New hires and recreation grants

The Town of Saratoga recently hired two new full-time police officers who started on April 1.

At the Saratoga Town Council meeting on April 2, Mayor Chuck Davis administered the oath of office to one of them, Casey Lehr.

For several months, the police department has been operating with only three full-time officers which has stretched the department’s resources, said Police Chief Mike Morris in a later interview. He said the department has been “busy answering calls and doing what was needed.”

With the hiring of the new staff, he said, the department will be able to perform “additional self-initiated patrolling and be more out in the public and more available.”

Casey Lehr comes to Saratoga with experience in the Carbon County Sheriff’s Department as a deputy patrol officer stationed in the Platte Valley and the Saratoga area, Morris said.

Lehr has five years experience and a professional peace officer certification, he said. He has several instruction certifications, including as a canine handler.

“In the future, we hope to take advantage of his certification as a canine handler,” Morris said. “We are looking for a dog. I am absolutely proud to have both these guys come on board.”

The other new hire is Charles “Mac” Holt, who will have five years experience this month in law enforcement and will have earned a professional peace officer certification, Morris said.

“Most recently [Holt] was Deputy Marshall in Medicine Bow, before the city council dissolved the office,” he said. “Prior to that, he was a sergeant in the police department in Guernsey, Wyoming.”

Other business for the police department included the council’s vote to approve the purchase of a power phone for the police department.

A power phone is a computer-aided dispatch interface, which has protocols loaded into it, Morris said. When a medical call comes in, the device walks the dispatcher through certain protocols which help the dispatcher give instructions to render aid depending on the type of medical emergency.

The equipment would be shared by the Rawlins Police Department, the Carbon County Sheriff Department and Saratoga, he said. The town has set aside $40,000 for its share of the cost of the phone, he said, but the cost should be less than that. He has yet to get an exact amount.

The phone is part of a project the three agencies have “talked about for a long time and are now ready to go forward,” he said.

This project is not the same as the joint dispatch center currently under consideration, which would substitute the individual dispatch operations of the municipalities in Carbon County and the sheriff department for one control center. Whether the agencies will sign a joint dispatch agreement has yet to be decided. The Town of Saratoga is planning to hold a public hearing to get the public’s input, he said.

In the Recreation Department report, Director Kim Hemenway said she submitted a grant application to the Office of Outdoor Recreation for the Spring Creek Project. The grant is for $442,950 and the town’s share will be an additional $145,256.25.

The project is related to the town’s transportation alternative master plan, which is in the process of development, as stated in the application. Feedback from the consultants indicated the residents prioritized developing the Hobo Pool/Spring Creek area because of its proximity to the downtown and to the swimming pool.

“The Town of Saratoga anticipates developing a five year action plan, with this project intended to be a stepping stone toward the overall vision the community has for the area that could be referred to as the Spring Creek Recreation Area,” the application states.

The project is described in the grant application: “The primary objective of this project is to enhance and increase the amount of and quality of recreation access along Spring Creek in Saratoga. Spring Creek is adjacent to the North Platte River and a large aspect of the project is the placement of boulder terracing along the bank. The proposed bank work would include boulder terracing the entire height of the bank. The boulder terracing will incorporate three-to-four foot boulders which will stabilize the bank and will also be a functional space for recreation use along a creek that is widely used by the community. The boulders will provide stepped access to the river and places for seating and gathering, in and out of the water. Additionally, an ADA compliant concrete path will provide access to the river. The use of a concrete path will minimize future maintenance requirements. This bank construction will also provide additional boat tie off and docking areas. Additional components of the project include, enhancing the cultural resources of the area by adding interpretive signage at the Hobo Pool, improving the parking area by adding trailer parking, gravel and chip sealing, and also the installation of a much needed public restroom facility.”

“We hope to get the money so we can start this summer,” Hemenway said.

“This is an excellent opportunity to build on what Saratoga already has,” Davis said.

Public Works Director Emery Penner said the town received two bids for the South River Street Waterline Replacement. Rocky Mountain Sand & Gravel, LLC, based in Cheyenne and Lewis & Lewis, Inc., based in Rock Springs.

Penner said the Lewis & Lewis bid was 80 percent higher than the other. The council approved hiring Rocky Mountain Sand & Gravel, whose bid was $1,767,803. He said the town will have to spend about $1.2 million, after a contribution from grant money.

The council also approved an invoice to pay OV Consulting for its work on the town’s transportation alternatives master plan in the amount of $22,042.

The council approved an invoice to Cody based Engineering Associates for $32,420 for work.

Under the Planning Commission report, Penner said he contacted the State to find out if the town would have to clean up the site at the old water treatment plant near the police department buildings, if it was found to be a brownfield. The town is considering applying for a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to do an assessment of the area.

“A brownfield is a property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant,” as stated on epa.gov.

“The attorney said without knowing what’s out there, it would be hard to answer the question,” Penner said.

Planning Commission Chairman McCall Burua said the grant would provide the town with some “future thinking tools.”

“I would like to do something with [the site], but can we afford to do something with it,” Davis said.

In the Recreation Commission report, Councilmember Kathy Beck said they are working on an exit survey to gather information about various events from the participants.

Under the Airport Advisory Board report, the mayor said anything residents hear about putting a sewer line at the airport is “rumor.”

“Nothing has been put on plans, nothing definite, got a few costs, you may hear rumors…, the mayor said. Before anything is done, it will be brought to the council. The council will address it before it goes to the airport board.

The next meeting of the Saratoga Town Council will be at 6 p.m. on April 16 at Saratoga Town Hall.