Medicine Bow approves hiring deputy

The Medicine Bow Town Council met at 7 p.m. on June 8 at the Medicine Bow Community Center. Mayor Sharon Biamon along with council members John Cowdin, Lyle Flansburg, Lucinda Schofield, and Trevor Strauch were present.

The agenda was approved. Town Marshall David Redding said he would like the minutes from the regularly scheduled May 11 meeting corrected to read “with a second officer there would only be 20 hours per week not covered,” instead of “the second officer would only work 20 hours.” After the motion was approved, the minutes were approved.

Next the council approved the financials.

Mark Davidson with Sunrise Engineering said he had opened the bids for the Maple Street project. There were two bids. He recommended going with Oftedal, who came in lower.

The council approved awarding the project to Oftedal.

Public Works Director Charlie George thanked Sunrise Engineering for putting him in touch with Aaron Howe of Sherwin Williams, so George had specs for the water tank painting. The council approved putting the water tank painting out for bid.

Biamon said there were piled tires on the Century Link lot and they should be cleaned up. Biamon directed Town Clerk/Treasurer Karen Heath to write a letter requesting Century Link clean up the tires.

Planning and Zoning Chairman Strauch said the commission had worked on definitions and wanted to present them to the council. He said board member Kani Flansburg had organized them and based the numbering off the existing codes. Strauch said it was a rough draft, and he wasn’t recommending any changes to the unzoned areas. Biamon asked Town Attorney Kelly Neville to look over the definitions. Biamon suggested tabling the discussion until they had time to look over the definitions and the council approved her suggestion.

Resolution 2020-6 Amending Rates for Sanitation Service was read. Biamon said letters had been sent to businesses regarding the proposed rate increase, which did not affect residential rates. The town has always charged businesses by volume, but because the High Country Joint Powers Board (HCJPB) takes over the collection of trash after July 1, HCJPB won’t be calculating the volume for the town.

Neville had looked into how the HCJPB agreement could be dissolved. She said it could be done if two of the three entities agreed to do so. Flansburg said the town would still be responsible for its share of the landfill closure. The town would have to buy a new truck as well. HCJBP Representative Toby Smith said HCJPB was considering tabling the rate increase for six months to see what actual costs would be. Biamon said she had discussed the situation with the Department of Environmental Quality and they suggested going with the current budget for six months to see what actual costs would be.

Smith asked how many tons Medicine Bow hauled, and George said it was 21.6 tons a month. Smith said it cost $65 a ton to dump in Laramie. The council approved tabling the resolution until more information was available from HCJPB on the budget presented.

Ordinance 2-2020B, third reading, was approved with an amendment to the Sanitation Department at last year’s rate for the HCJPB. The ordinance is for the annual appropriations for Medicine Bow for fiscal year 20-21.

Public works said there had been a seal blow out of one of the vessels at the treatment plant but was fixed. The mosquito spraying plane was due to come the week of June 15. The Parks and Recreation crew was catching up on mowing. George was continuing to train the new employees.

Redding said he had been called out five times the last eight days and people got upset when the response time was long. He said he had changed his hours, but he could only work 12 hours a day. Off duty, he had made two arrests, one being a DUI and one doing 75 in a 30mph zone. In the past 30 days, he had written $10,245 in fines. After listening to Redding’s work load there was discussion and the council approved hiring a deputy at $45,000.

Neville said she was working with Planning and Zoning and would look over the proposed definitions. She had filed a lawsuit against the owner of some lots on which the fee was unpaid. The owner had not answered the summons, and the judge ruled a default judgment against him. The town would then own the lots soon. Kani Flansburg said there was a clause in the Planning and Zoning ordinances stating a zoning officer could enter a property at any time, but that might be unconstitutional.

Medicine Bow Museum Director Biamon asked the attorney to write a letter to the contractor regarding the Owen Wister cabin as it was five years since the repairs started but were still not complete. She wanted to void the contract and hire someone else.

Biamon talked to the contractor moving the Fossil Cabin and said if he didn’t start soon, she would file to end that contract and ask for all funds received back. Biamon said business was slow, because of COVID-19.

Smith said he had read in the water bills that the dump was closed. He clarified the dump could accept anything except construction/demolition waste until the end of the month, and then it would close permanently. He said after July, the landfill could still accept refrigerators, with or without the freon, but a fee would be charged.

Medicine Bow Volunteer Fire Department Fire Chief Peter Andrews requested a fireworks permit for July 4. The council approved the permit.

Mayor Biamon said the Town still needed a representative to the South Central Wyoming EMS board.

Planning and Zoning chairman Strauch said the board had granted a permit for a greenhouse and turned down a permit for a shop because it was incomplete. He said the board was finding out if they could transfer a special use permit for the RV park across the tracks.

Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) High School wrote a letter thanking the town for their past support by placing ads in the sports calendar. The school said they would place a free ad, but would accept donations. The council approved donating $50 to HEM.

At 8:54 p.m. the council went into executive session and came out at 9:19 p.m. The minutes were sealed and approved.

The next scheduled meeting will be at 7 p.m. on July 13 at the Medicine Bow Community Hall.