The recurring theme of the July 20 Sublette County Commissioners meeting was the state of preparedness as the Sublette County Fair rapidly approaches. Many facilities on the fairgrounds have been undergoing rebuilding and refurbishing, and there have been worries construction work might not be completed by the July 29 start date. Jim Mackey of Groathouse Construction, which oversees construction projects for the County, said the livestock building has remained on schedule throughout construction process.

The County had set a completion deadline of July 20, and at the meeting Mackey presented the certificate of substantial completion for the livestock barn to the commissioners, putting to rest any rumors or worries that the fairgrounds wouldn’t be ready.

The fire marshal made his last walkthrough of the new building on Wednesday, and the remaining details on the punch list should be completed by today, Mackey said. The roof manufacturer will do a final test of the roof next week before the fair opens.

Sublette County Fairgrounds manager Frank James expressed concern regarding the lift station at the fairgrounds. He said he’s worried it won’t be completed by July 29. The commissioners committed to calling Todd Hurd, an engineer with Forsgren and Associates who is working on the project with Eiden Construction.

“Gary [Eiden] said he’d set up a pump truck if it wasn’t ready by Fair,” James said, a prospect the commissioners weren’t excited about.

Hurd responded to an emailed inquiry saying the pump supplier is scheduled to complete the lift station and start training next week to be done before the fair starts.

James also asked the commissioners to set rental fees for the new livestock building. As buildings around the county are rebuilt and refurbished, the commissioners hope they will be used on a more regular basis, bringing revenue to the County, or at least covering costs of operations.

“We’re going to have to establish rates someday,” Commissioner John Linn said, suggesting County Clerk Mary Lankford and James call around to find out typical square footage costs, “so we can compare apples to apples.”

Also at the meeting:

- Deputy County Surveyor Skylar Wilson suggested changing county road regulations to require county roads be 80 feet wide. The Wyoming state statutes require roads to be between 60 and 100 feet wide, but many of the 60-foot roads are too narrow for snow catches and plowing in the winter. Wilson said one possible problem arising from the change would be subdivision roads trying to move up to Class I road status.

“Subdivision roads are made at 60 feet,” he explained, noting possible easement complications should they want to join the County’s Class II and Class I program.

The commissioners agreed to think about a possible change at a future meeting. They also asked Wilson and Road and Bridge Superintendent John “Butch” Penton to look at the roads petitioning to become Class I roads so the subdivisions can address any deficiencies as the process moves forward.

- Heidi Dickerson, Executive Director of the Pregnancy Resource Center (PRC) presented an application for a federal grant for the county’s home-based family services program shared between PRC, Sexual Assault and Family Violence (SAFV) and Pine Creek Counseling. She explained that, at the last minute, Pine Creek Counseling changed their part of the grant application, allocating some of the $12,000 asked for to transportation for CLIMB Wyoming participants to Jackson. CLIMB offers support and training to single mothers, but it is based in Jackson and requires a lot of travel.

“Four thousand dollars of what they asked for is for a charter company to bus the women to Jackson,” Dickerson said.

“I’m hoping this will allow Sublette County moms to access the program,” Dayle Reed-Hudson, Pinedale clinic director of High Country Behavioral Health, said, adding the program tailors job training to meet the needs of the moms’ and local businesses.

- Brad Clingman of Sublette County Waste Management and Scott Scherbel from Tri-Town Recycling presented the possible future of Tri-Town. In the year since the County stopped providing full financial backing for Tri-Town, Scherbel said the recycling center has been unable to prove itself sustainable.

“Without the support of the County or from the towns, we will not be able to continue running much longer,” he said.

The towns have not voted to give sufficient support to the center, and Scherbel and the center’s joint powers board are working on possible future paths. Tri-Town will give up its County-owned building, returning it to the County by Sept. 15. Tri-Town will use the allocated County funds to continue running and supporting recycling in the south end of the county through collection services. Scherbel said Tri-Town hoped to maintain its mobile assets to encourage and support recycling and prevent recyclables from ending up in the landfill. He hopes the county landfill will bale the cardboard collected as it does with cardboard from the north end of the county.

“There are people who recycle because they think it’s environmentally beneficial; other people would if it were more convenient,” Scherbel said. “We are trying to make it as convenient as possible.”

Linn and Commissioner Joel Bousman were concerned about paying for the recycling tonnage twice, once when Tri-Town collects it and once when the County pays to recycle it.

Commissioner Bill Cramer said he thought it would be a wash after the County recovered funds by selling the recycling.

Scherbel also asked about County Waste Management employees taking aluminum and copper out of the landfill.

Clingman said they were allowed to pull out the valuable metals to market themselves, an arrangement condoned by the commissioners. He called it part of their benefits package.

“If they’re there and can pull that out, they can get whatever revenue they can,” Cramer said.

Linn said he was surprised metals with such value ever made it as far as the landfill, adding that the employees would have to remove the metals anyway to keep dangerous items out of the baler.

Scherbel said he understood, but said people think it’s theft from the County. The commissioners assured him it isn’t.

The next commissioners meeting is scheduled for Aug. 3 at 9 a.m.

For the complete article see the 07-23-2010 issue.

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