North Fork reports to Hanna Council

The Hanna Town Council met on October 12 at the Hanna Town Hall to a packed room. Mayor Lois Buchanan was present as were council member Jayson Nordquist and council member Sammy Sikes. Council members Tracy Fowler and William Dys were absent.

The council approved the agenda and minutes from the regularly scheduled meeting on September 20 and the special meeting held on September 27.

Public Works Director Larry Korkow told the council CJ Mahon Construction was done with their work and Howard Construction would be in town for another week working on streets. He said Viper Underground was almost done with their work as well. He added Jon Nelson of North Fork Engineering would talk further about Viper.

Interim Marshal Patricia Gonzalez said it had been a slower month. She said there had been more cases of dogs getting free, but it was now under control.

Hanna Parks and Recreation Director Vivian Gonzales said recreation center attendance had dropped due to school sports activities. She said the heat exchange water valve had been installed and the pool was a temperate 84 degrees. Gonzales said the recreation center was gearing up for Halloween and turning the center into the haunted house that it has been doing for the past few years.

Carey Lake, Hanna representative for South Central Wyoming Emergency Services (SCWEMS), said things were going well.

“We are down to two candidates for the director position,” Lake said. “We are pretty busy right now and going on a lot of calls.”

He said SCWEMS was still looking for volunteers to drive. Lake said that SCWEMS is making more money than they have in several years. He said because there were so few volunteers, SCWEMS has had to hire people.

Pam Paulson, Hanna Basin Museum Board, indicated the fundraising event on September 19 and sponsored by the Hanna Basin, Elk Mountain and Medicine Bow museums was a success.

Nelson gave an update of the Old Town project. He said the substantial completion deadline was October 12 and there were three water services left to complete and two tie-ins to complete on the east and west side of Main Street and Third Street.

“The Front Street pressure test is still a pending item,” Nelson said. “Beyond that, prior to final completion, we will be working on the asphalt removal between Front, Main and Third Street.”

He said, contractually, the fees for delays was $1000 a day. He said the costs would come out of the contractor’s final payment application.

Nelson said he could not sign the substantial completion without the water services, tie-ins and the water pressure test were fixed.

Buchanan said she had talked to the town attorney and the water pressure on Front street had to be in conformity to DEQ and there was no compromise.

Nelson gave a data sheet stating areas needed 96 percent compaction of streets unless the town amended the percentage.

“You can see that there are compacted areas outside the roadway that are not conforming,” Nelson said

Sikes and Nordquist listened and then both stated the town was paying for a service and they felt it should be done to the specs of the engineer, in this case Nelson.

“I do my job right and get paid for it,” Sikes said. “Why do we have all these red marks that indicate this job is not being done right?”

Nelson said the 96 percent compaction and the requirements for the pressure tests didn’t come from him, but the Wyoming Public Works Standard Specifications.

“They are not a special provision for this project,” Nelson said. “We did not write them. They are the benchmark for the state of Wyoming.”

“I just want things to be done the right way,” Buchanan said. “We have to go by the specs.”

The council said the specs had to be reached by the contractor before a substantial completion could be signed.

“Just to clarify and to put a bow on this, we will consider those items defective and wait for them to be corrected before we issue a substantial completion,” Nelson said.

“That is correct,” Nordquist said.

The next order of business was ratify the financial report.

The council approved Viper Underground’s application for a pay application on the Old Town Water System Rehab project.

The fowl application for Maggie Christie and Joseph Gendron was permitted.

Conduit and fiber to the Memorial Hospital of Carbon County Clinic in Hanna to be installed by Union Telephone was approved.

The next scheduled meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. on November 9 at the Hanna Town Hall.