Trash and alleyways

The Medicine Bow Town Council met at 7 p.m. on April 8 at the Medicine Bow Community Hall. The mayor and all council members were present.

Council member Sharon Biamon said there was a correction to the March 11 minutes where it stated she had voted to enter into a contract with the clinic. She had voted “nay” on the purchase of services contract. Once the correction was noted, the March 11 minutes and agenda for the meeting were approved.

The financials were approved immediately after.

Sister Marie Martin, resident of Medicine Bow, said the next food truck would come to town at 10 a.m. on April 12. She thanked the mayor and council, the fire department and town employees for helping with the truck in the past. In March there were 152 families helped, 37 were from Medicine Bow.

Martin said the food bank staff were appreciative that the town started as a distribution point and expanded to Rock River and Hanna in recent months. Medicine Bow had the fewest people in the area being helped. She wanted opinions on whether or not alternating with Hanna, or moving the distribution center permanently to Hanna was a good idea.

Council member John Cowdin said the town should welcome the food truck and the fire department building was ideal for it. Martin said it was a good facility but it puts out the fire department and people had to stay behind to clean up. Martin said it wasn’t her decision and in May the food truck would be at the Hanna Recreation Center and would be distributing food from there permanently.

Mayor Colman read a proclamation designating May 5-11 as Municipal Clerks Week. Town Clerk/Treasurer Karen Heath said Governor Mark Gordon signed this proclamation earlier on April 8. Mayor Colman declared May 5-11 Municipal Clerks Week in Medicine Bow, Wyoming. A motion was made by Biamon and was seconded by council member Karla Denzin to approve the proclamation.

Mayor Colman said the whole High Country Joint Powers Board (HCJPB) had been invited to the council meeting, but only the representatives from Medicine Bow had come. He said in the Board’s by-laws, when a town requested for the Board to come to a meeting, the Board was supposed to come. Representative Kenda Colman said everyone had been invited, and Hanna mayor Lois Buchanan had wanted to come. The next HCJPB meeting is scheduled to be held in Medicine Bow. Denizen asked what was going happen to the trash service. Medicine Bow HCJPB representative Toby Smith said collection would be the same for household trash, but if someone was tearing down a house, they would have to rent a roll-off dumpster from a private company, such as Honeywagon.

Denzin asked why the HCJPB couldn’t provide that for the poorer communities. Smith said they had talked about putting roll-offs in each community but they would have to be monitored 24/7 so that the wrong things weren’t put in there. The other HCJPB representative, Kenda Colman, said the trash will be picked up the same way as before, but by HCJPB, not the town.

Medicine Bow Public Works Director Charlie George questioned if an individual can’t take household trash to Laramie, how they could take construction debris there. Representative Kenda Colman said HCJPB will negotiate with Laramie for that particular situation. She said when the State of Wyoming decided to close the landfill, they didn’t care about things like that. Smith said this landfill would still take e-waste, which was anything electrical, tires, and batteries. He said the landfill didn’t make money on appliances because they had to pay to get rid of them. Mayor Colman said it might be cheaper to have a person at the landfill certified in removing freon. Cowdin asked what could HCJPB do to help people on fixed incomes. Representative Kenda Colman said HCJPB had tried very hard to keep costs down. She said Hanna had the hardest time because Medicine Bow and Elk Mountain were paying almost what the landfill was going to require to transition and operate, while Hanna was only paying $12 per month. Hanna will have to more than double their rate to take their trash to the transfer station.

Smith said HCJPB was looking at revamping the dumpsters with steel lids, and would be positioned so they could be picked up easily. Smith said there would be an increase of fees to Medicine Bow of $11,253—about $7.50 per household. Mayor Colman asked what the total cost of the closure and Smith said an estimated figure would be $1 million. Mayor Colman said the current budget indicated HCJPB was spending $75,000 for engineering, which he felt was expensive. He asked what the current employees were being paid and wanted to see numbers before approving the budget. He said the quality of work from the previous employee was great, but the quality of work they were getting out of the current employees was terrible. He said the going rate for a trash operator was $13.50 per hour, but wages were $6 to $7 for no experience. Smith said they wouldn’t get anyone to work out there for less than $15 per hour. Mayor Colman said they were hiring now for the massive operation, but after the closure it would be a smaller operation.

Representative Kenda Colman said Medicine Bow had only two votes on HCJPB. Mayor Colman said they were still feeling the impacts from a previous board member and they were not moving forward. He said this should be a break even board, and they needed to stop putting money into the closure fund. He said they needed to look into replacing trucks in ten years and get the lowest cost for the people. Mayor Colman thanked Smith and Kenda Colman for representing the town.

Heath said that she had expected a second quote on the flooring that had not come in. Resident Robbie Maddox asked if the job had been offered to anyone in town. Mayor Colman asked him to give a bid to the town. A motion was made by Cowdin and was seconded by Denzin to table the discussion pending further bids.

Heath may have found a grant to pay for the store front at the Town Hall, and possibly the windows for the Community Hall. The council approved Heath to pursue the energy grant.

While giving his report on public works, George said the panel at the water treatment plant would be replaced over the next few days, finishing on April 10. He said the aerial spraying was scheduled for the first week of June and Frank Fisher, the new maintenance operator, had obtained his CDL permit. George added that public works employee Shane Blakeman’s last day will be Friday, that co-workers were having a farewell party at C. Spear on Friday and the council was welcome to attend.

Medicine Bow Museum Director Sharon Biamon said she was busy planning the museum’s open house, but no date had been confirmed. She said the “Big Boy” train that had come through a few years ago on its way to Cheyenne for repairs would be coming sometime the first week of May and again on May 17. There is still no date set to move the Fossil Museum to its new home at the Medicine Bow Museum.

Medicine Bow Fire Chief Peter Andrews said the fire department had a good turnout for the Craft Show sponsored by the fire department on April 6. He requested a renewal on his pyrotechnics permit, which had just expired. The council approved getting the permit.

Denzin asked Andrews if he had looked into the propane tank issue. Andrews said any tank over 100 pounds was designated a permanent tank and would fall under the building code setbacks.

Denzin said there still were straw bales on the property that had a fire in the past six months. Cowdin said no laws address the storing of hay or straw and Mayor Colman said the bales had been the least threat of the fire when it happened.

Denzin said she had looked at the alleyways and at least two were blocked. She had talked to the owners and asked them to move things, as it was illegal to block the alleys. She asked why the fire department wasn’t talking to people about blocking alleys. Fire department member Jim Colman said enforcement wasn’t the fire department’s job, especially if the town was maintaining the alleys. Mayor Colman said people need to trim their trees and bushes even with their fences.

Denzin said she had heard an EMT was training for the town and asked who was paying for her training. Andrews said the town was paying. Denzin asked how many fire fighters there would be after the new EMT relocated. Andrews said there would be seven active members.

The next scheduled Medicine Bow Town Council meeting is at 7 p.m. on May 13 at the Medicine Bow Community Hall.