Commissioners deny fund request for museum expansion

The Hot Springs County Commissioners had their first meeting of the month on Tuesday, hearing reports from Bart Stam with the University of Wyoming Extension Service, on what activities and work his office has been doing in the area.

Stam is the Range Specialist for Hot Springs County and he said he gets a lot of calls on everything from range management to what kind of bugs are in people’s yards and how to take care of their trees and lawn. He has also been doing a lot of work in the area with local ranchers on rangeland predators.

Joey Johnson who directs 4H in the area told the commissioners 30 percent of the students in the county are in 4H, making them the third highest in the state for participation. Johnson indicated their numbers are growing every year and he contributes part of that growth to being in the middle school teaching between 30 and 55 kids a year.

State Horse Camp will be held here for the first time in June with 60 to 90 kids expected. One-hundred stalls have already been reserved tor the camp.

In addition, they have started a 4H livestock judging program and their shooting sports are larger than ever.

Kaitlyn Douglas comes over from Washakie County and working with gardeners in the area is her specialty. She collaborates with Stam on various projects and works with the Master Gardeners on the Community Garden. She also does soil sampling so folks can find out what they need to really make their gardens successful.

Laura Baliss comes over from Fremont County to help with health and nutrition. She’s been doing food preservation classes, safe canning classes, dehydrating workshops and even meat canning. Her “Real Food” series helps people shop and cook with nutritious products, fruits and vegetables.

Airport FBO Nate Messenger let the commissioners know he is expecting some additional spraying companies that will be coming in for grasshopper spraying this year. He has been getting a lot of calls from companies that do spraying and he’s considering giving them a bit of a break with discounts on their fuel as long as they are staying at our airport.

The commissioners agreed with the idea and took it one step further, authorizing Messenger to give a discount on fuel to locals as long as the spraying crews are here.

Messenger also told the commissioners he’s considering starting a small rental car business as he’s seeing more and more travelers flying in and needing transportation.

Road and Bridge Superintendent Dave Schlager said his crews have finished up the shoulder work on the county roads for the spring and have started blading some of the gravel roads and cleaned out some culverts.

A large washout on Lane 7 caused the road to be closed for a couple of days. A water main blew out and the road surface had to be filled and recompacted. Schlager said now they can get it patched up and everything should be good to go.

The commissioners approved three speed studies, Resolution 2019-07 which officially sets the speed limit on Lane 7 (HSC Road 32) at 30 m.p.h., Resolution 2019-08 which sets the speed limit on Lane 12 (HSC Road 34) at 35 m.p.h. and Resolution 2019-06, officially setting the speed limit on Skelton Rd. (HSC Road 21) at 30 m.p.h.

Emergency Management Coordinator Bill Gordon attended a flood summit last week and told the commissioners everything is expected to be pretty normal in our area as far as runoff is concerned.

Gordon said the Wind River is expected to go up to 2,000 cfs soon, up to 2,500 cfs in May and up to 3,500 cfs in June for irrigation season.

In addition, Gordon said he has found a pair of siren sounds that are completely different from each other so there will be one for tornado warning and one in the event of a catastrophic dam failure.

The siren for a tornado warning will be set off this Saturday at noon. The two siren sounds will be available soon on the county’s website for residents to listen to so they can know the difference between the two.

The Pioneer Association reported to the commissioners on Tuesday that they have managed to raise over $50,000 of the amount needed to purchase the house to the west of them to expand the museum.

They were confident they would be able to raise the remaining funds, however, they have reached a plateau with the fundraising and it has gone nearly stagnant. They brought in a facilitator to give them some insight into what their options may be, and for now, they are walking away from the house and are starting to pursue other options.

The Association feels they are dealing with a county museum and the county “needs to pony up” on it as the conditions and environment aren’t really the best for a museum. They question whether they should leave or continue to fight the water and other problems with the building.

That is one of the issues with the house to the west of the property. They have discovered a sewage leak under the house and that sewage may be mixing with the water draining into the basement of the museum.

The Association asked if the county could match the funds they have raised so they could make a purchase of another property. They haven’t found one that will meet their needs yet, so the really don’t know where they’re going to go from here.

While the commissioners understand the issue and the need being presented, chairman Tom Ryan said he really cannot see putting any more money into it right now.

Money is tight in the county and there are a stack of entities they are constitutionally bound to help before the museum. Ryan said they may have to think about closing their doors.

Another option would be for the Association to do the legwork on costs for fixing the water situation the right way and then the commissioners may be able to take that into consideration.

The commissioners also made the decision to leave the floor in the basement of the courthouse pretty much as is as a cost saving measure. The floor repairs have been done with new cement to cover where the water lines had to be repaired and they agreed sealing it and waxing it would be the best solution rather than spending tens-of-thousands on new tiling.

In addition, the county received a letter from the Town of Thermopolis indicating they have to replace the 18-year-old water meter going into the courthouse as it has reached the end of the manufacturer’s life expectancy.

The county would be responsible for the meter, $1,500, as well as its installation. The Town would reimburse about $180 of the total cost. The commissioners voted to take the funds out of courthouse equipment.

Later this month, the Department of Environmental Quality will be at the old airport to do some remediation work.

According to Land Use Planner Bo Bowman, the DEQ plans to do remediation work in the old hangars on the site. They will be spray in them with a special paint, inside and out, that encapsulates the lead in the original paint. Later, the hangars will be painted again with non-lead based paint and considered safe by the DEQ.