Radionuclides down at wells

The Medicine Bow Town Council met at 7 p.m. on March 11 at the Medicine Bow Community Hall. The minutes for the regularly scheduled meeting on Feb. 11, a special meeting on Feb. 18 and another on March 7 were approved by the complete council.

The agenda and financials were approved.

Chris Sims from Wind City Church, introduced himself to the mayor and council. Sims said he was in charge of creating new churches and had acquired the deed to the Medicine Bow Baptist Church. Sims said during the spring and summer he was going to hold several work days and gatherings to renovate the church building. Teams will rotate in to help with the ministry. He said there would be an Easter worship service. He passed out flyers and Mayor Colman welcomed him and thanked him for coming.

Medicine Bow resident Bob Heward speaking for the Conservation Resource Management (CRM) and Carbon County Weed and Pest (CCWP), asked to have a Weed Spray Day in Medicine Bow on June 4. CCWP and CRM wanted to have 25 to 30 lots signed up. Heward requested volunteers from the town. The council approved CRM and CCWP to come and spray on June 4.

Ordinance 2019-2 was approved on its third and final reading.

Resolution 2019-2 concerning budget amendments was approved by the council.

Jan. 14, 2019 minutes had an amendment. Karen Heath, Town Clerk/Treasurer explained she had omitted a section where the town account signatories had been selected. The council approved the amendment.

Kay Embree, Medicine Bow resident and clinic board member, said their board chairman, Les French, could not make it to the meeting and sent his regrets. She asked if the council had any questions. Council member Sharon Biamon asked how much the clinic was taking in compared to spending. Embree said sometimes it was half as much coming in as was going out. Biamon asked if the board had taken steps to balance their budget. Embree said it probably never would, because it was a non-profit. Biamon asked if the clinic had enough money to remain open without impact money. Embree said they were open for now. Biamon asked if the savings account was depleted and council member Karla Denzin said there was $129,000 according to the website.

Biamon asked how long the clinic could operate on that figure. Embree said it was hard to tell, because they had to spend money when necessary. She said they had decided to send the manager to a conference for rural health in Texas to learn from them, and that there was a lot to learn. Council member Trevor Strauch asked how many new clinic board members there were. Embree said French, Cindy Chace, who had been appointed to Cindy Culver’s unexpired term, and Sandy Levengood were all new. The council approved the purchase of a services contract and an accompanying resolution with the Medicine Bow Rural Health Center for $5,000, which was to be spent on training.

Public Works Director Charlie George said they had been monitoring the radionuclides now to see how well the resins were working in cleaning the town’s water. He said the raw water was now under the minimum for treating for radionuclides. George said he would do the test again in the summer when they were drawing harder on the wells to make sure it was still under and reported that each test cost $360. He said the raw water had never been under the minimum before and if it stayed there, they could approach the Environmental Protection Agency to possibly bypass treatment. He said two reasons this had changed, was because the scale that had been on the equipment in the well before they had changed it had been absorbing the radiation, and also now the town was using wells 1, 2, and 4, when previously it had been using only well 4. He said they were bypassing as much as possible now. Biamon asked if he had enough money to do the extra tests and George said no, but it would be worth it if they found they wouldn’t have to treat the water. Biamon asked how many tests he wanted to take, and George said if the raw water was clean, they wouldn’t have to treat any water, and the only way to prove it was to test. He said they’re now using 1.5-2 million gallons per month in the winter time, so it would be good to test in the summer when they expect to use 5-6 million gallons. Denzin asked how much they would save by not treating water and George said they would save the most on power and salt. He said they would still have to chlorinate.

George said he had not purchased a new mosquito sprayer last year, but still had money to do it, so he was going to purchase it soon. Denzin asked if the glass had been replaced in the signboard at the post office. George said it had been ordered but wasn’t in yet.

Medicine Bow Museum director Biamon said there had been a meeting of the 150th anniversary of women’s suffrage in Carbon County, and across the county they were doing events for it. Biamon said she was going to have an open house for the Fossil Cabin, but she still didn’t know when it would be moved. The people who owned Como Bluffs had given her permission to print old post cards of the cabin. PBS out of Chicago called, and said they would be in the area this summer to do interviews on Highway 30, and wanted to interview her at the cabin.

High Country Joint Powers Board (HCJB) representative Toby Smith said the board had hired two new employees. There was a discussion on the convenience center building. HCJB had been looking at steel buildings and they were going to Douglas to look at the new facility there.

Medicine Bow Volunteer Fire Department Treasurer Jim Colman said the Craft Fair had been snowed out but was rescheduled for April 6, 2019.

The council went in executive session at 8:29 p.m. When the council came out at 8:45 p.m. Denzin appointed Kenda Colman as Deputy Clerk/Treasurer and Clerk of the Court. The motion carried with all members present voting aye, except for Mayor Colman, who abstained due to a possible conflict of interest. Mayor Colman said he could not give deputy clerk/treasurer Colman any direction except generally through Heath. Mayor Colman said the pay would be $10 per hour and limited the training hours to 20 hours per month.

The Medicine Bow Town Council will be at 7 p.m. on April 8 at the Medicine Bow Community Hall.