Council - Regular Meeting

All right, it's uploaded so you might need to hit refresh before it shows up.

I would like to welcome everyone to the Monday, June 8th, Pine Bluff Town Council meeting. Would everyone join me in the Pledge of Allegiance?

I pledge allegiance 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

First item on the agenda is the approval of the agenda.

I move to amend the agenda to remove item 4, ordinance 2026-06, and replace that with visit Cheyenne presentation and board member appointment. I'll second that.

Hearing the first and the second, all those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Hearing none, motion carries.

I move to approve the agenda as amended. Second.

I hear a motion and a second to approve the agenda as amended. All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Hearing none, motion carries. Next item on the agenda is the consent agenda.

I'll move to approve the consent agenda. No, public hearing. Oh, yeah.

Public hearing?

Sorry.

Oh, yeah. Sorry. Thank you, Leah. Next item on the agenda is the public hearing. Or fiscal year 2027 appropriations budget for the town of Pine Bluffs. Is there any comment? Any comment on the public hearing of the town budget? Any comment? Hearing none, we'll move on. Now we'll go on to the regular meeting and go on to the consent agenda.

I'll move to approve the consent agenda as presented.

I'll second it.

Hearing a motion and a second on the consent agenda. All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Hearing none, motion carries. The new business and action items. The first one is resolution 2026-05 and it is a resolution approving Proposition to impose the 1% specific purpose sales and use tax in Laramie County, State of Wyoming for the exclusive purpose of funding specific purposes for specific amounts. Propositions to be voted on at the election to be held on August 18, 2026.

So you may feel like this is Groundhog Day and we already have passed this resolution and we have. However, they had just a kind of a switcheroo of some of the propositions and items and where they fell. So this is just kind of a none of the actual meat and potatoes has changed. It's just an ordering change. And so that's what we're doing today is just approving that amended resolution. to be able to put the specific purpose sales tax in use on the ballot for August.

I move we adopt resolution 2026-05.

Second.

Carrying a motion and a second to adopt resolution 2026-05. All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Hearing none, motion carries. Second item is resolution 2026-06 and that is a resolution amending the Town of Pine Bluffs electric charges providing for severability and providing for an effective date.

Mayor and Town Council, this is a rate change based on the cost of service study that was completed This is based on discussions that we held at the last meeting. It would increase residential base rates by approximately $6, commercial rates by anywhere from $10 to $25, depending on the size of the service. That's an average on a monthly bill? That's an average on a monthly bill. for the base rate.

Was that on just the base rate or the demand also?

That is on the base rate and the demand has increased by 50 cents per kilowatt. Okay.

I'll move to adopt resolution 2026-06. I'll second. Hearing a

Motion and a second to adopt resolution 2026-06. All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Hearing none, motion carries. Third item is ordinance 2026-02. This is the third reading of the annual appropriations ordinance. For the fiscal year ending June 30th, 2027.

Before you we have the FY 2027 budget. The town of Pine Bluffs fiscal year 2027 budget represents a balanced financial plan that supports our community's continued stability and quality of life. Developed in accordance with Wyoming statutes and local ordinances, this budget serves as both a fiscal roadmap and our strategic guide for the year ahead. With a total budget of 6.9 million, the FY27 plan reflects measured growth and targeted investments across all of our major funds. The general fund shows a modest 3% increase while the utility, airport, and capital project funds are expanding to address ongoing infrastructure needs and rising service demands. Pending voter support in Laramie County this August, additional funding may be incorporated through action by this governing body, further strengthening the town's financial position. This year's budget emphasizes long term sustainability and responsible financial management. It preserves essential services, meets all contractual obligations, and incorporates some staffing adjustments to ensure that the town remains responsive to current and future needs. Investments are underway to strengthen infrastructure and community development. Major initiatives include the continued development of a water master plan, infrastructure expansion to support the industrial park growth, and a major runway rehabilitation project at our airport. These efforts are supported in part by grants and partnerships which show the town's commitment to leveraging the various funding opportunities made available to Wyoming municipalities. The budget also reflects the town's dedication to planning and community engagement. This is highlighted by the adoption of a pedestrian and ADA improvement master plan, which positions our town to pursue additional funding while enhancing safety, accessibility, and quality of life for our citizens. At the same time, the town acknowledges ongoing economic challenges, which include uncertain intergovernmental revenues and rising operational costs. Despite these pressures, this budget maintains financial stability due to our employees disciplined approach to spending and resource allocation. In summary, the FY27 budget demonstrates a strong commitment to fiscal responsibility, strategic investment, and community driven progress. It reflects the town's ongoing efforts to balance growth with sustainability while continuing to deliver reliable quality services to the residents of Pine Bluffs. I'm available for any questions that you may have.

Is the annual appropriations budget made public?

Yes, it is. It will be posted on our website.

So if people are wanting to see where things actually ended up, they can get on the town website, go through and see where... That is correct.

And if they have any further questions, they can pop into the town hall and visit with me or with Leigh Ann, and we can provide them whatever information they need.

And they can also discuss it with any of us.

Absolutely.

And any of the council members, anything that they're concerned with or... or have questions about on the budget items?

Yes, they can. Okay.

Thank you, Kim.

Yeah, thanks, Kim.

I'll move to adopt Ordinance 2026-02 on the third reading. I'm sorry.

Hearing a motion and a second to adopt ordinance 2026-02. This requires a roll call, doesn't it, Alex? Yes. All those in favor?

I'll wait.

Starting with? Yes.

Yes. Yes.

All those opposed? Hearing none, adoption of Ordinance 2026-02 carries. And then on to Jim with Visit Cheyenne. Visit Cheyenne.

Yeah.

Jim, welcome to Town of Pine Bluffs Council meeting.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor and council members. I appreciate the opportunity to come out here and visit with you tonight. My name is Jim Walter. I'm the president and CEO of Visit Cheyenne. I started on February 1st officially, November 1st as the interim. We went through a search process, which ultimately resulted in the permanent position being offered to me. And I accepted very happily my 13 years now with Visit Cheyenne. I've seen a lot. I've seen a lot of growth in the community. I wanted to stop by and provide a brief update on what Visit Cheyenne is doing across Laramie County and why communities such as Pine Bluffs play such an important role in our success. When people here Visit Cheyenne, they naturally think of Cheyenne, but our mission is much broader than that. We market and promote all of Laramie County from downtown Cheyenne to the communities that make this county unique, including Pine Bluffs. One of the things we've learned through our recent resident sentiment study is that people are incredibly proud of living here in Laramie County. They value the quality of life, the sense of community, and the authentic character that makes this region special. Those are exactly the things that visitors are looking for today. Tourism has changed. People just aren't looking for attractions. They're looking for authentic experiences. They want to visit local restaurants, explore small towns, meet local people, and experience the real Wyoming. That's where communities like Pine Bluffs have an opportunity. Whether it's visitors traveling I-80, attending local events, exploring the Eastern Gateway to Wyoming, or stopping at local businesses, tourism dollars don't recognize a city limit. They move throughout the county and support businesses, jobs, and tax revenues. The resident survey also told us something important, that residents generally support tourism because they see the economic benefits it brings to local businesses and the community. At the same time, they want that growth managed responsibly. They want their community to retain its identity and its character. I couldn't agree more. Our goal has never been tourism for tourism's sake. Our goal is to create economic activity that benefits the local businesses, supports community amenities, and improves quality of life for residents. Another thing that we heard in the survey is residents want increased transparency. They want to know what Visit Cheyenne is doing and whether or not it's working. That's why we've increased our efforts around reporting, transparency, and accountability. We regularly share tourism data, hotel performance, visitor spending information, and the measurable tourism impact it has on our local communities. Tourism just isn't about visitor numbers. It's about the real dollars flowing into local businesses and supporting jobs throughout Laramie County. As I look ahead, one of my priorities is strengthening the relationships with communities throughout the county. I don't want Visit Cheyenne to be an organization that only shows up when it needs something. I want us to be a partner. Whether it's promoting the local trail system here in Pine Bluffs, the awesome disc golf opportunities here, developing new tours to highlight the new agriculture manufacturing opportunities that are growing here in Pine Bluffs, We're continuing to promote the high-end farm-to-fork dinners that we hold every year at Pine Bluffs Distilling. Myself and the team at Visit Cheyenne, we're all in. That means listening to our local leaders, sitting down, having a cup of coffee multiple times a year, understanding your community priorities, and identifying opportunities where tourism can help support your goals. It also means helping tell the stories that make Pine Bluffs unique. Visitors increasingly want authentic experiences and every community in Laramie County has stories worth telling. One of my very first Wyoming experiences when we moved here in 2013 that really kind of hit home with me and I remember to this day was our first trail days that we came out to in the street dance that we attended. This East Coast dairy farmer had never been to a street dance, and what a blast we've had, and we continue to enjoy Trail Days on a regular basis. The resident sentiment study showed something else that I also found encouraging. People want to be ambassadors for their community. When residents are proud of where they live, they recommend it to others. They welcome visitors. They help create experiences that turn first-time visitors into repeat visitors. That's important because the best tourism marketing in the world still can't compete with the positive experience and the recommendation from somebody that lives here. As we move forward, Visit Cheyenne remains committed to promoting all of Laramie County, strengthening partnerships, supporting local businesses, and ensuring tourism remains a positive force for our communities. I want to thank this board for appointing fantastic ambassadors from Pine Bluffs to our Laramie County Tourism Joint Powers Board over the years. Sonja Fornstrom, you all know Sonja very well. She really was the first Pine Bluffs representative since I've been here. We've had two, and Sonia and Chad Brown, and they both are such advocates for this community. And so I thank you for appointing quality people to our board. It's very important for us. The squeaky wheel oftentimes is the one that gets the grease, as you all know. And you've had a couple of squeaky wheels over the last 12 years, so we do appreciate that. Thank you for your time, for your leadership, and for everything you folks do for Pine Bluffs. I look forward to continuing to work well together. Thank you, and I'd stand for any questions anybody would have.

Is there anything more that we could be doing to participate better or to help further the tourism in Pine Bluffs and Cheyenne in general or Laramie County in general?

Yeah, sorry, Mr. Mayor. I think that you guys are doing a great job. You're the, as I said, the Eastern Gateway to Wyoming, the Eastern Gateway to Laramie County. One of the things that we have struggled with over the years is finding staffing at the visitor center over here off of I-80. So if you have any ideas of people, I think we're staffed well for this year at this point. But in the future, if you know somebody, a great community ambassador that's looking to work some hours over there, sending those names our way is always very good and important. Because if they stop there at the restroom and there's somebody that says, They say, well, what's this town? What's this town all about? And they can talk them into coming in and exploring a little further instead of just getting right on I-80 again and heading east or west. That's very helpful. One of the things that we've done recently is we buy a lot of cell phone geolocation data. And we recently geofenced all of Pine Bluffs, splitting north of I-80 and south of I-80 so we could get a better feel for who's coming and visiting the trail system, who's coming and visiting the rest area. And more importantly, where they go after they've been to one of those places. Or when somebody actually comes and they visit Pine Bluffs, where were they before? And so it's a matter for us of looking at that data as it comes in and it populates to where it's a larger sample size. and having a good feel for what that traffic pattern is for us. And the other piece is we've had a brochure that's out of date now. It's a Pine Bluffs-themed brochure, and it also features Burns and Elbin in it. We're going to be in the process of updating that. So when we run that past the folks here in Pine Bluffs, just getting honest feedback on, hey, we're hitting the mark on this, or we're missing the mark on that, so we can make sure that that brochure adequately represents and drives people who pick that up in the visitor center in Cheyenne, and they know that they're heading east, but it gives them a good reason to stop here and visit you guys.

One of the things that I do when I'm on the road oftentimes is I'm approaching a town. You Google what to do in... Does Visit Cheyenne have any... any mechanism for making any of those Google searches like what to do in Pine Bluffs to actually bring up a hit on anything to highlight the restaurants, the bowling alley, any of the attractions that we do have here in town?

Mr. Mayor, we've got a very robust website and we work very hard on It used to be search engine optimization was the real key. Now it's making sure that it's a trusted source for AI. And AI likes a trusted source because the people who are developing these, Gemini or ChatGPT or Claude, they want to make sure that the information they're putting out there is strong. So we work really hard to make sure that our listings are correct, up to date, If you're a business in Pine Bluffs, if you're an attraction in Pine Bluffs, double check our website. Make sure that our information is correct on there. And if it's not, letting us know. That is very helpful to us. So make sure. And the other piece of that question is we do buy a lot of search engine marketing where we do the near me piece of it. So we'll buy keywords that say restaurants near me or distilleries near me or bike trails near me, those types of things. Because that's important because that is how a lot of people search. I do the same thing. I get settled into a hotel when I'm traveling and I'll put seafood near me or something like that and see what's going to come up.

So you mentioned your online presence. How would we find that? Cheyenne.org.

Pardon? Cheyenne.org. Cheyenne.org?

Is our website, yes. That's what I was wanting to know, is what to actually go look at.

And the other key is if a new business opens, two things. Unfortunately, if a business closes, making sure we know so we can get that off there. But if a new business opens, making sure they reach out to us to let us know what they want their listing to say. It's no charge to be listed on the Cheyenne.org website if you're a tourism-related business. Good.

Jim, you mentioned that you'd had obtained access to some geolocations for a cell phone and you could actually determine whether somebody was getting off the interstate and coming into town as opposed to just going to the rest area and then continuing on. Any trends that you've identified so far related to that?

I haven't identified a lot of trends because the data is only about a month old, so that came out of a meeting with Allie and talking about maybe some grant opportunities through the the outdoor rec fund and having some good data. So when we put together those grant opportunities for the trails that we can say, look, this is where people are coming from. This is who's using them. They have to remain in the area for at least 15 minutes. So a lot of the people that just stop at the rest area, they may not be there that long, but for sure, people that are hiking the trails or playing the disc golf courses or coming on into town and grabbing lunch or dinner, you know, we're going to catch those.

I'm sorry. Do you recommend or have... If we were looking to access resources to help us promote Pine Blossom more, what would you recommend to us?

A couple of things. One, if you've got ideas, come to me with the ideas because we do... There are funds that we send back to Pine Bluffs each year for various projects. We have our marketing grant program as well, which Trail Days is usually a recipient of that. I know that when they did the Elvis event here just recently, Sonia called me and said she was looking for some sponsorship, and we were able to do that. So reaching out to me, I can't promise the answer is going to be yes every single time. But, you know, we're looking, we want, like I said before, we want to be a partner with you guys. So if there are things that we can do, the events that you've got going on, again, event listings on our website are free as well. There's no charge for our website. It's, you know, it's part of the lodging tax. So if you've got events that are going on, you know, is it a farmer's market? Is it a, Is it a garage sale? Is it trail days? Is it something, you know, the kite festival? Making sure that we've got that information and it's on our website because much like, you know, what's a good restaurant near me, people oftentimes are in town saying, what's happening this weekend? And our website, we work really hard to make sure that that comes up very high when people look for that information.

Jim, just briefly, you did mention lodging tech.

Yes.

And I think you and I had talked, that is, hitting the ballot in November. Can you briefly talk to us about that?

Sure. So our office is funded by the 4% lodging tax that is charged, local lodging tax charged here in Laramie County. So there's actually a 7% lodging tax. 5% of that is under state statute, where 3% goes to the Wyoming Office of Tourism. Then 2% automatically comes to Laramie County for tourism promotion. The optional 2% is what's up for election, and that comes up every four years. The voters of Laramie County have the opportunity to say yes or no on whether or not they would like the lodging tax renewed for another four years. We have found over the years that on average it passes by about a 70 to 30 vote spread. It's a tax that, for the most part, residents of Laramie County do not pay. I have paid it a number of times staying over at the Cobblestone while attending events out here, but that's fine. I don't mind paying the local lodging tax. That lodging tax, we then take that money and we use that money to run our operations in our office and to do our marketing and to attract meetings and conventions to the community, to do our sponsorships that we do, to do the event marketing grants that we do as well. We try very hard to make sure that That money is being spent in both the way that state statute requires it to be spent, but also at the same time in a way that reflects very well on Cheyenne and Laramie County. Our core markets that we market to include Denver's a big market for us, getting people to come up here. There's nearly 3 million people in the Denver metropolitan area now, and it's right next door to us. And the number of people, I was actually in Denver today for a meeting industry event, and the number of people said, well, geez, did you come down last night? I said, that's a 90-minute drive. It really isn't that far to get here. And they went, oh, well, yeah, maybe I need to come up there. Focusing on things kind of outside of the last two weeks of July in Frontier Days. Frontier Days does a lot of its own marketing, but we do our marketing. I call it our three-legged stool of marketing. It's our western outdoor heritage, or I'm sorry, our western heritage, and current way of life is a big piece of that. And then outdoor adventure is another piece of that. So things like your trails, Kirk Gowdy State Park. We've adopted Vita Vu and Pole Mountain area. We market the heck out of those. because we find a lot of people will stay in Cheyenne to experience those as well. And then the piece that we call Cheyenne Chic, which is our local downtown Cheyenne, the breweries, the distilleries in the community, the locally small family-owned restaurants and attractions that we have as well all fit into that. The people that are doing, you can go to an Applebee's and probably 180, 200 cities in this country. But there's only one Curry's. There's only one Knotty Pine. There's only one Pine Bluffs Distilling. And those are the things that are unique and different and stand out from everybody. And those are the pieces that we support and that we regularly promote to other people. Things like our Cheyenne Restaurant Week is part of that as well. We do that the first full week of April every year, and we limit that to locally owned restaurants and businesses. We've got a couple locally owned franchisees, like there's small regional franchises that participate in that, but mainly that focuses on the people who live here in Laramie County, work here in Laramie County, pay their taxes in Laramie County, and making sure that we're driving people into their establishments and getting the word out about the great things that they're doing.

Thank you.

Hearing a motion and a second to appoint Alex Romig as our representative. All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Hearing none, motion carries.

Alex, I guess we should have asked you if you approved of that, but I think you did.

You good with us, Alex?

Thank you. Pleasure to meet you.

On to visitor comments. Any visitor comments? How about you, Austin? You have?

I was going to do a department report, but I can do it right now.

You want to do it on, you can do it as a visitor, as a visitor comments. Sure.

I'm a visitor today. Multiple times that, um, I'd like to change from Maine to the district office and make that a proposed school zone and safety zone or wind flashing during the summer to reflect those changes as well. All those signs, given a lot of talking to Alex and other people, as long as we cover the word school, and it's the 21 flashing, we can actually make the entire school zones and by the park, which includes the park, to flash as well to reflect those changes as well. All those signs, given a lot of talking to Alex and other people, as long as we cover the word school, And it's the 21 flashing. We can actually make the entire school zones and by the park, which includes the park, to flash as well during that set time we want during the summer. So this will not only protect the park, the soccer fields, and the pool, but it also protects Main Street and our main park as well. And anything around the school, anything going on around the school, as we speak, there's Bible study going on, so it just protects that. Again, I propose that we also make it a school zone as well. This will only require one change. If you go to 6334, second page, in double I, That's where our old 25 mile per hour speed zone used to be. That is now gone, but it's also a relevant statute that's already ingrained. So all we would need to do is just a name change to 20 when flashing, and all the relevant speed zones and citations would reflect. And I'm available for any questions you might have.

Does that change to where we are required to have a traffic study done? Has that changed recently?

You know, I wanted to get with Alex, but it's been a while. I think there's common misconception between other mayors and other individuals that thought that... We just had to have a speed study done if we wanted to change any road. It's only for state municipal highways that run through town and unpaved roads. And so the county can't just go change their speed limits wherever they see fit. It has to be done through a speed study. Same thing with changing. If we wanted to make 30-40 to just match the whole way through, well, we need the We need the state's input and a speed study. I did find out, though, talking to an engineer, and Alex might find this interesting, if they waive the speed study, we could change the speed on Highway 30 as well, but that's a mountain for a different time.

Change it to what?

I think the general consensus would be 40, but... They're pretty stuck on 30 just for obvious reasons, for just way too many.

Why would he be against changing it up to four?

Yeah. So that's what's been talked about in the past. That's why I bring it up. I don't intend on approaching that as I'm more approaching with the parking pool.

So what you're proposing is... the speed limit between Maine and the district office would remain 30 except when...

Except when flashing, and it'll be just like the signs we have for school zone. It'll be just like that. We'll just cover up the school during the summertime, and then it's just 21 flashing per the ordinance change on double I. I'm supportive of that, Austin.

So whatever... Whatever you need for us to do next.

I'll write it up into an actual, because this will have to be a proposal, correct, Alex? Or an ordinance resolution. Three readings. So I'll write it up. We'll do the next council meeting. We'll do a first, hopefully, first reading and go on down the board. I did want to kind of bring up some times in general. The pool is open for swimming lessons and senior events. However, the main part of the kids don't get there until 1. The general thinking in my brain is from 12 to 6. The pool closes at 5, so it gives an hour breathing room on each end. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. Tuesday and Thursdays are night swims, so I would want that to go to 8.30. However, we can do 8 a.m. to 8.30 p.m., That's, I would say, a pretty broad scope. But there's a lot of kids that are going around those parks at that early time anyway, so it wouldn't be out of the realm. But I think that 12 to 6 and then the 12 to 8.30 on the Tuesdays and Thursdays would be plenty suffice.

Are the signs programmable by the day? They are. So you can program any set time from... whenever and you can have it change on Tuesdays and Thursdays for...

I believe you can make 30 presets just in one day. That's what I was wondering. According to when talking to Andy about it, unless I misheard him, you can input to flash for an hour and then go off and then two hours later go off again. So you can do many inputs just in one day and then throughout the month you can have it flash for different events, you know, yearly. So just you can do a lot with it. But if we go in and pre-set that, the Tuesday, Thursday, it would flash at this time. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, it would flash at this time. We can go in and if we had a special event, especially like trail days, we could go in and change it to 8 to 8 or 8 to 10. We could definitely play with it because it's – I think that's a conversation you need to have with us a little bit, but I think we can set whatever time we want on it. As long as it's flashing, it's in effect.

How many additional signs are we going to need?

Two.

Just two?

Yep. And they are compatible. We did do some checking on that. They are compatible with the signs we already have. So that's a good thing. Sometimes with technology it changes and we have to upgrade. This isn't. So we just order the two signs and get them in and we'll get them up.

What kind of lead time is there on signs if this resolution passes?

I think five weeks if I'm not correct.

Approximately five weeks. So we would put up the posts and temporarily remove an existing speed sign from each and relocate it to eight. And then when the new ones come in, we would just replace them on beach. Okay.

At least that's the plan.

Thank you, Austin.

Thank you.

Yeah, thank you. Department reports.

We did have an airport authority committee meeting on May 28th. And a couple of highlights. The ADSB recorded 419 operations in May, which is up considerably from last May, which was 275. Year-to-date, we have 1,246 operations. It may have to do with fuel costs. Fuel costs are up, and our fuel costs to buy Plane fuel is lower than most any other airport around us. We sold 3,305 gallons last month, which is also up quite a bit. The AWOS, Automated Weather Observing System, that seems to be working well. Several of the guys said they talked to pilots who would come in, and that was encouraging them to stop in. if nothing more than just to practice their landings and takeoffs. So that provides them real-time weather data so they know whether the weather on the ground is different than what they're experiencing in the air and may make the difference in them wanting to land or not. So that was good. They are tentatively planning to have a fly-in open to the public on September 19th. And that is a tentative date at this point. But Kim, I don't know, has Kevin talked to you any about that?

Yes, he has.

Okay, very good.

We're working through that.

Yeah, it requires a little coordination with the town and staff, but that's the date that's been set. So still working on what that lineup looks like. We'll have some plans on hand, obviously, to give rides and for people to tour and Hopefully have some other attractions there as well. But more on that as that develops.

That's an all-day event?

I don't know if it's all-day or not. Is that an all-morning thing?

Generally, we hold it through until either noon or 1 o'clock.

Starting when? But we start usually right at 8 a.m. 8 a.m. until noon or 1?

Until the interest wanes, I suppose. Okay. Or we run out of good flying weather.

Right.

That's what I have.

Thanks, Dave. I don't have anything. Do you have anything?

I think I had mentioned previously that there was a real possibility for countywide consensus funding that block grant model to come back after some discussions we've had in the last week and a presentation at Minerals last Friday. I do think that they will explore that further. So countywide consensus, Kim knows way more about it than I do. It predates all of us. They kind of ran out of that, stopped doing that around 2017, 2018.

Yeah, I think it was 2017.

So countywide consensus funding was a pool of money that was determined to be given to every county. And then each county decided their priorities and how much each community would get. Um, and I think they had some parameters around that and Kim could, could allude to that a little more, but I won't get into the weeds on that because I think we, I think it could look differently as it comes back. Um, those are the things that WAM is currently working on with the Wyoming County Commissioners Association. And I think we'll probably do a little arm wrestling with the county commissioners on how those votes should work. But I do think that we're coming to a really good agreement between the two associations and they're going to really champion that on our behalf. it's really hard for some of our smaller communities to get funding through things like the Wyoming business council. And with that uncertainty, um, this model could, um, move things along, potentially help you engineer a project to find a grant. Um, I think a lot of times we, we are up against needing to have a project engineered and shovel ready before we can ever get real grant funding, which, um, can sometimes be hard and you need that funding just to be engineered. So I think some of these funds can help us move forward on projects and really help smaller communities. So that's currently the biggest, I think probably the biggest hurdle that WAM is facing and just charging it on our behalf. I have nothing.

Alex, you have anything?

Yeah, just a brief point. We're kind of tracking the whole data center thing. There are now over 80 applications for Laramie County. Wow. And it may be something that this governing body wants to look at in terms of a regulatory... kind of approach because with the water requirements and everything else, I think it would perhaps be very burdensome on a small community. But because of our location on the interstate and stuff like that, I know Carpenter is a target, but we need to be planning ahead if that's something we want to kind of be ready for or deal with in advance?

I think it's interesting. From my understanding, and I could be misinterpreting this conversation, the county commissioners had mentioned that a lot of these applications or applications for pre- Build meetings and pre-planned meetings. So some of them aren't really coming to fruition. Do you have any information? Is that really the case?

They're real applications.

Okay.

Or ones that are in the pipeline.

Sure.

There's a lot of misunderstanding about how that's working. Of course, some of those applications are to the city. The city has no place to put them.

Right.

So they don't have, there's no place big enough to accommodate that within the city limits of Cheyenne. So the modeling has been, and there's a big stink over it on the perimeter, get it planned, get it kind of in the pipeline, and then seek to annex it into the city. And I know the troops over at BOPU are pretty concerned about it, because if it gets a little bit tight on water with curtailment being filed by Colorado and California, Arizona that's going to knock the heck out of that Colorado River Compact and that's going to cut Cheyenne's water by probably 40%. So it's a really serious problem and we have to figure out what we want to do about it. Now obviously we can't affect what goes on in the county but I think

Truthfully, it's a private property issue, but... Well, it isn't.

It isn't. I mean, zoning is a private property interest, too. I mean, that's why we... But we still zone.

So if they're doing closed-loop systems, why... What is the water consumption? Is it because they're using cooling towers for the cooling of them, or... I don't understand, if they're cooling this with closed-loop refrigeration systems or they're using Freon, where's the water consumption coming in?

First of all, there is consumption because they trade that out. Secondly, and I can't share where, but they had contamination organic contamination in the purple water in Cheyenne that had to be shut down because of the toxicity of the water that went into that system.

Is it because they're cooling with groundwater?

It was in the pipes. It was in the pipes that they were using. Somehow the microbes got into the pipes and There is a certain amount of trade-off. I mean, that water to some degree gets traded into the system. Is there evaporation loss? Yeah, just because there's just a natural certain amount of water that gets lost in the process.

I guess I don't understand why they're not just using commercial refrigeration like the Walmart frozen food center, that's all done with ammonia. All of the cooling is. So why aren't the data centers using closed-loop ammonia systems for the cooling instead of groundwater or whatever it is, or cooling towers? I guess I would like to know why they're needing to consume water at all.

Well, that's kind of what we're looking at.

I think from my perspective, I need a lot more information before I would head down any path of regulatory action on a data center one way or the other. I think there's a lot of unknowns. I think there are a lot of unknowns, and I also think there are a lot of people crying boogeyman right now, so it's really hard to discern what's real and what's not. making a knee-jerk reaction feels like a bad move.

Well, I think there's a difference between setting up a regime in anticipation that there might be an application or a request and taking a negative position on that. I mean, setting up the regulatory system is neutral. But not having one is not neutral. I think that's all my point was. I mean, here's the question. If somebody comes in and says they need X number of acre feet of water, do we have the ability to say, no, thank you, or do we have to provide it?

I think if we're talking about X number of acre feet of water, I think then that's one of those things that we can't, I don't know that I would say just if we're concerned about water, I don't, I personally wouldn't say data centers, no, but other things, yes. Like it would have to be like an across the board. Of course. I don't know, if someone wanted to have a water park and they... I mean, I think there are all of these.

Yeah, probably a more relevant example would be, and we ran into this with a feedlot in Carpenter a couple years ago. They're bottomed out on their well. Carpenter can't go any deeper. And, you know, there was an application were in a control area, they wanted a commercial, a number of commercial wells, and Carpenter had no choice but to resist that application with the state engineer because it could be catastrophic to their water. We're on the same, we have somewhat the same problem because We've got a limited number of wells, and some of those are in the upper aquifers. Some of them are White River and deeper, Fox Hills, Lance, that kind of stuff. But if there were wells drilled, it could have an impact on our drawdown. It's just the way it is. I mean, that's just science. So all I'm saying is, I think it's something that needs to be on the radar, kind of keep, and I'm all in favor of edumacation when it comes to that sort of thing, but we've got a whole community of people, so sometimes it's difficult to, in an elected capacity to kind of, you know, divorce yourself from your own personal feelings about things and try to, you know, be in touch with what the community feels about those things. And I just think Pine Bluffs is, it could be a problem here.

Probably more from electricity than water currently, right?

Yeah, it is certainly those. To answer your question, what I understand, it is less expensive to cool with water as opposed to, say, Freon. And there's less of an environmental concern if it were to leak. And it requires less electricity to operate a water-based cooling system than it does Freon-based. So at the end of the day, it boils down. It's less expensive. That's what I was wondering, is why they didn't... On the scale they're building it, it's going to use a lot of freon and or water due to evaporative reasons.

Yeah, but you look at the frozen food center. That's an enormous amount of cooling they're doing. I mean, they're cooling that down to sub-zero temperatures, acres and acres of building that they're freezing down.

I think, at the end of the day, it's just being less expensive. And as you scale it up, it's just dramatically less expensive. So the electricity is certainly a big concern. We're concerned about the water. I don't know. We wouldn't have the power to sell a data center within our jurisdiction anyway. And it wouldn't be up to us.

No, it's going to be a county thing, but there's still going to be a nexus that exists there. And I think you guys out there at High West are possibly...

capacity is somewhere around 150 megawatt. That's our peak. And most requests are, you know, five times that or more for one customer. It's significant. Yeah.

That's all.

That's definitely a limiting factor then. I mean, if the power's not there, it's not there.

I'll go.

Okay.

The only update I have is I had a Zoom meeting with R&L Banks, our representative from there, who's helping us with the quiet zone at the railroad crossing. The railroad has sent us a new agreement, UP has, and it is now estimated at $10,000 instead of $25,000. I threw it in your council pack for you guys to look at. You don't have to make any decisions right away, but they did come down.

Good job.

It's good news.

Thank you for working on it. I appreciate all your effort on it.

I'll have you guys look at it, and then we can make a decision at a future council meeting. Thanks, Leanne. Yeah, thank you.

The thing that's frustrating to me about that is, We were all of the understanding that it was a silent crossing going in.

Exactly.

And then they come back and try to nickel and dime you to death. Yeah. My UP doesn't nickel and dime. No, they don't.

How would we pay for that?

How would we pay for that, Kim?

Kim, you're the money wizard.

We have a line item for professional services, so we would pay engineering fees out of those professional services that we have. Of course, that would eat up a good chunk of it.

It's not something we have to decide on right away. You guys can look over it and

We do have some road enhancement money remaining from our Six Penny Railroad Crossing project, and that could also cover a portion of it.

In light of the budgetary adjustments we've had to make regarding utilities, I think we'd have to have strong sentiment from the community to justify this.

I would tend to agree with that, Dave.

We can absolutely send out an electronic survey, like through SurveyMonkey or something like that, out to the public and see if we can get some feedback that way. At least get us, you know, headed in a direction. And then we can also hold a public meeting.

Yeah, I'm sure we'd all like to see it, but it's not a small chunk of money for us, especially at this time.

Mm-hmm.

Do you have anything, Kim?

I do not.

On to announcements and meetings.

I show our next meeting is Monday, June 29th. Is that right? That sounds right.

Everyone was gone. We wouldn't have a quorum if we did it on the regular days, so we chose the 29th.

Are we having a workshop that day? I thought we would. Okay, so our workshop will be at 4.30 with the regular meeting at 6.

Okay.

Thank you.

I move to adjourn.

Second.

Hearing a motion and a second to adjourn. All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Hearing none, motion carries.

Let me just say that today.