Council - Regular Meeting

Hello. Shane, we need to hear from you. What's that? Testing. Testing. I think it's working.

Look behind you. There you go. You're good. It's okay.

Hopefully we have audio this time. That's why I was Oh, is that why? Okay. I was like all these little check boxes that we now have to check off that is there extras now? No. Oh, okay. No. my my mental check box of make sure this is working, make sure that's working.

Yeah, it's so finicky. The Evansville Town Council meeting for April 13, 2026 is now called to order. Now, Mayor Ernie Blackford here. Council member Deja Edwards here. Council member Ber Lee here. Council member Alanino here.

Council member Chad Edwards asked to be excused tonight. Town attorney Scott right here. Murray, I'm looking beyond. Town engineer Shane Porter here. Town treasurer Lexi Ericson here. Chief of police Mike Thompson has to be excused tonight. Fire Chief Mark Cornet here. Public works director Dan Corson here.

Town clerk Janelle under rested citizens. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Do I have a motion for the approval of agenda? I move a second. I have a move motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor?

I opposed. Motion passed. Okay. Under consent of agenda, we have three items. Approval of minutes of regular meeting March 23rd, 2026. Approval of business license, Headland Electric and United Gravel. and approval of bills. Do I have a motion? I motion. I'll second it. Have a motion, a second. Any discussion? No discussion. All those in favor? I

opposed. Motion pass. We will now open it up to public comments. Are there any public comments? Okay. You have five minutes.

Mr. Mayor, members of the council and staff, my name is Fred Roi. Tonight, I am coming to the town council with two requests. One is to include the department heads at the staff table and the second request is to modify the agenda items on the town council agendas. I adamantly believe that effective communication is paramount and a key component to the successful outcome and functionality of everything. In-person attendance at our town council meetings is not a very large number usually unless there is a hot topic issue before the council. However, the number of viewers who watch the live stream of the meetings is significant. Since the first of the year, there has been an average of 59 views per council meeting, including a minimum number of 35 views and a maximum of 81 views. In 2025, there was an average of 182 views per council meeting with the highest number of views being 132. On average, since 2023, there have been 82 views per council meeting. My point of these numbers is that there are a lot more residents that are interested in knowing about what happens at a town council meeting than meets the eye. My first request is for the department heads to be seated at the table along with the town engineer. Chief Thompson is sub is seated at the table with the town attorney and the town clerk. I think it would be conducive to the council meetings if the fire chief, the public works director, and the town treasurer were to be seated at the table with the town engineer. I think this is important to the town's department heads of visibility during the council

meetings rather than being in the background and sitting at the back of the council chambers creating an out of sight, out of mind atmosphere. My second request would be to include an agenda item for the council and staff updates and insert it prior to the public comments agenda item on all of the future council agendas. Placing it ahead of the public comments item would allow the residents in the audience an opportunity to comment on the council's and staff's reports. It is important for the residents of Evansville to be aware of each member of the town council's projects and activities that they have been recently engaged in for the benefit of the town. Councilwoman Veno's presentation tonight on the town's community garden is a prime example of this. During the March 9th council meeting, the town engineer updated everyone on the fiber optic project that is being installed by Visionary in town. The engineers update was very helpful and informative to the residents of Evansville, especially in light of so many people posting on social media about their concerns of the yards being torn up. I appreciate how busy the department heads are on a daily basis. With their daily activities, including maintenance of equipment, testing, and training, they can often be pressed for time to accomplish their tasks and requirements. Even so, I think it would only take about five minutes for each department head to draft an informal list of their rece recent or major activities since the previous council meeting. A brief report from the department heads would help the public to be more aware of the efforts and the hard work that these departments do for our town. I think it would be in the

town's best interest if the department heads were to be relocated to the front of the council chamber. I also think it would be an improvement to the town's overall image if one of the council members would make a motion to include a council and staff's updates item on all future council agendas. Thank you for your time and consideration of my two suggestions. Thank you. We'll take that in consideration.

Thank you. Are there any more public comments? How's it going, council? Uh, my name is Jeremy Brown, 615 Toll Street. Um, it's been a while since I've been here. Um, but like Fred was saying, I do watch meetings on YouTube just to kind of keep myself involved with what's going on. I noticed at your guys's last meeting, you guys were talking about like water restrictions and something among the fact like, you know, we're going to be purchasing more water, that kind of stuff. With that being said, I don't think that whatever is on your agenda item for tonight, uh, Coun Councilwoman Vino, um, with community garden, I know I've been a huge proponent, um, against the garden and I'm not a fan of it. Um, we need to take into consideration how many people are participating, how much it's costing. Um, when I spoke to Councilman Edwards about it a couple meetings ago, actually it was a while ago. Um, from my understanding, it was all supposed to be on donations and that's how it's supposed to be operating. Um, if it's on donations, I don't have any issues with that because, you know, there's other things that we could be allocating our money towards, whether it be parks, um, the town hall building, um, police officers, that kind of stuff, because I know that we did lose a police officer, um, due to going to ICE. And I just think that we need to, uh, kind of allocate our money better on that aspect. Um, and yeah, that's really all I got. You guys have been doing a great job. Um, I think things have really turned around since November 1st and I think that you guys are doing a great job. So, that's all I got. So, thank you. Um, I'll just throw in a little interjection and in follow up on that. Uh

what we've done is they sent out a uh just a reminder to the residents of Evansville to be conscious of water conservation at this time. At this time it's totally voluntary and we hope to keep it that way. But if we have to put restrictions out, we will have to look at that. because I think we're in for a pretty dry summertime. So hopefully if everybody does voluntarily what uh what they need to do, we won't have to go to restrictions. That's what we're looking for. Thank you. All right. Any more public comments? Good evening, members of the council, mayor. I'm Ryan Perry. I'm here to discuss the community garden, but I want to begin by saying clearly that I do support this idea. A community garden has the potential to be a meaningful asset, bringing neighbors together, encouraging local food production. That said, support for the concept does not mean we should move forward without careful planning and clear safeguards. As we brought up during the last meeting, the very ver uh the very real concern with water and it's being limited and the costs continue to rise. This is not a minor detail. It's a long-term obligation that needs to be addressed up front. If this project is going to succeed in a way that is fair to everyone, then we must ensure that taxpayers are not left on the hook for ongoing expenses. Too often, well-intentioned projects

begin with enthusiasm, but end up creating unforeseen financial responsibilities for the city and its residents. We should learn from that and put the right structure in place from the beginning. First, I believe the garden should be operated and managed by a third party group or a nonprofit organization. This creates a layer of accountability and ensures that the day-to-day responsibilities do not fall on the city staff or city resources. A dedicated organization is also more likely to bring passion, volunteer coordination, and fun fundraising capabilities that the city should not be expected to provide. Second, all funding for the garden should come from outside sources, whether that's donations, grants, uh sponsorships, or community fundraising. This includes not just the initial setup but also ongoing maintenance improvements and operational costs. A community meeting to discuss and vote what will be planted. If the community truly values this project, there will be support to sustain it without relying on taxpayer dollars. I also encourage the council to consider accountability measures. For example, there could be periodic reviews or agreements and ensure the garden continues to meet its obligations. If those conditions are not met, there should be a clear path to re-evaluate or discontinue the arrangement. This isn't about being negative. It's about being responsible stewards of public resources. At the end of the day, I believe this project can be a can be a success. It can strengthen the community and provide real benefits. But success depends on doing it in the right way from the very

beginning with clear expectations, responsible management, and protections for taxpayers. We all want to see good ideas thrive, but let's make sure we build this one on a foundation that is fair, sustainable, and accountable. Thank you.

Thank you, Ryan. Are there any more public comments? Uh, Phil Gerky and I live on Eagle Trail. I wasn't planning on coming up here, but I thought I'd make a couple remarks. Um, I do agree with what Fred's saying. I don't know about setting everybody, all the department heads up here at the table. So, I don't know if there's enough room for that, but I think it would be a great idea if they gave some kind of a report of what they're working on. And I also think to add to that, I think it would be nice if some of the council members reported on things that they're working on. So, uh hopefully they're not just attending meetings um and letting the rest of the time go. Um, as far as the water restrictions, um, we've got at least five people on our street that are doing a really good job because Ollie got spare dirt, so they won't be watering. So, um, that that should help a lot. Um, as far as the community garden goes, I don't know. It bears some discussion. Uh, and and I'm kind of curious on how much how much we spend on it and what it's used for. Uh, and it may be cheaper to just buy the fruits and vegetables and give them away. I don't know. Um, I'm not, you know, up to up to par on that, but uh, I just that's pretty much where I'm coming from. Thank you.

Thank you. Thanks. Are there any more public comments? If there are no more public comments, public comments are closed. Next item up will be Melissa Bilby with Hub International. Please step forward.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Council. Um I'm here tonight just to discuss the benefit package that the town of Evansville provides for their employees and um the renewal process. We've been through the renewal process, the marketing analysis, and I provided some reports tonight. I know you got them late this afternoon. Um just like to touch on kind of where we're at. Um you're on a partially self-funded plan currently through Sigma. The plan performed very well this year. um which is probably the first time I've gotten to get up here and actually say that. So um with that said, you're running at a surplus currently around 35,000 to $40,000 um in your claims fund, which means claims are down. Um we were at 109% loss ratio last year at this time. We are at 62.5% in the claims fund this year. So that is acrewing um some surplus for the town. So and then we also pay a cost just to actually have the insurance administered by Sigma and utilize their network which is running around 192,000 a year. So currently in your plan this last year in a rolling 12 months, so not just this year, but we have captured um 32 employees, 61 dependents on your plan with an average employee age of 44.8. Um

where are you at on your stuff? Like follow along with Right here at the beginning.

Okay, just sorry. Yeah, I just started at the beginning so that we could kind of go through um how the plan's running and then we'll talk about the renewal process. Okay. Um the per employee per month claim spend just for claims was $522 or $50022 which equated to a 31.5% decrease from last year at this time. Last 12 months, three individuals exceeded the 25 specific deductible amount, which is the large claim deductible that comes out of your claims fund that's kept. Through total medical and RX claims for the last 12 months, you've averaged $323,292 in spend. While claims have went down considerably this year, the claims costs have actually risen on what we pay out. So an average office visit is 40.9% higher this year than it was last year. So um so that just equates to trend in inflation that we're seeing in our communities today that is affecting all of us when we're looking at budgets. Emergency room utilization was decreased by 20% this year and surgery costs decreased 32%. um network utilization. The Sigma network you're maintaining at 95.9% in network claims. So um the total large claims that we're seeing we're seeing drug costs rise just trend increase on drugs this year is 11.8% in our region. So if you have the same drugs that you had last year, the cost of those drugs are 11.8% this year. So we have the top three drugs which these seem expensive because it's a per month cost. 1,027 for one drug per month, 945 for one drug and

609. These actually are average dra drug cost today. So these are not high scripts, but they are your top three larger scripts. We are used to seeing $48,000 scripts a month. So um so when I talk large scripts these are very minimal compared to large scripts. Um hot topics in the industry today RX weight loss drugs GLP1s normally not covered by medical plans. We are seeing a decrease cost with some of the Trump RX and some of the legislation there. Um the cost of those drugs have come down. Not hardly any plans probably less than 2% of plans are covering them. your plan doesn't currently cover them unless it's for diabetes, a diagnosis. Gene therapy drugs, um, also we're seeing hit the market well over a million dollars to $4 million a script. The one nice thing about Sigma is they offer a protection and they outsource that drug. It never hits your claims account if one of those gene therapies come in. So, there's an added protection with being with Sigma on gene therapy drugs. Okay. Um we did go through a market analysis. We went to all of the carriers in the market this year. Um several of these carriers will not rot municipalities. So that limits um we did list them. Um so associated employers they do rot municipalities but they cannot compete against Sigma because they have a contract with Sigma. So because of that we are unable to obtain a quote from them. American Trust does not write municipalities. Blue Cross can only quote if we quote through uh WHAM, which is where you were before we actually went with Sigma. Wham does require full health applications to do an underwriting and to release us a

quote. So, um we did not go through the underwriting process with with WHM this year. Um we did obtain one quote. It was not firm or underwritten. 7% below your current rates and that was through Trustmark and they would require health applications to go through health underwriting to be approved. Um we have 12% higher on an underwritten quote through United Healthcare on their fully insured plan. It's 12% higher than your current rates. And then United Healthcare level funded did go through underwriting process but they declined due to health risk and municipality. So, Triad is a new carrier in our state that is level funded. They were 7% below your current rates. It was not firm without applications and it is a fully insured type program. So, if you did have a surplus, they keep the surplus on a fully insured plan. Okay. Um, optimal decline due to health risks risk. So, those were all the plans we marketed. We did include the spreadsheet showing you the outcome of the the marketing process. So to give you an idea, currently with Sigma, same plan design, same benefits came in. Your initial renewal was 12% with them. We were able to go back and negotiate some rate relief down to a 9% renewal for this year. Okay. So, um, and that's the average of both of the plan designs you offer today. United Healthcare came in at 12% underwritten on a fully insured plan. Those were age banded rates, which means everybody's rate would be different based off of the age category you fall in. So, those were the initial. You also have a second page that has the other two options on it from Trustmark. These both are not firm. We would have

to fill out applications to firm either of these authors that were 7% below. They also some of these the triad option has higher out of pockets on them um than what you currently have on your plan. also changes the first plan that you have a $750 deductible on up to a $1,000 deductible on that plan because we kind of have to choose the plan designs that they have available. So, a little less benefits on on that particular program. Okay. So, then we thought, well, let's go back to Sigma and let's see what options they could offer us um and plan design adjustments. What happens with a levelfunded plan? Because you are self-funding up to a 25,000 specific deductible already, minor changes to your plan design as far as what the employees pay doesn't make a big difference on your rate because you're already self-funding up to a large deductible in that claims fund. So, with the request to look at a $1,000 deductible on um option three versus your renewal appeal, um it didn't even move the needle to change the deductible to a,000 from 750 or from 2250 on out of pocket to 3,000. It ultimately was pennies. It shifted the cost. So, it shifted that cost, but it didn't make a difference in your overall cost at the end of the day. So talking to um the mayor and Janelle and um Chad, we actually were looking at just the renewal on the appeal basis. Um if you take your surplus, which that surplus is paid back to that is a a city that comes back to the town. That is the town surplus that they built through the

claims fund comes back to you on the fourth month after you renew. So, if you apply that monthly to the overall 9% increase, it actually takes $2,900 down each month and it estimate your renewal then to a 2.8% overall increase by reapplying that surplus to your premiums monthly. So, it was able to take that surplus. That's what a level funded is designed to do is for when you have a good year is to help offset that renewal for the next year. Okay. So, if we went with a renewal appeal, which would be my recommendation, um, is at 2.8% is what it will end up being with your estimated surplus. Now, that surplus could be higher by the time this the end of this month rolls around. We just don't know what claims are this month yet. Okay. Um, so that takes us to the ancillary lines of coverage. The dental renewal, we did actually sustain a pretty substantial dental renewal this year from Delta Dental, a 30% increase. We did go to market to Beam and Ammeritus. Um, and with those two options, um, you know, there was just a slight, um, adjustment if we went to beam, but you also increased your deductible on your family from 100 to 150 on that plan. Um, but it was almost within about $140 to make that change a month. Um, with that change in benefit, we felt that the Delta Dental renewal is actually probably our better options. One of the things Delta Dentl likes to tell you is we give you passes when we have good years. Um, they like to remind us of you didn't get an increase, you didn't get an increase, you didn't increase. For several years, Delta Dentl did that. Even during COVID, they have

held their rates. Um, but they also pass along when they have a bad year. So that is basically what they would tell you if they were standing here because that's what they they tell us. So that was um a little bit more significant increase. We had a slight increase of 4% approximately on the BSP which equates to about 20 cents 28 cents per employee increase monthly. Um we did quote two other carriers which actually were higher cost to make that move. So, our recommendation would be to stay with the VSSP carrier. We did negotiate no increase on the Laugh and AD and D and you're voluntary um and negotiated a rate pass until May 1 of 2028 for the town on those benefits. So, we did look at the benefit though because we benchmarked your plan through Rocky Mountain region national averages and uh municipalities. Um, currently you offer a $10,000 life and accidental death and dismemberment for your employees, which is below much lower than what the national average and the regional average are doing today. So, we did recommend an increase in the life and accidental death dismemberment benefit to uh at least 25,000. Um, it's a minimal increase of $315 annually to go from 10,000 per employee to 25,000. and it's very hard to have a funeral service that's $10,000 today. So, it's just an a recommendation for uh your council to decide whether or not you want to make that move. It's a minimal amount minimal amount to actually pay to ensure your employees in the event something happens and it increases it from 10,000 to 25,000 for them. If you were to look at the 50,000, we did run that, but I think we were more

comfortable because it's about $1,200 or $1,800 more a year for that option. So, we felt like the $25,000 would be that recommendation tonight. Okay. Uh Cobra Admin didn't change. We are recommending an increase on our consulting fees this year. Um and so I believe they're at 6,500 and we are looking to move those to 8,000 for the next year. Okay. We also included the comparisons on the vision and the dental for your review. And then we included the life insurance um that we marketed. If we stay with the 10,000, there's no change in your rate. Um if we move to the 25,000, it's an additional $315 annually. it would be with the same carrier through standard. So, any questions on these? I know it's a lot of information really quick, but before we jump into contributions on the what the town would pay and what the de the employees would contribute. You ready to do that? Okay, let's do it. I I did include what you're currently doing. Right now on the $750 plan, deductible plan, the employees are paying 10% and you're picking up um n 90% of the employeeonly premium and then they are paying the remainder part of the dependent cost. So, um, on the $2,000 deductible, you're paying 100% of the employee premium and currently 47% of the dependent cost for

employee spouse, 70% for employee and children, and 40% of the dependent cost. couple years ago when we decided to offer the two different plans and then last year we took the 10% we shifted that cost to help pay towards dependent cost of the $2,000 deductible plan so that families had a more affordable option to add their dependents to the plan. Um so to continue that I did the option with the new rates for 2026. Okay. Um, so with that 9% increase and these don't take into consideration that surplus because that is the town surplus, but we decided if you leave it the same way, it's a pretty significant change. So we did think that our best option was to possibly go to 83% for the 750 for you to pick up 83% instead of 90. So reduce that by 7% because a $750 deductible and a $2250 out-of pocket is is unheard of really in our market today. It's a very rich plan. So to have that plan, it costs more. So ultimately, we took that 7% and we applied it down again to the dependent cost on the $2,000 deductible to help offset that increase for them. So, still keeping it at 100% for employee on the $2,000 deductible plan, but applying that 7% down to the dependent cost, similar to what we did last year. So, it does um you know reduce like the dependent cost by $169 because there's automatic increase just with the rates. So, it does do a slight increase uh

decrease for them to continue to kind of keep that rate the same. And it does also help offset some of the overall increase and keep the town's portion the same with the increase. I did simplify it on the next page and do the totals for you. So if we do the recommendation of the 7% increase on the traditional plan and shift the 7% to dependent care on the high deductible plan, the annual impact current impact to participants on the traditional plan 750 deductible is an additional 22,820 annually. So their their rate would go from 13614 monthly to 25335. and the increase on the town would be $1,822.18 annually. So again, taking that same 7% still paying 100% for employee only coverage on the high deductible plan um increase to continue to pay that the town's going to pick up another 15,470 on that annually. Um increasing the employer contribution uh by 7% for dependent cost. you're going to pick up the town would pick up 19,320. So, but it does decrease the employee dependent cost by6009 on that plan. So, the impact to the town of Evansville for that is 33,612 and 87 annually with a current enrollment. Impact to employees is 21,210. Okay. concerns, discussion around the

different options on contributions. We we talked about going to 20% or 25% on the 750 deductible. 20 to 25% is usually the contribution on a lower deductible plan on average, but um we felt like that was too much cost to shift on that program. So, we kind of settled at the 83%. But that's totally up to you and you let me know what your thoughts are questions for me? No. Okay. All right. Well, thank you for having me. Um, we do start open enrollment on Thursday this week. So, we will need the contributions by Wednesday at the latest if we want to put them in our enrollment platform.

Okay. Okay. All right. So, you you'll need a decision tonight. Yes, please. So, you'll need a decision on that and then if we want to change on the life insurance. Yes. Those are the two two decisions. All right. Well, thank you. Thank you. Where do we go from here?

Do you guys want to make a decision um tonight on which plan you want to pick for the health? Do you want to do the 2026 renewal with the um 90% employee um the T the employee picks up 10% or do you want to do the second 2026 renewal but the table pick up 83% of the employee on the choice plan the $750 deductible it's the last long page Wrong way. Any

questions? Well, what do you all I for one would like to try to keep it um the I guess the same and do the 90% and not drop it down and put it on our employees. And I'd like to see us raise our life insurance policy at least up to that uh 25,000. I mean, I really think keeping the employees I mean everybody's got a family. Everybody likes to have good insurance and when the town is the more cost that the town covers is always better. I know I personally look into that when we're looking at insuranceances every year and how much the businesses will cover. And I think it's important that we cover our employees. And I'd like to see us bump it up to at least the 25,000. Okay. I can concur with the the life insurance.

I also concur the life insurance after just having my mom pass. So I the 25 definitely I think is is great compared to what I just paid out of pocket. So Dea I don't want to be is 25. I have not had to bury a loved one. Um, as an adult and really knowing the expense, is 25 enough or do we need to go higher? 25. That's 25. If I had 25 would have been great. It wasn't that for me, but um I think 25 is is I know that's a very personal question.

No, no, you're fine. No, no, no. You're fine. Um I I think the 25 is definitely great and I stand behind that a thousand%. Okay. Um definitely. Um yeah, I also agree on the 25,000 for the life.

Okay. So, we're in agreement with that.

So, we have a motion. So, I will Okay. Well, I'll start with the motion on the life insurance. I will make a motion uh to bump it up to that 25,000 for the life insurance. And I'll second it on the life insurance. Okay. We have a motion and a second to bump the life insurance to 25,000 with a cost to the town, my understanding, of an additional $315 annually. Annually, correct?

So, I have a motion and a second. Any more discussions on that one? No discussions. All those in favor? I opposed. Motion carries. So,

so then the only other thing that we would need to um know is if you want to go with the first 2026 renewal with the an um employee contribution of 10% in the town picking up the 90% on the lower deduction plan and 100% on the employee for the $2,000 deductible plan. Or if you want the second 2026 renewal option, which would be 83% of the town picking up the employee on the 750 deductible plan and the employee picking up 17%. I think we should pick up 90.

Do you want to make a motion to that? I will make a motion that we pick up the more and pick up 90%. Okay, we have a motion for the for the 90%. Uh, do I have a second? I second. Okay, I have a motion and a second for the 90%. Uh, any more discussion? What are your guys's thoughts?

Can you tell me what the difference is again? So on the on the first 2026 renewal, correct? I'm there. Um the town would pick up 90% of the employees cost and then the employee picks up all their dependent coverage.

Okay. along with 10%. If they pick the base plan, which is the $2,000 deductible, the town picks up 100% of the employee cost and then the employee picks up the dependent coverage. If you go with the second 2026 renewal option, the employee would pick up 17% of the choice plan or the $750 deductible. The town would pick up the other 83% and then the employee would pick up 100% of their dependence. And then under the base plan or the $2,000 deductible, the town would pick up 100% of the employees cost and then the employee would pick up 100% of their dependent average. Currently, we are on the um plan um that the town's picking up 90% of the employee cost and then the employees picking up 10% of that for the $750 deductible plus their dependent coverage.

Okay. Did that make sense? Yeah. Okay, that was better. So, I on that one I'm weighing in kind of with Alana. I think that we should cover as most as much as we can for the employee as well. I mean, I think I I'm agreeing. So, I'll second. I've um I've already got Oh, a motion and a second. It's just up for discussion. Okay. I just wanted to know your guys' opinions on it.

I like the first uh 2026 renewal. It's a $12,000 uh difference between employer employee cost right across the board there. And uh yeah, it's I think that'd be the best option for the town.

You're looking at this one right here, right? Correct. Yeah. The middle one. Okay, last one we have a motion on, right? Yeah, we've got a motion in a second. Um, just for discussion, I do believe just vote. Any more discussion? And I'll call for the vote. All those in favor? I opposed. Motion passed. Is there anything else? Just the dental envision. If we want to accept the dental envision, can you

the dental envision if you want to accept that and that would be continuing with the same um carrier under the renewal. Um that was the one that took an increase um for the employees from 28.85 a month to 3750. Correct. Yes. And that is a voluntary benefit. So then employees are paying for that benefit now, but it will increase what they're paying.

You said that increase was from currently 20.

So it goes from 28.25 for single to 3750 for single. So it's it's yeah significant mostly on dependent uh employee plus 7180 to 9335 and families 11610 to 150.95 monthly. But the other carriers some were there was only one that was a little less on employee only um and employee plus one but the family was higher and they had a higher family deductible on that one. We're talking about about $1 and say $36 a month difference if we made a change to the overall premium.

Okay. So, do I have a motion on the dental

motion? Okay. or the for the dental for the um for the different the to do it for the with 30% increase. Correct. Delta, right? The renewal of Delta. Just the renewal. Mhm. Okay. Cuz I didn't know if you which one you were kind of going with.

So increase that roughly by $9. Yes, sir. I'll second. Okay, I have a motion and a second uh for the dandel. Is there any more discussion on that? There's no more discussion. All those in favor? I opposed. Motion carried.

Yeah. Yes. Yeah. The vision division. Yeah, 4% increase, 28 cents per employee increase a month to stay with the That's not bad.

I know ours is more. Yeah, we didn't have an option for a better price on that. So So I'll make that motion from a vision. Okay, I have a motion on the vision. Do I have a second? I second. You're for the renewal. Correct. Okay, just want to double check. I have a motion and a second uh for renewal on the on the vision. Uh any discussion? Any more discussion on that? If not, all those in favor? I opposed. Motion passed. Carried.

Okay. The only other thing is if you want to keep me as if what if you want me to continue to be your consultant on your plan, you do get to vote on that. So, and if you'd like me to leave the room, I can. So, but that is your decision. Something you don't have to decide. Of course, I'm fine with it. We need to vote on this. You want to vote on it? Might as well. Yeah, because remember and there'll be the increase with their services, too, to 8,000 from 6,500. Correct. Seven. Was it seven? Okay. It's from seven. See, I didn't even know. I just knew what I was supposed to. So,

it's $1,000 more. I guess do I have a motion to retain Melissa? I move. I'll second. Okay. I have a motion and second. Uh any discussion?

I will say Melissa is very knowledgeable, very helpful. Um she's very supportive, very supportive. There's a lot that goes into this and there's days I feel like I'm still struggling wrapping my head around it. It's It's a lot and it's changing. Just put it this way. I would not want your job. I'm not sure I do some days. No, I do what I do. It's just always and it I don't get to give good news very often. So, could you kind of touch base with them about kind of what the average of the the plans are? Yeah. Um

yeah, absolutely. So, we um we did benchmark. So averages in our region today for um deductibles actually in Wyoming um if you look at the exchange you know this but um you know they went to 10,600 for an individual single deduct out of pocket this year. That is what a single individual is paying out of pocket and times two for family. So over 21 grand for your families out of pocket if you were on the exchange program. Um which is not affordable. Um sorry but that's my opinion. Um it's not affordable for the majority of us in the United States. And um so in the event that you look at our industry and what's happening um we obviously are seeing cost of prescriptions like 93.4% 4% of your costs this year were just scripts and they weren't even expensive scripts. So, um, you know, if you have an expensive script, uh, you know, MS medication, that's going to run 43,000 a month. You know, if you have Crohn's disease, I can speak to this, it can be 180,000 a year for a script. So, those are the type of scripts we're seeing hit the market. Um, and it's quite devastating. So we something's got to change in that because um smaller groups in Wyoming can't sustain something like that. Um so we think oh we'll just put everybody on one plan. Well the that that's been discussed in the state of Wyoming actually um and um starting with some school districts municipalities and things like that and grouping everything together. Um, well, we still have sick people within that pool. And if you if you put them all together and it's fully self-funded and not even with

protections, that skyrockets our taxes, which you guys know how that works cuz obviously you're going through some of your budgets and stuff today and right now. So, it's impacting all of us. I wished I knew the answer cuz I would fly right to Washington and tell them today, but I don't. Um, but I do know how to help try to control those. We have programs like the like the gene therapy programs that Sigma offer that we include in your package to protect you against million-dollar scripts. Um, we also have outsourcing coupon programs. We have a pharmacy benefit management program that we'll take and see if we can actually buy that from a manufacturer at a cheaper rate um if you're actually plan is impacted. So those are the type of tools we are trying to engage in to keep control over the medical cost. Um what they're doing today we'll see trickle down but it's going to be years to come you know so hopefully some of those have answers. Our region is probably one of the highest in the nation for healthcare our state. Um I don't know if y'all remember when ACA came out the uh we made CNN news for the highest rates on the exchange. That hasn't changed. We still are the highest rates on the exchange today. So, I don't know the answer, but I know all we can do is try to help maintain it. Look at markets, see what's out there, how to control these cost. We talk to your employees during meetings about shop your scripts, shop where you get them. It matters where you go just in town. Um, from across the street to across the street, the cost is different. Um, and we try to give them the tools to do that. So, that's kind of what we're trying to do to manage your plan. Um, and hopefully the education trickle downs and don't use the ER unless it's emergency because that's the highest cost you could pay. So, we

monitor all of that in the reporting every year and try to educate your employees. So, we'll continue to do that and thank you. I look forward to working with you next year. Okay. All right. All right. Thanks. See you on Thursday. Uh once again we have a motion on the floor and a second. Oh that's right. We didn't first and second. Oh I thought we voted. No we didn't. So I I call for the vote. All those in favor in yes retaining Melissa I yes I

opposed. Motion passed. Congratulations. Thank you. Welcome aboard again. Thank you. Okay. Onwards and upwards. Okay. Water. We're down to item number four.

Mr. Mayor and Council, brought before you tonight is amendment two to the contract between the Wyoming Water Development Office and the town of Evansville. This amendment number two is an amendment to um amendment number one and then the original um agreement between the town and the Wyoming water development office for the uh purchase of the Pathfinder water or readiness to serve water that um that we have set aside. This amendment number two is allowing or authorizing for the town to increase that stored water from 300 acre feet annually to 500 acre feet. and it's brought before you tonight for approval for the mayor to execute.

So, do I have a motion? A motion. I second. I have a motion and a second to execute the uh water amendment two. Um there any more discussion? I I have a question for for Janelle. Yeah. In the last one when we talked about it, was that just a talk about putting the filler out there to get it? I thought we did that the last meeting. It was authorization to move forward. Okay. A letter to the water development. Okay. Thank you. And this is to actually to do it paper to do it. Okay. Yeah.

Okay. Any more discussion? Okay. All those in favor? I I opposed. Motion carried. Okay, the next item up to discussion number five, community garden discussion. I'm going to turn this over to Alana for the moment. Yeah. So, I mean really why I wanted to bring this up in general with the community garden and it really should be community garden water discussion um because we are doing dealing with the

uh that's all right. It's one of those that uh with our lack of water and really as a town trying to tighten our belts um I found that it was one of those like if we are asking our residents to tighten their belts believe that we should also tighten our own. Um, and I really feel that yes, we do get people that come through and enjoy the garden, but we really don't get our big mass of lot of people towards fall, but really we are watering all summer long. We're keeping it going. Obviously, we have to keep it going in order for it to grow. But I personally am one of those people that we need to put our water where it's more utilized and where more people are frequenting and playing and doing. And I would rather see us use our water um at our parks. I mean, yes, our community garden really we water it twice a day for 15 minutes. We're not using up that much water, but I truly think that keeping our water cost down or using as less is better right now with I'm just I'm worried about our water. I mean, we haven't gotten any hardly at all. And I mean, I know I personally um and I am going to create my own personal garden this year, but it's definitely a I mean, we use that to sustain our family. I grow it, we eat it. The stuff down there, it's not completely sustaining families. It's something that people can go down there and nice and pick, but it's not sustaining an entire family by any means. So, I wanted to have that discussion of just if we're tightening our belts, I think

that that is one spot that we could really look at and just potentially not even doing this summer. Um, just because of we've never had this issue with water. This has never been a thing, I don't think, ever inevitable. I know that we don't have anything on our books that actually say, "Hey, you absolutely can't do this." Uh we have no actual ordinances on our books. We're just asking people to be diligent with their water. Um but we haven't ever been in this position before and I truly think that this is something that where we can tighten our belts a little bit and this is one of our projects that can I know this is a project that is near and dear to my heart. Um, but at the same time, I mean, it does use water and I could see us using water in a more effective way that more people are going to use. So, that's why it was more of a I wanted to have that discussion.

Okay. Well, I have not personally been involved in any of that community garden. Yeah. But it being a community garden, are the community members actually the ones that's doing all the work and all the prep work and the watering and everything?

So the water is automatic. It comes on at like 8 in the morning and then at 8 at night or 7 in the morning and 8 at night. Um, and it comes on for 15 minutes. All the the prep work and the beds and everything else I as a community member, not as a council person, have done for years. I've done the planning. I've done the getting of the seeds, amending the dirt, and like I've done all of that. Um, unfortunately, last year we did definitely did not have a turnout by any means for planting of the seeds and turning the soil. might have been because it was so early. Um, but we definitely still it's one of those when it comes to planting the planting the seeds and turning the soil and picking the weeds and all of that normal stuff. Our community, our public works, they're not out there pulling weeds. They're not doing that kind of stuff. I I'm the one that's doing that. Um, that's never been something on our public works. The only thing that our public works does is like they weed eat around the beds or like around in the the fence area, but that's definitely not ever been in their what they do. that's just kind of been the uh community involvement, but kind of aka I've been doing it and unfortunately it's one of those that this will be the fifth year and when it was brought to me, it was brought to me as a community project and unfortunately this has turned into my project and I've been working on it and doing it. Um, and it's actually come to the point of that it's taken up so much of my time that I need to back off and not be the head gardener and doing that anymore. I'd like the community of more people. I mean, we're not at planting season yet, so it's not like it's we're going to

miss out on anything. Um, but taking it over because there's hundreds of people that come through that garden when it is picking season and when I post there will be hundreds of people through that garden, but there is minuscule people that come through throughout and to be there to show up to help. So, I would definitely like to see the community take more of an active role in that garden and not just me having to do it. And so I'm going to step back on being head gardener of it and doing it and hopefully have the community step up and take that on.

Well, if it's a community project, then yeah, that speaks for itself. I mean, and if you've been doing all the work, that's not the community. Well, so I guess we need to throw it out to the community and find out how many members of the community is willing to step forward and proceed with it. Yeah. And so so

and but if that happens um you know as a town we're not going to get involved. The only way we're going to get involved, the way I see it, is to put some kind of controls on the watering of the garden because well, that's why I said um we as a town are going to have to lead on this water conservation,

right? Well, and that's why I really wanted to bring it up is Yes. I mean, there's kind of two factors of we really should be as a as the gardener that's doing it, I feel like but as a city council of tightening our belts and this is definitely one thing that we could just not do and try to even tighten it down even more. I know I've talked to Dan about it. Um, and he was just like, "Well, you guys, I mean, it is only 15 minutes of water." Uh, that it's twice a day. I mean, it's pretty average that you would be watering in general. Um, but to me, it's one of those that like we are tightening the belt, so to speak. And I think that that is one of those projects I'd rather see the park water a little bit more than the garden because truly there's way more kids that play at the park or even right over here than there are that play in that garden. So that's where

does the water come out of the treatment plant? Yeah. Or the river water? No. Everything goes like it'sable it Yeah. Everything is like it's the drinking water just like you would get out of your own hose. It comes um it's there. Why can't we drill a well? We're close enough to the river. Should be a water table. Then you don't have to treat the water. You can save the treated water for drinking water and then use that to water the lawn slashcard down there. I don't know. I'm just I've just always wondered if it's treated or not. That's expensive water to

right on. Yeah. It comes out of the city's system. So, yeah, it is portable city water. Water. Yeah. As far as the wells, I don't know in my involvement with the with the town. Shane, do you know? I've never heard that u conversation ever brought up and talked about. I know it would not be cheap to initially set it up. No. And where are you going to set the well up to utilize all over? Once again, you're getting into a whole new ball game now.

I don't know if like if we could even drill like that in town or we have Gregs on that or do you know? We don't allow anybody else to. I mean, no, nobody else be able to drill a well for their their own use. The town may, but I don't know if it would be cost effective for the small amount of water we're looking at for the garden to complete a an irrigation well, but I don't know. I mean, something could be I could look into if that were to happen. I mean, it would have to be a much larger scale of disposal than just the garden, right? Well, I mean there's a whole

mind you that there's a big massive section that all of that gets watered all all on that one meter, but I mean I Dan even said that they are going to be watering trees mainly just to keep the trees alive down there. Spot. Yeah. Are you you guys going to just like spot water? What's your or we're going to water? We want to get those keep those trees alive, right? at most cost as far as the grass grows. As far as the grass back in there to start out with, we're going to start out watering 30 minutes every other day for like with the with the sprinkler systems or like spot to start out with.

Okay. But see how that goes. And that'll be late in the evening obviously. Um that's kind of where we're going to hit our parks at. Um the water. I think this is something that we're going to have to have an ongoing discussion about. Yeah. So, we're not going to be able to make it an absolute fastest schedule right now and stick with it. Yeah. So, we're just going to have to play that by ear and and you know, keep the conservation top of the top of the list. Yeah. Keep alive what we need to trees alive.

Yeah, for sure. And actually, if we could put a well in there, we got that whole area down there could be watered with a well. Yeah. And I I think that's what is it three acres? Three acres that we water down there. Yeah. I'm not sure. Three and a half with it comes down and around. Yeah. I I ended up mapping it out. So that's where I was just I think it was Yeah. I think I'm just thinking that the cost of doing the well would offset the cost of the drinking water of treating it that you would put on the lawn. Would it offset it over the long haul? That's my question. I know how much a well would be

because I'm sure to treat the chemical water that's expensive too. So yeah, but it's the same thing that we're putting on our own gardens. I mean, our own gardens, our own water for every resident that has grass at their house anyway. So, it's really no difference, honestly. It's more I think I see more of a cost than a help, right?

So, but that's where it was just I wanted to bring it to you guys about what your thoughts are with I mean, it wasn't necessarily about like continuing the community garden or not. It was about just necessarily this year because of these waters. I mean, yes, our thing is saying for our lawns, it does not say garden, but I don't know. I'm I'm a firm believer in tightening our belts where it needs to be tightened. And there's a lot more things that could use water. And our seeds will stay good till next year. We haven't bought any plants yet. There's been other than just gotten some seeds. I don't know. Did you order onions? Yes, I think so. Well, I'll be happy. Burpees. Yeah.

Yeah. Oh, if we don't use them, I'll be happy. I'll use them in my garden. We'll just buy them off the city because I've got to order them anyways. So, it's not like we're going to lose out on any money. It's really it's the seeds and they'll stay good for next year as long as we keep them in a cool, dark place. So that's where mine I wanted to talk about was just really it was our water. Um should we should we have the garden this year? Not necessarily getting rid of the garden but obviously of having it this year just because of our

water trying to conserve as a town. That's one spot that we could drop back and just not even water and do at all. I know that Dan had made comment about other different spots where they're going to be cutting back water quite a bit. Um, but to me that was one of those ideal places that yes, we can cut this back completely and not have a spot. But that garden is watered right along with the surrounding. No, the the garden is watered totally separate.

Yes. So, it's on the same meter that all of that is on, but it is on its own uh system that it's on. It's on it own timer. It's got its own lines. That line doesn't that line doesn't hook into the trees at all. So, it's not like it's one of those it's we just don't turn it on. Well, here's my thought on that. Um if we have enough community members that comes forward and is willing to do all the work and including the watering with some guidance from it waters. There's a water it waters itself.

Well, we can change that. No, we could set the timing on how much is watered, right? That's what we do already. Yeah. Okay. But it's one of those we could we would control the water, right? So,

but I'm I don't want to do it if there's going to be just a small handful of community members that's going to get involved. If we get a big enough membership of community people, I could support it. But if we only have like a dozen that's going to use it and work it, I'd have to be convinced. So, it's not like you can really you water the garden or you don't water the garden. It's one of those that it's it's not like you can be like, "Oh, well, I'm only going to allow you five minutes." Well, then nothing's going to grow and it's going to die off. So that's where it's it's it's going to be

that a yes or a no on what we all think of doing it or not. Um and really it's one of those you get a ton of community involvement at the end, not so much at the beginning. So but that's the way it's been for years. A community project to me. Well,

it is at the end, but it's one of those and I always I mean just trying to get it off and keep it going. Um, but when it was brought to council to me when I was when it was brought to me, I was told that this is what the town wanted to do and we just need a gardener to help get it running. Uh, the town is what's going to fund this is what I was told. And then when I when we went to the second year to the bigger garden, uh they decided to make it bigger. And so I started that proposal. But even in that proposal, I stated that I know that it was a big cost. This is very upfront because of the garden. But then every year it wasn't going to be that much. You're only going to be buying seeds, plants, and amending the soil. And I mean, that is what it was brought to me. That is what I proposed to this council. um and they voted uh yes on um so it was that is how it was brought up. Um so I do think that if we do continue to do it even if we're not doing it this year but we should continue to buy the seeds and buy the plants and amend the soil um because it was as a town to do it. I mean, we could look into trying to get people to volunteer uh Miracle Grow and stuff like that. Um, but it was brought to the town um as the town would do the seeds, amend the soil and plants, and that's what they voted yes on. And it's even in the minutes.

Bill, you have Yeah. What if you just looked at doing like they do at the at the fairgrounds and out on the end of East Second Street and just let somebody come in and if they want to provide the seed and do all that stuff to just use the garden. Yeah. And just like rent it out anything and then you don't have to worry about whether volunteers are going to show it up. It's their own deal. If they want to let their seeds and stuff die, so be it. But we would have to provide the water. Yeah. We could we could figure out a way to meter the water and they'd have to pay for the water.

Well, that there therein is the issue because a meter in itself is thousands of dollars per per thing. And that's why that was one of the issues.

You could even come up with some kind of an estimate, work out some kind of a deal with them and say, "Hey, this is how much it's going to cost for water for the summer." But I got a feeling when you do that and then they add in the water cost, they're going to find out they could probably go to the farmers market and buy stuff cheaper than they could grow it other than it's their own. But I think if you did something like that where it's completely out of the town's control other than the water and the actual facility, then you wouldn't have to worry about it. Because I'm kind of like you, Alana. I've had um experiences with volunteers and

I get a lot that say I'll be there. I'll be there and then it's 20 people and and we're lucky if five show up and lucky and everybody's got a really good excuse. But

well and unfortunately that's kind of how it's been. But it's one of those that I've just got, normally I have enough time that I dedicate to this and doing it. And this year it was one of those that like I've got a lot of projects going on. And where with this community, I mean, I'm definitely not getting paid for it, but I make it a point that I'm trying to get down there at least once a week. And so that's always in the back of my mind that I'm working on, I'm doing, and oh, I've got to go do this down there. I've got to check on this. Oh, I've got a extra this to do. And that's always just one more thing. And it's just like I've got enough big projects that I've got going on this summer that it's like I need to take another project off my hands that that I can work on and that's going to work for my family and not for everybody else's family

because we all kind of know that if we leave that thing bacon for a year, it's not going to look like much next year. Well, it probably look the exact same. I mean, right now it's going to have rabbit poop in it and just gonna hang out there. It can be even worse because nobody's touched it for two years and it could be three or four years, you know. So, Fred, what do you got? Yeah. What kind of a time frame do you have where you have to decide yes water or no water? Well, and that's why why we really want to discuss it. I really I was the one that brought this up of like, hey, what are your guys' thoughts on this just because of

Well, I mean, do you need to make a decision on turning it on and turning it off in the next two weeks or is it something that you know is is there some kind of a time frame that this is a cut off we got to decide? Well, I mean really planting season. Well, yeah. I mean, I plant around in May, but I mean, I know a lot of people that'll plant in June because it all it truly, Fred, it all depends on the weather and what the weather's doing. What I was thinking is sometimes there's been surveys put out on social media about this and that, whatever.

And whenever you get somebody on there that says, "Oh, I'll do that. I'll do that." And then when it comes time, they're not there.

Oh, yeah. My suggestion would be in the next couple days to go on our town page, either the official town page and or the community one, and ask for a few people, three or four to form a committee. And then that committee is not under the control of the town, but that committee then could try to establish people who would come and work and help do the the labor stuff in the garden and say, "Okay, John, you're scheduled in for next Tuesday. Tom, you're scheduled in for Saturday. Sally, you come in on on Monday night." You know, and let that committee do that. And then if that doesn't come to fruition, if they can't get people to commit that way to schedule people to come and work.

Mhm. Maybe that's where I failed and never scheduled. Anybody would be like, "Hey, when can I come down?" And be like, "You come down whenever. Just come down." Well, that's And I think that may be part of the It might It might be just because come down whenever. Well, please come down whenever. I gotta go over here. Yeah. You know, so there's no set schedule. If you have a time when somebody says, "Can you work on this on Friday afternoon from 6:00 to 8?" Yeah. And then they know that that's the time they're supposed to be there. But I'm just thinking a small committee. If they can't pull it together to get the volunteers, cut the water on. No, I like that idea.

Yeah. See, and like that's my biggest issue is that people want this community garden, but nobody wants to put in the labor to do it. That'd be like me like complaining about the basketball courts and I never even show up to throw one ball. You know, it doesn't make any sense. You know, I think it's a good project. I think it's very helpful for people. It teaches them good skills, but at the end of the day, if everybody's just getting the fruits of the labor and not putting any of the elbow grease to do it, like it doesn't make any sense. And if you can't get somebody to pull, you know, three or four people to come to together as a committee, then that says the same thing. If you can't get a committee, you can't get the water.

Yeah. Well, and that's where I think I just wanted to have this open discussion with everybody about it and just talk about it because I mean really if we decide not to do the water and we want to tighten the belt, there's no point in doing a committee. And that's why we at least wanted to at least start the discussion about it because it's not like, oh, we have to get this planted by next week. I mean, it's still 20° nights and we don't want to plant yet anyways. So, you normally don't plant till midmay um to June, but that's where I wanted to at least have these discussions of like, okay, do we even want to turn on the water or not necessarily turn on the water, but even do the garden if we're trying to tighten our belts, per se, and really practice what we're preaching of, hey, let's tighten our belts, let's do this, let's really think about our water consumption and what we're putting out there. Um, I could see our water used in a better way. I mean, that's where mine is with it.

Okay. Well, with that, let's uh complete this discussion. We're not going to make any decisions on this tonight. Uh, I would like to get some feedback from the community and see like your suggestion if somebody can form a committee and uh come forward and show us that they're going to be serious about this, we will seriously consider it.

Janelle, do we want to have like because obviously I'll I'll make a post on a couple of the pages at least on the the Evans well the one Evansville page. Um, and then where should I have them do? Should I have them say come down to town hall and sign up or how do we want to do this and just have like a signup sheet? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And then Yeah. And then I can take your post and share it on the Facebook page and then I can um add something to the sign looking community. Yeah. Yeah. for the garden. Um, contact council.

Yeah. Not contact me. So, so long as they understand the involvement, right? Because you're you're limited on what you can put on the side. I mean, can we put it on our our water bill? I guess it's one of those how fast we needing our actual decision on that. Are we wanting to give it a couple weeks? I mean, when does our water bill go out? They won't go out until the first another month. Another May. Yeah. Well, I don't know if we want to wait that long. I'd like to get a decision and depending on how worried we got um because we've already got a second mailing going in with the water bills this month. Okay. Um but yeah, I think the biggest thing probably is that maybe pushing it too late for

Okay. for that. But yeah, I can put something on the sign. Um, yeah, I think doing the sign in general of just and then if they have more questions you guys I mean they can be answered at the window. I guess it's one of those a lot of people that are our age are on Facebook and they see it but a lot of I mean a lot of our town is elderly and they're not on Facebook and they're not on all these pages so they wouldn't know that they need to but they might be ones that are like they know how to garden and they would love to do it. So, I think putting it something on the sign of needing volunteers for the community garden to head the community garden or however it needs to be wrote uh written. Um

maybe a notice put up at the post office since everybody who's in town Yeah. has to go get mail and just make it a a something maybe set on the counter instead of that corkboard because nobody looks at the corkboard. Nobody looks at the counter. Everybody's got to walk by that counter. So maybe it's something like I don't walk by. I don't know what I can say. I don't even look at that counter. Just go to the box. But I mean, that's where it's just of I think our our main thing coming in of looking for community involvement to head the community garden this year.

And I don't know what I can put on the sign, but I can just put something to the effect of looking for volunteers um for the community garden. Contact town hall. Perfect. Yeah. Yeah, just simple, easy. Yeah. Okay, that'd be great. That's where that was my main was about the water. That'd be great. Thank you. Mhm. Thanks for all your input. Yeah. Thanks everybody. That's we wanted everybody here. My turn. Good evening, Mayor and Council. So, a few things tonight.

Uh most of them related to the the Mesa project like they they usually are the first of the month here. So, um I have tonight application for payment number nine uh for Wayne Coleman Construction. Uh the total of the application is 159,50428 and it's for work uh basically for March. Uh we're holding 5% retainage. Um so the retaining is $7,97521. So the amount due for pay pay request number nine is 151,52907 with 7,97521 being placed in the joint retaining account. So I recommend a motion to have the town payman construction for pay uh pay request number nine. Okay. Do I have a motion to pay Wayne Coleman?

A motion. A second. I have a motion and second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I opposed. Motion carried.

So on the same same project, I have draw down request number nine for reimbursement from the Wyoming business council. This is for Wayne Coleman construction pay application number eight and WLC engineering surveying invoices for the phase one construction work and the phase 2 design. So the total of all the invoices is $32,634.75. The grant covers 88%. So the total draw request is $266,319 even leaves a total remaining balance on the grant of 5,897,782. So recommend a motion to have the mayor sign and submit draw down request number nine to the W business council.

Was that uh draw down number nine or number eight? Uh draw down number nine for pay request number eight. Draw down number nine. Okay. All right. Uh do I have a motion? A motion. A second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I opposed. Motion carried.

And just to add to that draw request, um, as you're well aware by now, there's four other parties that are participating in in um the part that the grant doesn't doesn't cover for this particular invoice. Those four parties um are going to be reimbursing the town for 33,4414. So, of that 302,000 approximately $32,000 invoice, the town's responsible for 2,8753. So, just to kind of reiterate that, there's other parties reimbursing the town as well. So, the last thing I have on this project is a change order, and I don't know if you guys had a chance to to look through that, but I'll I'll go through it in detail here. So, we have change order number two. Uh, the part of the change order just to kind of reconcile the quantities of work completed to date. So they're they're about 90% through the project. Um maybe a little bit less, but um just kind of take all the quantities. You know, we have all these bid items and some end up being overrun, some end up being underrun. So just to kind of rec um reconcile those quantities, it ends up being a total increase to the project of $2,7751. But the bulk of this change order uh that I wanted you guys consider tonight we're recommended modification along Wildcat Road directly in front of 6757 Wildcat. So there's a building there that has two loading docks and our understanding is um that they're taking like appliance deliveries come into that building for like a like Home Depot. They take the appliances in, they get shipped in, and then they actually have some Home Depot trucks sitting there. they actually will go out and make those deliveries around town. And I don't know if it's just for Home Depot, but what we've encountered is it's a lot of truck traffic come going. It's right um just west of the county fire station. Sorry, east of the county fire station. Um and there's just a tremendous amount of semi-truck traffic backing into that warehouse every every day. And so what we're what we've been seeing is especially now we have curb and gutter

in we've really kind of narrowed they used to drive off into the shoulders and up against chain link fence and back these trucks in. Now we have curb and gutter on both sides. And so it's a really tight corner for them to back in. And we're afraid if we go in with the asphalt as we had planned, you know, fresh asphalt and then the middle of the summer and then those really tight turning movements, they're just going to tear the they're going to hurt the asphalt. Give it a boo.

Um, and so I it's just going to be it can't really be a warranty item to win comstruction. Once it's down and done properly, they can't be responsible for for it being tore up. Our recommendation after seeing what's going on out there, our recommendation is replace about 150 ft uh total length in front of that building. Instead of putting in asphalt, put in concrete pavement, um thicken concrete pavement, reinforced uh that way, I mean that'll that'll, you know, be more resistant to those turning movements and hopefully, you know, then we wouldn't have a maintenance issue right away. So, it ends up being a total increase to the project of uh $63,180. So it brings the uh uh the total of the change order amount with those other quantities plus that is 65,94751. It increases the project uh cost for WMO construction from from 4,432,18.7 to $4,498,551 about a 1.5% increase to the project. Um we're still comfortable that we're within budget. The estimate for this phase of the project when we put the grant together was 4.8 million. So we're roughly at the 4.5. So I still feel comfortable. We're within, you know, within the budget of the grant. Um and I think it's just something you should you should really consider tonight. Um they're looking they'll be paving probably in the next four weeks. So they'd like to get this in the works if we decide to do it tonight. And and I do recommend it. We've met with public works, too. And I they're on the same page. It's just going to be a It's going to be a problem. So, I guess I'll add too. We do We do our understanding is that they're going to be in there for one more year. They're working on a new building out kind of in Casper over by the jail. I believe they're building a new building to do the same thing and move out there, but they're a year out. The building, even

if they do move a year from now, the building is still set up with the two loading docks. The use is probably going to be fairly similar. may not have as much traffic, may have more, but I so so I don't think even though they're going to move out in a year, the problem's still probably going to be there. So, well, I think you're absolutely correct that uh concrete is definitely the way to go there with what you're describing. So if it's within the budget that was proposed and I it's uh I'll call for a m motion. Do I have a motion to do the uh change number two?

I'll motion for change number two. I'll second. Okay. I have a motion in a second. Any more discussion on this? Yeah, Janelle, I was just curious. Um is everyone I know that we are putting that money. Is everyone reimbursing us on their Yes. On the scheduled? Yeah. Yeah. The the four. Yes. Okay. Took a took a little while to work the kinks out there, but I I think we got a process. Okay. Just wanted to double check. Then no, I have no more discussion. Yeah. Uh all those in favor? I

I opposed. Motion carried. And then the last thing I have tonight is on the Ly Road Pathway phase 2 project. This project was awarded to Trito Construction a while back. Um they haven't started yet, but I've got a draw down request tonight just to get the town reimburse for uh WLC's invoices for December and January. So the total of the invoices is 283163. The grant covers 90.49%. So the total draw request is $2562.34. uh leaves a remaining balance on the grant of $591,459.15. So recommend a motion to have the mayor sign and submit draw down request number two for the Lther Pathway project. I'll make a motion to authorize the mayor of the forther road pathway phase number two driver request number two.

Do I have a second? I'll second. Do you know when they're going to start that? As soon as weather permits. I would say it's still probably two to three weeks out. Oh, okay. Uh they do have a completion of the end of June I believe. So they're going to have to get after it. So we do have liquidated damages if needed, but hopefully they can get in there. It should be a pretty straightforward project. Um there's not a lot to work around. It should go fast once they get in there. But we had a pre-construction meeting um about six weeks ago and just haven't they haven't moved in yet. So kind of try to keep you informed when I know more. But I think when they do move in it'll start to move pretty quick. I have a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion?

Okay. Uh with that, those in favor? Opposed? Motion carried. Scott, I got a quick question for you. Um, what uh did you guys ever happen to get another opinion on with that water and then uh the water eroding spots out? I haven't yet. I mean, I I do I'm working with Esco for another price and I haven't heard back from them. So, I can follow up with with they met me out there and they're getting what I was trying to say. Yeah, I think it's still pretty important if we can get that covert replaced at least. So, I'll follow up with them. It's been a while, been a couple weeks, I think, since I met with them and I haven't heard anything yet. So,

thank you. Y Okay, that's all. That's all. That's it. Do I have a motion to accept the engineers report? I move. I'll second. Got a motion and second for the engineers report. Any further discussion? If not, all those in favor? I opposed. Motion carried. So I have a motion for adjournment. Motion. My second motion and second. Uh all those in favor. I opposed. Motion carried.

We are adjourned at 8:37 p.m. on Monday. All my goodies.

Friday. Why do you have a