Water and grout in Hanna

The Hanna Town Council meeting started early at 6:20 p.m. on May 11 at the Hanna Town Hall to allow the public to discuss the renewal of liquor licenses. There was no input from the anyone seated in the audience.

All council members were present as was Mayor Lois Buchanan, town clerk Leslie Birge and treasurer Ann Calvert.

The Council approved regular items pertaining to the agenda and April 13 minutes.

Buchanan said the board and department reports would be discussed if there were any questions, but she did not request for any chairman of a board or department head present to give a report.

There were no questions on the reports from the council members with the exception of engineering.

Jon Nelson from North Fork Engineering was present to give an update.

“As some of you know we had a bid opening last Thursday for the Old Town water system rehabilitation project phase one and we received four bids,” Nelson said. “The low bidder was Viper Underground (Viper) out of Riverton.”

Nelson said Viper came in at $1,255,461. He said that Viper has done work in Hanna before. Nelson indicated this bid was $12,000 less than the nearest competitor. He said Viper would have their substantial completion done by October 3 and final completion readied by October 13.

He said North Fork Engineering recommended going with Viper.

After Nelson spoke all reports were approved.

Financials for the town were approved.

Carbon County School District No 2 (CCSD2) Superintendent Dr. Jim Copeland talked to the town about a possible lease agreement between CCSD2 and CJ Mayham to use the old site of the Hanna Elementary School, which CCSD2 still owns, for a concrete batch plant site, storage facilities, general office and parking.

Copeland said the proposed time needed was seven months with the option of extending the lease in one month increments up to 12 additional months.

Copeland wanted to know if there would be any issues with zoning and he asked if there was information the town wanted him to convey to the CCSD2 board when they had their next meeting.

He said the World War I monument would be preserved and that the Hanna Community Garden would be preserved or moved to a suitable location.

Mark Hutchins, project manager for CJ Mayham, approached the council next.

“Our work is going to be in a residential area between 2nd and 3rd Street and Clark and Columbia,” Hutchins said. “Essentially we are going to reclaim the mine and fill it up with grout. So with this process, we need a location for the plant and this site is the most suitable location.”

He said, if approved, the company would get the concrete plant started by the end of the month. Councilmember Jayson Nordquist asked there was going to be dust control for the streets. Hutchins said there was contingency for potential dust problems. He said there will be safety fencing around the monument, community garden and some large trees.

The council approved the third reading of Ordinance 391, which designates the amount of general tax to be assessed, levied and collected for the fiscal year 2021-2022 on all taxable real and personal property within the town.

The council approved dissolving the Hanna Cemetery Board. The town will take over operations of the cemetery. Calvert and Birge said the town had been doing much of the work already and the control would not be a burden.

Another board that was discussed to be dissolved was Parks and Recreation Board.

Vivian Gonzales, director of the the Parks and Recreation board was opposed to dissolving the board.

“I object to that whole heartedly, I don’t want that to happen right now, because I have a really good board,” Gonzales said. “I would really hate for this to happen.”

“We can’t have any more complaining about them,” Buchanan said. “My recommendation is we go through the board’s description and change what is more relevant.”

The council decided to table dissolving the board for further discussion and a workshop.

Mike Armstrong was approved to represent Hanna at the Carbon County Economic Development Board.

The next scheduled meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. on June 8 at the Hanna Town Hall.