Town splash park still in the works

Thermopolis Town Council member Dusty Lewis took over the Tuesday meeting in place of a absent Mayor Mike Mortimore. He and his assistant Fred Crosby were away on business.

The long awaited opening of the new Pizza Hut was announced during the meeting. Representatives from the restaurant were present as the council voted on their dispensing change. The change was just a formality for the new building.

Town engineer Heath Overfield spoke to the council per request from the Mayor. Overfield gave brief history on the idea of the splash park in the down town area, starting with the previous administration up to the current. Overfield had crunched the numbers in the past and the amount was several hundred thousand. With in the current administration Overfield was asked to whittle down the size and see if the numbers would get smaller. After several attempts to minimize the water feature Overfield announced a number of $130,000 just for the fountain, this did not include doing any of the site work or extras.

Overfield estimated that it would take $10,000 to $15,000 to operate the feature a year. On average after much reevaluation it was looking like the town would have to come up with $175,000 to $200,000 to make the splash park happen. Councilman John Dorman asked about a feature that no one can play in, something decorative, Councilman Lewis brought up selling sections to local businesses to help finance the feature.

In other news Anthony Barnett said that Wilson Brothers Construction had a method to fix a leaky sewer line that has been plaguing the town since last year. The line had a crack in it and when the river would rise the raw water would leak into the cracked line. The company has proposed a method of using a two-part epoxy; with a three year warranty from the time the repair is made.