Saratoga Town Council met at 6 p.m. on Oct. 16 at the Saratoga Town Hall. The beginning of the meeting was business as usual with council approving the agenda, the minutes for Oct. 2 and the financials that totaled $226,058.53.

Correspondence from the Chamber of Commerce had a request for the closure of Bridge Street for the Halloween Walk from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 31. The council approved closing Bridge Street on both sides of the highway, but keeping 130 open with law enforcement being on hand to keep the crosswalk safe for the trick or treaters.

The council approved the special event application and street closure permit for the Christmas parade from 5:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Dec. 1.

Ed Glode, mayor of Saratoga, said the Travel Channel wanted to have a host and interviewee meeting at airport and taking off in a helicopter. They were requesting a location release, which the council approved.

Richard Hodges, Saratoga resident, asked if there were ordinances about old tires being stacked in a neighborhood. He mentioned the property on 2nd and Greenwood Street as having a lot of tires and being unsightly.

The place in question has been an auto and tire repair facility and the code can be interpreted as the tires being a part of the business or debris.

“I am not really expecting any action, but I just thought it should be looked at,” Hodges said.

Steve Wilcoxson, town council member, thanked the council for using the community gas funds allotted to Saratoga to be used for Tyler Pickett Park. Wilcoxson said there were grants he was looking at to help with park’s upkeep.

Suzie Cox, Saratoga Town Clerk, said all liquor license renewal applications have been filed and notices will be published. The public hearing will be at 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 6 at the Saratoga Town Hall.

Robert Bifano, Saratoga Police Chief, said Officer George Phillips had resigned to take a law enforcement position in Rawlins. The council approved Phillips’ resignation. Bifano said he has put a posting on the national police site and there were applications coming in. The council approved Bifano’s search for candidates for the vacant position.

Jon Winter, public works director, said Wyoming Department of Transportation did an annual inspection of Green Bridge and it passed inspection. Winter said the company Construction 71 will start taking the roto-mill to Hanna on Oct. 17. Winter added he was waiting to hear from Carbon County Road and Bridge for when they would haul the remaining roto-mill to 13th Street.

He said Union Telephone was continuing fiber install throughout downtown and they were using the millings for fixing pot holes and the company will fix all repairs needed on the streets. Winter said he interviewed candidates for the sewer/water full-time positions and wanted to offer Anthony Gonzales the job. The council approved Gonzales.

Winter also said public works had finished blowing out irrigation lines in the town’s parks and he was looking at locations for lights in the parks after receiving grant money from Bridge Street Bargains.

Richard Raymer, town council member, said the airport board had a successful meeting at 1 p.m. on Oct. 10 (See “Landing fees get off the ground” on the front page of the Oct. 17 Saratoga Sun). He said in nine days the airport had collected $900 in landing fees. Raymer also said it looked like the terminal tower would be more expensive to rehab than to build a new one.

Wilcoxson was happy to hear the airport was making the money it was on landing fees. Raymer said the airport board was considering what type of fee structure to use for seasonal users.

Will Faust, town council member, said a group was being formed to ensure sustainability of care in the Valley and help the current provider with transition to HMS. The HMS public statement was available for the public to read (see “Temp clinic opened” on the front page of the Oct. 17 Saratoga Sun).

He said the group consisted of himself, George Haigh, Teense Willford, Leslie McLinskey and Sonja Collamer.

“I think we have some really good people representing a broad array of folks in our community and we will probably add some more,” Faust said. “Right now we have a very loose organizational structure where we have a plan to become more codified, but at this time it really is discussions.”

The lease for the clinic was approved for the mayor to sign contingent on language being cleaned up after there was some typo errors discovered in the reading.

Raymer said Carbon County Impact Joint Powers Board met at 6 p.m. on Oct. 10 and discussed the issue of Old Baldy Club water and sewer billing (See “Water/sewer rate hike discussed” on page 5 of the Oct. 17 Saratoga Sun).

Faust said the planning commission approved a sign variance for Chia Valdez-Schwartz. The new sign is to be hung at 112 E. Bridge Street. The planning commission discussed solar variances, recreational vehicles and grading requirements (See “Planning commission gets ‘down in the dirt’” on page 3 of the Oct. 17 Saratoga Sun).

The next scheduled meeting is at 6 p.m. on Nov. 6 at the Saratoga Town Hall.