Mr. Davis comes to Saratoga

House District 47 Representative Bob Davis (R - Baggs) updated the Saratoga Town Council on some key legislative issues at its meeting January 2.

The representative said a Bureau of Land Management Resource Management Plan is underway in Medicine Bow.

“We need to keep our eye on what’s happening in Rock Springs,” Davis said.

He said the Rock Springs Resource Management Plan controls 3.8 million acres of public land and the federal government is trying to conserve an additional 1.8 million acres it contends is of “critical environmental concern.”

“The federal government’s thoughts on that is to lock us out and keep us out –that’s how they conserve that ground,” he told the council members.

But, he added, to conserve that land would have a negative impact on jobs, recreation, tourism and the oil and gas industry in Wyoming.

“All these [the above} are great big drivers for the State of Wyoming as far as revenue,” he said. Conserving the land would also affect schools.

“The Governor was able to extend the comment period to January 17,” he said.

He is going to the Governor’s Forum on the RMP, he said. At the forum, he will learn what the governor’s “proposed actions are going to be to the BLM.”

Mayor Chuck Davis asked if the U.S. Legislators are working with him to help with this issue.

“Yes, they are all aware of this,” he said. “Harriet has been doing an extremely good job with it.”

Presumably Davis was referring to Congresswoman Harriet Hageman.

“They are applying some pressure back East there,” he said.

“Coincidentally on Friday,” he said, “the Secretary of the Interior will be in Rock Springs with the BLM director for Wyoming and the governor, so we’ll see some first hands” what is “going on there.”

“The policies they set back East are not necessarily reflective of Wyoming” or even the local BLM, he said. “Their policies are being directed from back east, not locally, so there are some things that need to go forth I hope.”

The representative did not specify to what “things” he was referring.

On another topic, the mayor asked if Governor Mark Gordon is going to address affordable housing in the legislative session.

The representative said affordable housing issues are not the same statewide. They are “site specific” and one solution would not address issues statewide, warning against painting the solution with a “broad brush.”

“Wasn’t there some money, didn’t the governor get some money set aside for that?” the mayor asked.

“There’s some money and with that money, there’s strings,” the representative said. “It’s being evaluated whether it’s good for Wyoming?”

On another topic, Rep. Davis said he has been assigned to work on a regulatory task force.

The task force was created to “reduce the regulations that are a burden to the communities,” he said. The task force is trying to “streamline some of the [building] permitting processes to make it a little easier,” which is related to the issue of affordable housing.

In other business, the council voted to pay an invoice to Mountain States CPA’s and Consultants, LLC for its work on the 2021-2022 audit in the amount of $9,450.

“Hopefully, the audit will be done in a month and we can move on to the final audit and we will be caught up,” the mayor said.

Police Chief Mike Morris said in his report the department needs to purchase two pieces of equipment.

The first item the department needs is a piece of equipment called RoIP, a push-to-talk (PTT) piece of communications equipment that works over the internet, as stated on https://www.skymira.com/roip. “RoIP stands for radio over IP (internet protocol), which simply means the radio signals are transmitted via internet connections over satellite, LTE, or private networks. RoIP enables reliable radio communication without gaps and dead zones even during disasters.”

Chief Morris said later in an interview that dispatchers use a radio system, which also includes a paging system, to contact the emergency services providers such as fire, ambulance and search and rescue.

The radio towers used for communications to Encampment are situated in a way that radio communications to and from the Town of Encampment cannot be accessed remotely by the Carbon County Sheriff Office in Rawlins at this time, he said. In the event that the dispatch center in Saratoga is not operating for some reason, remote access to Encampment would be necessary. It is a backup system.

He said the cost of the RoIP equipment is estimated to be $20,000. The Carbon County Sheriff’s department had originally thought it could share the cost, but it now says it cannot.

The second item the department needs to purchase is a CAD interface, which would tie the E-911 system into the town’s police department reporting system.

The town had budgeted $40,000 for its share of the countywide system, the chief said. However, the cost is estimated now to be in the $34,000 range.

Both items were for the council’s information and no action was taken.

In the fire department report, the mayor said they delivered over the holiday meals to 20 families and 15 homes occupied by the elderly.

Recreation Department Director Kim Hemenway said in her report that volleyball registration opened this week. League play begins on Jan. 17. So far one team has signed up.

The upcoming ice hockey tournament that takes place from Jan. 12 to Jan.14 has 30 people signed up, Hemenway said.

“We have ice skates available for the public to borrow,” but, she added, they need to get sharpened first.

In the Public Works Department report, Director Emery Penner discussed the roads improvement project.

Later in an interview, Penner said the town has identified several areas and streets to do a preliminary investigation on the current subsurface conditions.

The town has $1.6-$1.7 million in special purpose tax money and impact funding that has been allocated to do some road work, he said. The current subsurface investigation is a way for the town to “come up with the most economical repair solutions” and to decide where to spend the money.

In the Planning Commission report, he said the town has had some “fruitful meetings with various organizations” to gather input for the Transportation Alternatives Master Plan study currently underway.

In a later interview, he said the master plan study is “an opportunity for staff, the residents and the planning consultants to investigate opportunities to alter, increase and/or improve pedestrian connectivity and accessibility throughout the community. This is just a study.”

The town is holding a public meeting at 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 17 at the town community center to gather input on what the residents want, he said at the meeting.

“The feedback will be super valuable,” he said.

Mayor Davis said he attended two different of these meetings.

In the report on the Saratoga Airport Advisory Board, the council discussed a letter from Thad York, who wanted to volunteer to serve on the board. The council approved the appointment.