Commissioners prep for litigation

The Hot Springs County Commissioners met on Tuesday afternoon, including an executive session on their agenda.

Once out of executive session, the commissioners voted to begin legal proceedings against Atlas Roofing for replacement of the roof on the multi-purpose building at the Hot Springs County Fairgrounds.

The commissioners and the company have been trying for a few years to come to some sort of agreement on the leaking issues in the building, but to date, nothing has been accomplished.

Commission chair John Lumley said this is the last resort.

"At this point our hands are tied and we have to do something," he said.

Chairman of the Hospital District Board, Bill Williams, approached the commissioners regarding a bill the district received from the county for their portion of the costs of elections for the district, special purpose tax and additional levy.

The district's portion amounts to $7,269 and Williams asked the commissioners if they could get some sort of relief for the bill such as a write off or consider it the county's donation for the year.

The commissioners have the authority to adjust the bill as they see fit.

The unanimous vote by the commissioners was to forgive the bill.

In other business, the commissioners signed three contracts between public health and the state -- the Maternal Child Health agreement, Public Health Emergency Program and the County Health Officer contract.

There was some concern about some of the verbiage expressed by County Attorney Jerry Williams, so the line will be discussed with the state when the contracts are sent in.

The worry was that the county would be liable for the entire cost of the programs should the state suddenly decide to pull the funding, leaving no alternative such as suspending the program until funding was provided.

Emergency Management Coordinator Bill Gordon brought in the sealed bids for a generator connection needed for the Alternate Emergency Operations Center.

There was a single bid, from Jadeco, which Gordon and the commissioners discussed. There were several options included in the bid, from length of the cable to type of connection, all with differing prices.

The commissioners moved to approve the bid up to $4,500 for the connection and asked Gordon to go over what he needed specifically with Jadeco and award them the bid for no more than the specified amount.

While Gordon was there, the commissioners questioned him about the water levels from the Bighorn River.

According to Gordon, Boysen Dam is releasing 9,000cfs at this time. His gut feeling is that it may raise even higher, but he has no official word that it will happen.

It is interesting to note that the last time the water was this high was in 1992. In 1995, it ran even higher, eventually hitting the 9,500cfs mark.