Chimenti challenged by Estenson for mayor seat

Thermopolis Mayor Mike Chimenti is running for reelection in the 2022 Primary Election in August. He will be facing off against Adam Ryan Estenson.

Two candidates will move onto the General Election in November when the race will be decided.

Mike Chimenti

Chimenti is nearing the end of his first term of four years. Regarding some of the town’s accomplishments in that period of time, Chimenti said, “We’ve done a lot of building projects. We’ve rebuilt our purifiers and our broken beds and the water plant and we’re moving forward with our transfer station. And to close around our landfill according to EPA regulations. We’re just getting ready to start a new paving project here. We’re having some controversial work that’s going to happen, but we’re working on that. And what we’ll do is to rebuild the water lines through lines that are underneath the street.”

Regarding Chimenti’s vision for the next term, if he is reelected, he said he would like to finish up some of the projects that we’ve started. I’d like to be here and be part of the finishing up the landfill and the transfer station. That’s the goal. I would like to have had it done by the end of this term, but that didn’t work out because it takes a lot longer to get that done than I thought it would.”

When asked about the concerns of the public regarding the cost of waste management, especially when the landfill closes and the transfer station becomes operational, Chimenti said, “it depends on how much it costs us to get the trash hauled out of here. Because the trash goes off to the transfer station and it gets put on a trailer and it’s hauled out of here. It depends on where they haul it and what they charge us to dump where we want it.”

Chimenti added, “We still have a fee. We still have a cost to run the transfer station that’s not including the cost to haul the trash. So there’s still going to be a fee. We still have to maintain the cost of the employees and the upkeep and the machinery and all that. It’s going to depend on when we get the transfer station up and running, then we’re going to have to start looking at how we’re going to fund that and adjust the costs. We’ve got some money set aside for it, but we don’t know if that’s going to be enough.”

Regarding the idea of creating an entity to handle waste management, Chimenti said, “I would like to see us have a solid waste district. But that’s going to take some cooperation from the county.” 

When asked about how he would build that bridge, Chimenti replied, “We’ve tried to meet with them before and it just hasn’t worked out. They’ve got their priorities, so does the town. So it just hasn’t worked out. I would like to see a solid waste district because I think the county commissioners can form a solid waste district and that means they can levy mills to help pay for that, but the town can’t.”

Another subject Chimenti said is important to him is the issues of vacation rentals and how properties in towns are being bought up, but this makes things difficult for people who move here to find a house to rent. Chimenti added, “I don’t want to discourage it, because in one way, I think it’s good for the town, the vacation rentals.”

Regarding how Chimenti would encourage economic growth and also bring in people, Chimenti said, “I think we have to let people know what we have here. I think we should advertise a little more and get the word out about Thermopolis. And I think that’s where these people from somewhere else coming in and buying these houses, turn them into vacation homes. I think that’s where it’s going to do us some good. People are getting out and they come in here and they see what we’ve got. And then they’re advertising their Airbnbs and their vacation rentals. So people are going to come here, see what we have. I don’t want to shut them down altogether. I want to keep that momentum going.”

Chimenti also expressed his efforts to bring in larger businesses. He said, “I have written letter after letter after letter to places and I have not had any of them write back to me. No answer.” Chimenti has a large file filled with letters to bring in new businesses. When the ShopKo building was still available for purchase, Chimenti let business entities know about it. 

Chimenti also said he heard rumors, not sure if it is a fact, but “there have been outfits that have come in and looked and they can’t find housing for their employees.”

Regarding the crux of the housing issue, Chimenti offered his own opinion and said, “The town is not in the real estate business. It’s up to the town, the mayor, and the council to run the business of the town. Town government is not supposed to be involved in real estate. The town doesn’t have the funding and the money to buy properties.”

Mayor Chimenti said that he is available to the public and can be found at Town Hall to answer any questions or concerns someone may have.

Adam Ryan Estenson

Adam Ryan Estenson is running for Mayor of Thermopolis. Regarding his qualifications for the position, Estenson said that he had been involved in leadership roles since he was 16 years old. For example, in his church, he was part of a council working with adults. Later, Estenson earned his degree as a Bachelor of Science in land use planning. This gave him experience in understanding city ordinances, zoning, and other matters. 

Estenson moved to Thermopolis in October 2017. However, he said, “Thermopolis has been a part of my entire life as my late grandparents Tom and Viola Ryan made Thermopolis their home for over 60 years. It’s where they raised their family and grew their business. I’ve spent a lot of time with good memories here in Thermop.”

Prior to living in Thermopolis, Estenson was in Hastings, Minnesota, which has about 25,000 people. There, he was the chairman of the Planning Commission and sat on that board for seven years until he moved to Wyoming. While in Hastings, he also ran for the city council. 

Estenson said, “I’ve always wanted to be involved. Here I’ve been on the Hot Springs County Planning Commission and been the chair, I think, now for three years.”

Regarding Estenson’s vision of being mayor, he said, “to have open communication with everyone,” and to “not be afraid to get some hard work done.”

He added, “Conversations are really important, I think. But it’s boiled everything down to one quick, easy thing to say, and that’s ‘rooted in legacy’. And so it’s a two-fold deal because we acknowledge how we’ve gotten to where we are, it’s the people that came here and scratched out a living and put a lot of hard work into making Thermopolis a place to live and so we look at that and we acknowledge that.”

Estenson continued and said, “But then the other part of ‘rooted in legacy’ is every decision we make now has to be for: what legacy are we leaving? Not just the legacy we were given, but the legacy that we’re leaving. That means we need to have really well-informed decision-making. We need to be open to new ideas, and we need to be willing to have dialog and debate and conversation on new ideas. I think in any organization, business or government, or anything else if you just worry about getting through the day today, all of a sudden you get to a point where you look up from the day-to-day today and the world has changed around you and you weren’t a part of the conversation at all.” 

“I want to make sure that the town of Thermopolis is a part of the conversation with all of its partners, with the county, with its water districts that surround it, with boards. And that we’re communicating with the golf course, with the cemetery, the districts, those sorts of things, the state, and all of our local partners. I want to make sure that we’re having big conversations and that the town of Thermopolis is at the center of all of those conversations, and that we’re not just worrying about getting the day-to-day done.”

When asked about the matters the Town Council covers, such as waste management, its costs, the transfer station, and the concerns about how costs are increasing in those services and how to handle them, Estenson said it is hard to know the “inner workings of the machine,” until you “get the job.” However, Estenson said, “I do know a thing or two about logistics from being the safety director at Ryan Brothers. So the things I want to know about sanitation are: are our trucks being routed properly? Are we making routing that is the most efficient? Are trucks making their trip to the landfill or the transfer station with a full truck? Are we maximizing our potential there? I also think that we need to make sure as we decide locations for something that’s going to be for the next 50 to 100 years, a transfer station. Are our other partners, the state and the county, are we communicating with them? ”

Regarding the subject of water, Estenson said, “I think water is a huge issue mainly because for a town such as Thermopolis, its number one responsibility to its people is water because water is something no one can live without. Good, clean, sustainable drinking water is priority one, I think for, for a community. That’s our number one job.”

Estenson continued and said, “We’re really a business in that sense, and are we providing the best product to our customers, which would be the citizens of Thermopolis? Thermopolis needs to make sure that it is, and the town needs to make sure it is a part of the water conversation.”