Council - Regular Meeting

I'm sorry.

It's been a while since I've been on a meeting. Evansville Town Council meeting for July 13th is now called to order.

Mayor Ernie Blackford.

Here.

Council Member Dasha Edwards. Here. Council Member Greg Plustek.

Here.

Council Member Alana Vino. Here. Council Member Chad Edwards. Here. Town Attorney Scott Murray is on his way. Town Engineer Shane Porter.

Here.

Town Treasurer Lexi Erickson.

Here.

Chief of Police Mark Thompson. Here. Fire Chief Mark Cornett is out, and in his place is Assistant Fire Chief Matt Gaiky. Here. Public Works Director Dan Corson. Here. Town Clerk Janelle Underland, Western Citizens. Here.

Do I have a motion for approval of agenda? I motion. Second. I have a motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion passed. Under consent of agenda, we have three items. Approval of minutes, regular meeting for June 22, 2026. approval of business licenses, Casper Short Load Concrete, KC Shop and Oil, and Oil City Plumbing and Heating, and approval of bills. Do I have a motion?

I move.

Second. I have a motion and a second. All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Motion passed. Public comments are now is closed.

We're a little early yet for our public hearing at 7.05 p.m., so if you'd like, we can move on to approval of the Environmental System Research Institute agreement.

Okay, we'll do that then.

Mr. Mayor and Council, before you tonight is the approval of the Environmental Systems Research Institute agreement. This is an agreement that we enter into with the city of Pasper, and this handles what is known as GIS. It has the parcel search data, water lines, sewer lines, all kinds of layers within that that the fire department public works. I believe the police department as well as our office uses this. So it's brought before you tonight for approval for the mayor to execute.

Okay. Do I have a motion for approval?

All motion.

Second. I have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion on this? No discussion. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion passed.

Do you want to move on to one more?

Yep.

So item number five, approval of the City of Casper Transportation Services Agreement. This agreement is brought before you tonight for approval, authorizing the mayor to execute. This is a contract between the town of Evansville and the City of Casper, and this handles the bus services throughout Evansville and the Toronto County for the assist and the link. And it's brought before you tonight for approval for the mayor to execute.

So do I have a motion for approval?

I so move.

Second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion on this? No discussion. All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Motion passed. Yeah, we're there. So, we will now open this up for public hearing for the Wyoming Business Council grant.

SO I'LL GIVE A LITTLE BIT OF A STAFF REPORT. THANK YOU, MAYOR AND COUNCIL. SO THIS IS A BUSINESS COUNCIL GRANT APPLICATION TO PROVIDE INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS FOR RESIDENTIAL SUBDIVISION, KIND OF NORTHWEST OF EAGLE ESTATES. SO THE MAYOR AND I HAVE BEEN TALKING TO THE WYOMING BUSINESS COUNCIL AND THE LANDOWNERS, AND THE BUSINESS COUNCIL IS ACTUALLY KIND OF SHIFTING A LITTLE BIT TO WHERE THEY'RE STARTING TO FUND MORE RESIDENTIAL COMPONENTS AS A, YOU KNOW, TRYING TO an economic development component kind of a barrier to growth they're focused on some residential projects um they just awarded a couple couple recently that are similar so as part of the the town would like to move forward the grant application as part of that we have to hold a public hearing The Wyoming Business Council is seeking grant and loan applications from counties, incorporated cities, towns, joint power boards, and tribes for the Building Resilient Communities, BRC, grant and loan programs. The intent of the program is to provide financing for publicly owned infrastructure that unlocks growth and addresses barriers to economic growth. Public infrastructure eligible for funding includes things like water, sewer, roads, land, spec buildings, business or industrial parks, recreation and educational facilities and other physical projects that unlock barriers to growth. The rules governing the BRC grant and loan program are available through the Wyoming Business Council website. The town of Evansville intends to submit an application for a BRC grant for water, sanitary sewer, storm sewer, and roadway improvements located north of 7th Street and east of Cloud Park Road to provide the necessary infrastructure for approximately 80 new single-family residential lots. the purpose of this infrastructure improvements project is to address a key barrier to growth uh being the lack of available workforce housing uh town of evanville is seeking citizen input regarding this project which is the purpose of the public hearing tonight We published this in the Star Tribune on June 27th and July 7th. We asked for any written comments to be received by July 10th at 4 p.m. Not aware of any written comments. So along with this, I want to talk about, so the grant does have a match component similar to the Mesa project. And there's a mass component for the applicant. I don't know if we want to do that during the public hearing, or we can talk about it in my engineer's report towards the end. Entirely up to you guys, but it's something we also want to address tonight beyond just this. Let's do it at the end of your report.

Okay.

So that's all I have to report on. We can open the public hearing now for any comments. Are there any comments on this?

evening mayor members of the council my name is keith tyler i'm here tonight to face the bridge we are partners on that land we've held it now for a number of years trying to figure out a way we could develop it each time we apply the cost analysis to the project it just didn't work so this opportunity to get some assistance from the state of wyoming is bit of a godsend to help us push that project forward and allow another development within the town of Evansville. We're gonna do about 80 homes under this project. We were looking at scenarios before this that in order to address some of our costs, we were looking at having to try to reduce the size of some of the lots. even looking at some townhouses and duplexes. With this program, we can throw all that aside and just concentrate on single-family homes, which I think is really a better product for everyone. But cost-wise, it was really a hard decision. So it's important to us that the grant be applied for by the town to assist with the project. Of course, the grant is just for infrastructure. bring land into it. We're going to provide land for the streets and easements for all the utilities and that'll be essentially conveyed to the town of Evansville and that will be part of the contribution for the town under the grant as I understand it. We're also looking at the possibility that some of the storm sewer issues on that project can be shown as a in-kind contribution by the town, so The rest of the match we will pick up. Likewise, if there is any cost overruns after we've made the application and been awarded funding for the project, we the developers, landowners, will bear that cost overrun. Any questions I can answer for you? Thank you for coming up later. Just let us know. Thank you for that.

Okay. Are there any other comments or questions? If not, we'll close the public hearing. The public hearing for this is now closed. Okay. Next on the agenda. Ordinance number 4-2026.

Mr. Mayor, council brought before you tonight is ordinance 4-2026. This is a visionary franchise agreement ordinance, and it's brought before you tonight on second reading.

Okay, do I have a motion on this ordinance? I move. I'll second. Okay, I have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion on this? No discussion. Okay, all those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Motion passed. Okay, next one, ordinance number 10-2026.

Mr. Mayor, council brought before you tonight is ordinance 10-2026. This is an ordinance approving the rezoned FOR HEAVY INDUSTRIAL TO URBAN AGRICULTURE TOWN OF EVANSVILLE, IOMI, AND IT'S BROUGHT TO YOU TONIGHT ON SECOND READING.

NEW SPEAKER OKAY. DO I HAVE A MOTION ON THIS ORDINANCE? NEW SPEAKER I SECOND. NEW SPEAKER WE HAVE A MOTION AND A SECOND. ANY DISCUSSION? NO DISCUSSION. ALL THOSE IN FAVOR? NEW SPEAKER AYE. NEW SPEAKER OPPOSED? MOTION PASSED.

AND YOU'RE ON, CHAIN. NEW SPEAKER BACK TO ME. Okay, we'll go right back to where we just left off on the Swami Business Council grant application I wanted to get the council thinking about the match requirement so They have new business council rules that are different from when we did the Mesa project. They've updated their rules It now requires a 25% match to the ground Before it was 20% and it had a specific requirement that the applicant would provide to Minimum of 5% of that 20% match would be by the applicant The new rules don't specify a minimum of the applicant. We've had some meetings with the Business Council and Not I guess there's not a strong idea of what we need to do for a match But basically they're saying they use the word that we have to have some skin in the game with the town So we're trying to kind of get you guys thinking about what that match might look like and I don't need we don't need to nail it down today, but we need to nail it down probably within the next week So there may be some email discussions or whatever I need to have the number nailed down before the resolution that would be in front of council on the 27th so prior to that next council meeting Resolution that has the specifics in it. So as mr. Tyler mentioned, I mean there there is some things we're looking at that the landowner the developers they're going to be responsible for the vast majority of that that match um but the you know the town has to have some some component in it and so we could do you know at different scenarios uh mr father mentioned there is some some land that the town owns north of the project um that will have to go It was originally designed as the project was already designed back before COVID and ready to go. And part of that design had a detention pond on the town property north of the subdivision, similar to what's there right now. Right now, Eagle Estates dumps out the drainage into the detention pond there, but that'll get filled in and essentially move down as well as we need to reroute some of the storm sewer that dumps out right out Eagle Estates, probably off to the west. So that land that the town owns could be part of an in-kind contribution as part of the grant. It could be as an in-kind match. I ran some numbers this morning. That ground could amount to roughly $95,000 of in-kind match. But I don't know. We don't really have strong guidance from the business council on what it's going to take to really build a strong application in front of them. So um one of the ideas i had and it's just for consideration that you know we can talk about the land to some extent but we could also you know gear it towards like we did with mesa mesa had the rule of five percent cash match by the community if we if we committed to the similar similar type cash match it would be about sixty two thousand dollars uh the developers match would be uh like 1.1 million in the town at 60 62 000. um so that's if the town is willing and able to do a cash match i think that would be a starting point to consider that would occur over time uh similar to the mesa project it's uh that would be like i guess like 1.3 percent of every every invoice that came in the town would be responsible for and so it would come SOME OF IT WOULD OCCUR IN THIS FISCAL YEAR MORE THAN LIKELY. I KNOW THEY WANT TO HIT THE GROUND RUNNING. IF THE GRANT DOES GET APPROVED, SOME OF IT WOULD BE THIS FISCAL YEAR AND SOME OF IT NEXT. PROBABLY, MAYBE 50-50, BUT PROBABLY MORE LIKE 40% THIS YEAR, 60 NEXT YEAR ROUGHLY. SO I KNOW YOU HAVEN'T BUDGETED FOR THIS FISCAL YEAR TO HAVE THAT CASH CONTRIBUTION, BUT IT WOULD OCCUR OVER TWO FISCAL YEARS, SO THAT MIGHT MAKE IT EASIER. It's just open for discussion. Like I said that the in-kind match I think is it's helpful and part of this but I'm not sure you know, I don't know if it carries the weight that a cash match does to you and I don't really know there's no strong guidance on what it's going to take to do it so Just kind of want to get you guys thinking about that and talk about it tonight what your thoughts are like I said, I do need to know we have to have it nailed down and

Lexi, where would that come out of?

That would be enterprise. How soon would we start seeing the tap fees coming in? We're not going to waive them.

So I guess that's up for discussion too. Yeah, so I guess kind of back up on the tap fee discussion. As of right now, there's a recapture agreement that was put in place when the purchase agreement was done. And that recapture stated that in order to help with some of these stormwater costs, the town would waive the tap fees on the water line. And so that was like $130,000 in value, 1,500 something per tap. I don't know. We talked about putting that in the grant application as an in-kind match. I heard from the business council this morning that they don't recommend that. They don't think that's going to suit for the match. So it's kind of off the table for the match. There still is an agreement in place that I guess we'd have to address. But if we don't raise the TAP fees and go with this other, you know, do something different, the TAP fees wouldn't start coming back. THINGS GO WELL. PROBABLY FALL OF 2027 WILL BE WHEN YOU START SEEING SOME TAP FEES COMING.

COULD WE PUT IN KIND OR A CASH CONTRIBUTION IN FROM OUR SIDE OF THIS AND THEN RECRUIT THAT WITH THESE TAP FEES?

YEAH.

THAT'S WHAT I WAS THINKING. SO THEN, I MEAN, THERE MIGHT BE A LITTLE BIT OF ONE TO THE OTHER.

I THINK WE'D HAVE TO HAVE THOSE DISCUSSIONS WITH THE LAND OWNER BECAUSE THERE CURRENTLY IS A RECAPTURE AGREEMENT IN PLACE THAT WOULD HAVE TO BE, YOU KNOW,

If we're agreeable to something else, we would have to get rid of that recapture. I think the recapture fee, though, was when the developer was going to install the road and all those components as a trade-off thing. Maybe it's an open discussion.

Can I offer something, Shane?

Yeah, go ahead.

We have a 25% match, and so if the recapture waiver on the hard part results in a reduction of 25%, then we're made whole, basically. Can that be as a combination of cash and land donation to that?

THEIR GUIDANCE THIS MORNING IS THEY WOULDN'T ACCEPT TAP FEES AS A MATCH. I DON'T KNOW HOW WE WOULD LOOK IF WE WERE WANTING IT. WOULDN'T BE. I GUESS WE WERE NOT ON THE SAME PAGE. I'M JUST SAYING.

NO, WE WOULD PAY THE MONEY FOR OUR MATCH AND THEN ON THE IDEA THAT WE WILL BE COLLECTING TAP FEES DOWN THE ROAD THAT WILL KIND OF MAKE US FULL AGAIN. WE'D BE FINE WITH THAT.

PART OF MY GUT FEELS LIKE THERE SHOULD BE SOME CASH CONTRIBUTION JUST FROM WHAT I'VE SEEN IN THE PAST. I MEAN, BUT IT'S NOT SPECIFIC, SO.

WELL, I THINK IF WE DO THIS IDEA, WE'RE PUTTING THE ENTIRE CASH CONTRIBUTION UP, SO THAT SHOULD BE THE BEST CASE SCENARIO WE WOULD HAVE FOR THE GRANT APPLICATION, I WOULD THINK.

RIGHT.

SO I CAN PUT SOME NUMBERS TOGETHER TO SEND YOU GUYS TO SHOW YOU WHAT THAT LOOKS LIKE. Lisa and Keith also, and we can just make sure that we're all on the same page.

Could you also send us the original agreement for us that was not on council when that went through?

Yes, I did. We found that the other day. SO THAT'S ALL I HAD TO REALLY DISCUSS ON THIS GRANT APPLICATION. LIKE I SAID, THERE WILL BE A RESOLUTION THAT WILL COME FORWARD ON THE 27th. THE APPLICATION IS DUE AUGUST 1st. AUGUST WHAT? AUGUST 1st. IT'S SATURDAY, SO IT'S GOING TO BE DUE FRIDAY, JULY 31st. AND THEN I THINK IT GOES TO THE BUSINESS COUNCIL IN DECEMBER AND SLIB IN JANUARY. THERE WILL BE SOME AFTER WE SUBMIT THE APPLICATION, THE BUSINESS COUNCIL WILL REVIEW IT AND THEY WILL COME UP AND DO A SITE VISIT AND A BIG MEETING WITH EVERYBODY TO GO OVER KIND OF WHAT THEY'RE SEEING. SO THERE PROBABLY IS SOME OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE SOME CHANGES.

IF THEY HAVE SOME IDEAS OR DON'T LIKE SOMETHING, THERE WILL BE SOME OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE SOME ADJUSTMENTS BEFORE THE BUSINESS COUNCIL MEETING.

BUT THAT'S THE SCHEDULE. SO THAT'S WHAT WE'RE MOVING FORWARD ON. WCDA Community Development Block Grant, one of the reports that we've been, we were awarded a block grant on the sanitary sewer improvements project, but it was contingent upon a wage survey to verify that the town met the low to median income rating for the town. And we're happy to report that we finally completed that survey. It took almost six months to try to get enough. We had to get a certain number of responses back. And we finally got that. We were able to, we had to kind of focus just on the main part of town. We did not include the newer subdivisions. We just focused on the main part of town. And it does meet, the town does meet for that part of town anyway, the low to moderate income. So we're moving forward with the approval of that funding for the sanitary sewer improvements, which is basically there's a sanitary sewer line that we need to replace that goes underneath the railroad tracks and then some upgrades to the lift station. So that's what that is.

And that'll be moving forward now.

But I wanted to bring up the next round of applications is open right now. And there's a letter of intent that would need to be in by August 31. And I guess what I was wanting to have you guys think about is if we wanted to do another sidewalk project, there's really just kind of one area left that we haven't addressed. We funded sidewalks through the same program, I think, three different projects. And I think one more would get all the sidewalks in the old part of town. so the process is a letter of intent that needs to go in and then the application is due in september but part of the application now they require a phase one environmental to be done and submitted with the application And so in order to do that, we'd have to hire that phase one. And the last one we did was approximately $8,000 for these last two projects that we applied for. So I guess I wanted to get your guys' thoughts on whether you want to move forward with another sidewalk project. And if you do, you need to commit to a phase one environmental to be done right away, which is about $8,000.

I would like to see the sidewalks finished.

it's a hundred percent funding right it is a hundred percent so i think the eight thousand up front is yeah and i kind of put some rough numbers i think it'll be a little over a million dollars we need a motion on that

Do I have a motion to proceed with this? Do you know if it's $8,000 or approximately $8,000?

I honestly think it'll be less than $8,000. The one we did before that was right at $8,000 was two areas. I think it'll be a little bit less, but I would budget $8,000.

Well, do I have a motion to proceed with this then as long as it does not exceed $8,000? I move.

Second.

Second. have a motion in a second uh any more discussion on this if not all those in favor aye opposed motion passed do you have any other spots that are looking for sidewalks i know we've got some over here by the park over there that it's primarily the southwest part of town though there'll be a little bit on this side of curtis

BUT PRIMARILY ON THE SOUTH AND WEST PART OF TOWN.

THERE'S ONE BLOCK OF KING THAT KIND OF GOT LOST IN THE WASH. IT'S LIKE ISOLATED BY ITSELF NOW. SO WE NEED TO GET THAT BLOCK OF KING AND THEN THE SOUTHWEST PART OF TOWN. NEW SPEAKER SO THIS APPLICATION FINISH ALL OF THEM? NEW SPEAKER I THINK SO. I THINK WE JUST GO FOR IT. OTHERWISE, IT'S PROBABLY A LITTLE BIT BIGGER PROJECT THAN THE LAST ONE, BUT I THINK IT MAKES SENSE So the next thing I have is on the Mesa or the Mesa project the mystery bridge Wildcat Road improvements project I have pay application number 12 tonight the total pay request from Wayne Coleman construction is for three hundred ninety four thousand five hundred ninety dollars and and 95 cents. It's for work completed and material delivered from June 1st through June 30th. We're holding 5% retainage, which is the amount of $19,729.55. So the total amount due is actually $374,861.40, with $19,729 being placed in the joint retainage account. I'll just recommend a motion to pay Wayne Coleman Construction for pay allocation number 12.

Do I have a motion to pay Wayne Coleman? I move. Second. Motion and second. Any discussion on that? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion passed.

So along those same lines, I have draw request number 12. This is for Wayne Coma Construction Pay application number 11 and the design and contract administration invoices for April and May of 2026. The total of the invoices is $728,721.12. The grant covers 88%. So the total draw request is $641,275. It leaves a remaining balance on the grant of $4,884,246. The town will receive additional reimbursement from the other parties involved in the amount of eighty thousand five twenty three sixty eight So it leaves the town responsible for six thousand nine hundred twenty two dollars and eighty five cents of the total total amount due so Recommend a motion to have the mayor sign and submit drawdown request number twelve I move second Discussion all those in favor aye opposed

Motion passed.

Next thing is on the Lathrop Road Pathway project. I have application for payment number two from Trito Construction in the amount of $83,820. That's for work completed from April 27th through June 25th. We're holding 5% retainage in the amount of $4,191 even. So the total amount due is $79,629 with $4,191 even being held for retainage. I recommend a motion to pay Trito Construction for payment or pay Then I just have the drawdown requests for the same project just draw down request number four and It's for reimbursement for invoices for the construction engineering for April and May of 2026. The total of the invoices is $13,917.77. The grant covers 90.49%, so the total draw request is $12,594.19. It leaves the remaining balance on the grant of $553,161.28. So I just recommend a motion to have the mayor sign and submit drawdown request number four.

Do I have a motion?

I move.

Second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Motion passed.

And then the last thing I have tonight is our WLC's contract for fiscal year 2026-2027. We always do this at the start of the next fiscal year. It's just our standard agreement that's been approved by the town attorneys over the years, same agreement. We just put it in place, you know, just so verification from funding agencies and different things that were under contract with the town.

Do I have a motion? I'm rushing.

SECOND.

A MOTION AND A SECOND. ANY DISCUSSION? ALL IN FAVOR? AYE. OPPOSED? MOTION PASSED.

THANKS FOR STICKING AROUND. THANKS FOR HAVING ME.

THAT'S ALL I HAVE. YOU'RE SURE? I'M SURE.

OKAY. DO I HAVE A MOTION TO ACCEPT THE ENGINEER'S REPORT?

SO MOVED.

SECOND. I HAVE A MOTION AND A SECOND. ALL IN FAVOR? AYE. Do I have a motion for adjournment?

I'd like a motion to adjourn.

Second. I have a motion and a second. All those in favor?