Council - Regular Meeting

Now call the May 5th, 2026 Finance Committee meeting to order at 6:47 p.m. Consideration of claims. Chair would entertain a motion for the approval of claims.

Your honor, consideration of claims to be paid in the amount of $86,8408. Payroll and liabilities for 4172026 and payroll for 512026 in the amount of 525,646.93 for a total of 1,332,4871. That was a lot to say. Just saying. A second. I have a motion by Councilwoman Johnson and a second by Councilwoman Brothers to recommend consideration of claims to be paid in the amount of $86,840 payroll and liabilities for April 17th 2026th and May 1st 2026 in the amount of $525,646.93 for a total of 1,332,4871. Is there any questions, comments, or concerns before we vote?

Just real quick, may I miss Harrison? Sorry. Was that the final payment on the the street sweeper, too? Yes, Mr. Chair. I would like to draw your attention to page five of 15 in your packet to Floyd's Truck Center. It's at the very top of the page. Um there was an invoice that we are paying for $427,644 and that is for our budgeted street sweeper um that we took possession of last week and that is the full payment for the sweep sweeper hot dog. Thank you Mia. Congratulations Brendan. [laughter] That feel good. You going to take it for a cruise down Maine? [laughter]

It's been making its rounds. Nice. Looking for names. Oh, I like the dirts. It's a dirt r. [laughter] It is good. I haven't heard any of the names yet. Uh any other questions, comments, concerns? No. All those in favor say I. I. All oppose, same sign. Motion carries. Is there anything additional to come before the committee this evening? Director Harris. Mr. Terry, I have nothing. Thank you. Perfect. Without objection, we'll adjourn at 6:48 p.m.

the very least uh you can hear us and just try to be loud. If you had a flag with you, maybe you could wave it. [laughter] All right. Now call the May 5th, 2026 regular meeting of the Riverton City Council to order at 7:03 p.m. Uh, Councilman Carr, if you could lead us in the pledge of allegiance, after which uh, Councilman Larson will give us the invocation. If everyone could please rise and remove hats. [clears throat]

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. Our eternal heavenly father, we are thankful for the opportunity to be at council meeting this night and to serve the patrons of Riverton, Wyoming. We are thankful for they and their attention to our council. We're thankful for the moisture which thou has blessed us with this last week. Thankful for the opportunity to have serving people working for us, the first responders, the fire department, those people at risk. Father, we would ask that that would watch over and bless them. We would ask also that they might be watched over the military and those in harm's way. We are thankful for all our blessings, especially for freedom. And we say this humbly. name thy son Jesus Christ. Amen.

Amen. Amen. [clears throat] Thank you. Miss Harris, could you please conduct the roll call? Yes. Council member Eric Carr here. Council member Rebecca Brothers here. Council member Mike Bailey, absent. Council member Carla Borders, here. Council member Kyle Larson here. Council member Karen Johnson here. Mayor Tim Hancock, I'm here. I'd entertain a motion to excuse uh Councilman Mike Bailey from tonight's meeting. So moved. Second. Motion by Councilwoman Johnson. Second by Councilman Carr. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I.

Any oppose say nay. I vote I. Motion passes and I declare we have a quorum. I'd entertain a motion to approve the agenda as presented. There has been a request from the uh youth council to move item 16 on the agenda, which is the item they intend to uh present on to be item 15 and move item 15 to be item 16. So we'd entertain a motion in that regards. So move second. Motion by Councilwoman Brothers, second by Councilman Carr. Any other discussion? All in favor say I. I. I.

Any oppose? Say nay. I vote I. And the motion passes. Need to get you guys home at a decent hour. School tomorrow. Okay. Introduction and oath of office. Uh patrol officer. Police chief, please give us your report.

Thank you, mayor and councel. This time I ask Rebecca Neesa and her family to join me. Um, tonight Rebecca's joining our police family. Uh, she's a Wyoming native. She grew up in Casper for her first eight years. She's lived in Casper, Cody, Laramie. Uh, she's been in retail for the last uh 25 years, but she has her associates in criminology. Uh she loves to be outside hiking, camping, and she loves to travel. She's been to 37 states and has 13 more to go.

Uh she likes to read books and learn new things. Uh the last couple days, she's got to learn about electronic control devices and pepper spray. [laughter] [gasps] She's uh inherited her grandparents property here in Riverton. Uh and she's happy to call Riverton her home. And as a long tradition uh we ask for family member uh tonight Sonia, her mother to please pin the badge on Rebecca.

[applause] [applause] This time, your honor, we're ready for your oath of office. You gonna take it, too? No. Okay. But you can support her in it. That sounds great. All right. I'm gonna say I. And if you want to look at that, you can. If you want to just listen to me stumble through it, you can do that, too. After I say I, you're going to say your name and then just repeat after me. Okay. I I, Rebecca Nesa, do solemnly swear or affirm Dolemly swear or affirm that I will support, obey, and defend that I will support, obey, and defend the Constitution of the United States

the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Wyoming and the Constitution of the United States of Wyoming. the State of Wyoming. State of Wyoming. Yeah. I have not knowingly I have not knowingly violated any law violated any law related to my appointment related to my appointment nor caused it to be done by others. nor caused it to be done by others. And that I will discharge the duties And that I will just discharge the duties of my office of my office with fidelity. with fidelity. Nice job. [applause]

[applause]

Yep. Welcome aboard. Thank you. I'm glad you're here. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Congratulations. Happy to have you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Well, [snorts] welcome aboard. Oh, yeah. Just off. I know that's that's a tradition. Anytime we swear on officers, they're just like [laughter] take you away. Excited to have Officer Nester here. Uh very glad that she's willing to serve her community.

Appreciate her being willing to step up. Um sticks.

Anybody who's interested We still have some open positions. We'd love to have you. Some of you in the audience may be a little too young or a little too old depending, but uh we uh certainly appreciate everyone that's been willing to serve. All right. Well, I have three proclamations to read. And first I want to apologize uh to the missing and murdered indigenous relatives folks uh had agreed to read this proclamation at their march on Sunday and I neglected to attend and so uh we had always already planned I was going to read it here at our meeting today but um just wanted to note I apologize for the fact that I did not attend that and read the proclamation there. So, but we have three proclamations. I'm going to try to get through them pretty quickly, but uh they're important things that I think we should recognize during this week and this month. First off is a nurses week proclamation. Then we have a building safety month proclamation, which I swear sometimes comes more than once a year, but [laughter] building safety is important. And then Missing Murdered Indigenous Relatives Awareness Day. So, we'll just get through these. uh whereas registered nurses in Wyoming constitute our state's largest health care profession and whereas the depth and breadth of the registered nursing profession meets the different and emerging health care needs of the Wyoming population in a wide range of settings and whereas the Wyoming Nurses Association is the voice for registered nurses in this state is working to chart a new course for a healthy nation that relies on increasing access to primary and preventative health care and better utilization of all of our states register registered nursing resources. And whereas professional nursing is an indispensable component of the safety and quality of care of hospitalized and non-hospized patients. And whereas the demand for registered nurses are needed,

I'm sorry, the demand for registered nur nursing services will be greater than ever because of the aging of the Wyoming population, emerging health challenges, the continuing expansion of life sustaining technologies, and the explosive growth of home health care services. And whereas more qualified registered nurses are needed in the future to meet the increasingly complex needs of health care consumers in this community. And whereas the cost-effective, safe, and highquality health care services provided by registered nurses will be an increasingly important component of the Wyoming healthcare delivery system in the future. And whereas the Wyoming Nurses Association has declared May 6th through 12th, so starting tomorrow as nurses week with the theme, the power of nurses with appreciation for nurses unparalleled impact and their contributions to healthcare and o and an open invitation to hashank a nurse for enriching our lives in the world we live in. Therefore, be it. Now, therefore, I, Timothy Hancock, mayor of the city of Riverton, do hereby proclaim May 6th through 12th Nurses Week and be resolved that the residents of Riverton, Wyoming, celebrate registered nurses accomplishments and efforts to improve our health care system, and show our appreciation for the state's registered nurses, not just during this week, but at every opportunity throughout the year. and witness whereof, I have here unto set my hand and cause the official seal of the state of state city of Riverton to be affixed this fifth day of May, 2026. So, appreciate that and um appreciate all the work that nurses do in our community. I have been privileged to meet quite a few wonderful uh nurses and had family members that have been served by them. I've been served by them and appreciate their hard work every day. Um, man, they don't get enough recognition. They really don't. So, appreciate the opportunity to share that

proclamation. Next one that we have is uh building safety month. Uh, this is for May 2026. Whereas the city of Riverton, Wyoming, is committed to recognizing that our growth and strength depends on the safety and essential role our homes, buildings, and infrastructure play both in everyday life and when disasters strike. And whereas our confidence in the resilience of these buildings that make up our community is achieved through the devotion of vigilant guardians, building safety and fire prevention officials, architects, engineers, builders, trades people, design professionals, laborers, plumbers, and others in the construction industry who work year round to ensure the safe construction of buildings. And whereas these guardians are dedicated members of the International Code Council, a nonprofit that brings together local, state, territorial, tribal, and federal officials who are expert in the build environment to create and implement the highest quality codes and standards to protect us in the buildings where we live, learn, work, and play. And whereas these modern building codes and standards include safeguards to protect the public from hazards such as hurricanes, snowstorms, tornadoes, wildland fires, floods, and earthquakes. And whereas building safety month is sponsored by ICC to remind the public about the critical role of our community's largely unknown protectors of public safety, our code officials who assure us of safe, sustainable, and affordable buildings that are essential to our prosperity. And whereas built to last, the theme for building safety month 2026 encourages us all to get involved and raise awareness about building safety on a personal, local, and global scale. And whereas each year in observance of building safety month, people all over the world are asked to consider the commitment to improve building safety, resilience, economic investment at home and in the community, and to acknowledge the essential service provided to all of us by local, state, tribal, territorial, and federal building safety and fire prevention departments in protecting life and property. Now therefore, I, Tim Hancock, mayor,

city of Riverton, do hereby proclaim the month of May 2026 as building safety month. Accordingly, I encourage our citizens to join us as we participate in building safety month activities. So, we've had a couple of fires that have had some pretty significant impacts on the lives of uh individuals in our community. And um you can't prevent everything, but I will say that we have very good uh officials for the city of Riverton who try to take their job seriously as well as understanding that we need to be able to not become tyrannical, I guess, would be the word for it. Um, but uh really appreciate the hard work that goes into ensuring that our buildings here in Riverton are safe, uh, functional, and, uh, something that we can be proud of. So, uh, appreciate being able to read that proclamation. And I hope me saying it's building safety month again did not diminish that at all. [laughter] Um, I just know every year more than just about any other proclamation, this one we get every single year since I've been here and it's a good one. So, thank you to the hard work of our uh city employees every day and those around the the county as well. Last one we have uh missing and murdered indigenous relatives awareness day proclamation. Whereas the city of Riverton is located near the Wind River Indian Reservation and shares a deep and lasting connection with the eastern Shashonne and northern Arapjo peoples whose cultures, histories and lives contribute immeasurably to our community. And whereas indigenous women and girls face alarmingly high rates of violence, murder, and disappearance compared to other populations, a crisis that affects families and communities across Wyoming and the nation. And whereas Wyomi's Native American population experiences significant disparities in missing persons and homicide rates and the memory of those

who are missing or murdered must be honored through awareness, advocacy, and action. Whereas May 5th has been recognized nationally as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Awareness Day in memory of Hannah Harris, a northern Cheyenne woman murdered in 2013 and in sol solidarity with all those who seek justice and healing. And whereas the city of Riverton is committed to promoting public awareness, supporting families and survivors, and working toward justice for native communities affected by this ongoing crisis. Now therefore, be it resolved that I, Tim Hancock, mayor of the city of Riverton, do hereby proclaim May 5th, 2026 as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Awareness Day in Riverton, Wyoming, and encourage all citizens to honor the memory of those missing and murdered to support community-based solutions, and to stand in solidarity with indigenous peoples in the pursuit of justice, healing, and change. In witness whereof, I have here unto set my hand and caused the official seal of the city of Riverton to be affixed. this fifth day of May, 2026. I wish that we had someone here for this proclamation. I appreciate the years past when we've had that. I know that they had a march just on Sunday. Um, [clears throat] but it's somebody was just mentioning it to me the other day, how often we look at the newspaper or look at other news releases with [clears throat] missing people in our area and it it's not right. It's something that whatever we can do to to stem that tide, I think is important. So, appreciate the opportunity to discuss that today. All right, moving on. Uh, council committee reports and council members roundt. Um, are you with us? Uh, council uh councilwoman Borders,

I am. Can you hear me? You're still pretty quiet. Will you check to ensure that she's not on speaker phone? So, take it off of speaker phone. Are you on speaker phone, Councilwoman Borders? I am. Do you want me to turn that off? Let's see if it helps. Okay, we'll give it a shot.

So, your honor, um let's see. still meeting on the semicincentennial um activities for July 4th. We're looking for food vendors and musicians to play throughout the day and uh sell their wares. Um I also attended the Mercy House Vision dinner which was um very well attended. It was an amazing evening with uh lots of success stories and stories about their goals and um so for anyone that is willing to they sure could use some help with donations and and you can get a hold of them

and you get closer to the mic further details. Um, and then I just want to let everyone know along with my constituents that I will be out for medical um, probably for the next meeting and maybe the one after that. Just want to let you know I'll still be here and I will attend when I can. And that's all I have for the evening.

Okay. I guess for those that didn't hear it, a couple of things just was a report on the semiquincentennial. still looking for v food vendors. Opportunity to attend the Mercy House vision dinner and then said you're going to be out for medical uh I I don't want to say leave but you're going to be out you're going to be not attending the next how many meetings did you say Carla? Probably at least two. Okay. So at least for the next two meetings and you'll try to attend by phone. Yes absolutely. We'll keep working on the uh ability to hear you better here in the uh council chambers. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you for your report. That was better at the end. The thank you. Okay. Um let's go to Councilman Larson next. Uh your honor uh it's been a long time but um we were um solid waste is the last meeting that I attended and the issue was floated that we might operate the transfer station for ourselves and um that was up to negotiations and they were going to meet with the city of Riverton over that

the whole city

uh you and um uh Kyle and uh his appointed people for determining if that would be beneficial. Um it's still kind of foggy on when the solid waste will be shut down in lander. They give all kinds of um data and unfortunately since we happen to provide most of the solid waste going to that facility and ours keeps on going down in volume that doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling on their figures. So, I'm thinking that we'll be closer to instead of 28, it'll be closer to 30 before we're required to start hauling out to Sandrol. Sandrol is ready and complete. Um, but they don't want to duplicate the effort of having Lander open and Sandra open and that's the reason for hauling from Riverton to Lander.

[clears throat]

Uh the second thing um that's been going on in my mind is um we have u the dog the dog pound and [clears throat] some somehow I don't understand how we can spend so much on veterinary bills on dogs we don't own nor that we feed but we don't take care of. They're not ours. Like in $150,000 worth of vet bills. For that amount of money, you could hire your own vet and be on call 5 days a week and set up shop there. So that's that's a rub. But anyway, that's all I have to report on, your honor.

Okay. Thank you, Councilwoman Johnson. By the way, your name plate for a minute there during the uh other meeting, you were somebody else. Was I? Yeah. Yeah. Was I cool? Uh yeah, you were. You were cool. Well, that's all that matters. It was one of our youth council members, so I'll take it. Um I did not have any scheduled meetings this uh since our last meeting. I have met with several people um but not any scheduled meetings. um just working on some um research and some other things resolving some issues, but that's all I have. Nothing to report on. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Johnson. Councilman Carr.

Thank you, your honor. I had the opportunity to attend the youth council meeting on April 26th. Uh there was seven members in attendance and they did an amazing job. I was so impressed with how well they ran the meeting. They kept it to 51 minutes on the dot. Uh they went over the roundt discussions. Uh the chief gave an update on a time capsule for the quincentennial and um I provided some insight into uh volunteering. They went over their goals which I believe we'll hear about tonight. Uh the Fourth of July committee assignments, Rails to Trails, Instagram account, which I won't be viewing, and uh prioritizing service in the community. uh set up a service calendar so that people can see what they're doing and they are accepting applications for the next session of their council. So if any high schoolers are watching tonight, feel free to drop off your application. Um

we'd love to have you serve. We'd love to have you serve. Yes. Um I also traveled to Ogden this weekend by chance. We ran into the Riverton High School band who had received first uh place in their division. Uh they received a superior um rating rating. Yeah. But they did not place first. Sorry, I got that backwards. Yes. So, well done to the Riverton High School band. I was also a band member for many, many years. And that's a something to be proud of, especially when you travel out of state to a larger metropolitan area. So, and and and just remind us all, what did you play?

It was a trumpet. Okay. Just was curious. Yeah. You're going to come play for us at a meeting sometime? Negative. Okay. Well, we'll look forward to it. We'll put it on the agenda. Perfect. [laughter] Councilwoman Brothers.

Um, yeah. Thank you, your honor. Um, and thank you, um, Council Member Carr, for attending that meeting. And, um, and just as a reminder for anyone that wants to put in an application to the youth council. Um, you we accept um, homeschoolers as well. So, please, you know, don't think that you have to be at the high school and don't think that you have to be in the wards here. We can you can be outside of um the Riverton area. You just have to be in the Fremont 25 um school district area, but you don't have to be going to the school. You can be um homeschooled as well. We would love to to to have anybody. Um, and also, not only did the high school band travel last weekend, but the middle school band travel to Lagoon, and my son was on that trip, and they also got a superior rating.

Excellent.

And um, yeah, and then my son played the trombone. So, um, and they did wonderful and and their their concert was last night and it was just excellent. So, um, but I didn't I attended one meeting. I attended one of the budget planning meetings and I just wanted to say, um, to everyone [snorts] listening that I was immensely impressed by the work of our city employees. Um, and you know, Mr. Butterfield's talking right now, but I will say to to h to those three sitting right there and the chief um that you know the work that our city employees do and I know that most of Riverton doesn't even know this, but they look at every single dollar, every single tax dollar that is being spent and they make sure that that money is being carefully spent. And I really want Riverton um citizens to understand that that they are not wasteful. I mean, not even not wasteful, they are extremely careful. Um they are predigious with your money. Um and we have an amazing team. They look at grants. They look at they're just very very careful. [snorts] Um I'm so grateful for you guys. um thank you for the chance to be able to sit in on that meeting that I was able to sit in on and it just really showed me um what a great team that we have. So, thank you. Thank you, your honor.

Thank you. I appreciate it. All right, Mr. Butterfield.

Thank you, your honor. I'd like to um just segue from what Councilwoman Brother said and thank the team for their work this budget season. It seems like every budget year is challenging, but I'm so thankful to have team members that step up and do the very best that they can to serve the community and also be very fiscally responsible. Um, while the city has a large budget, I can say that every dollar is accounted for and it's going to to support services. Um, to that end, uh, we definitely want to invite the public to attend, uh, next week's work session where we will have opportunity to, um, present the budget to the council. And I I thought I'd raise the question with the council now if it's appropriate if you'd like to have that meeting at 7 o'clock or at a different time.

6 o'clock at six. Six would be fun. I like six o'clock because then everybody can go home and get food and come back and bring the food with them. No, I'm just kidding. Okay, I think we're good at six o'clock then.

Thank you, honor. So next week uh here in council chambers at 6:00 we'll have opportunity to do our budget presentation and then also the council will have opportunity to uh discuss again the community service contracts program and the um allocation of funds related to the request that you received last month. I also wanted to highlight um a few of our team members. Um, every meeting or every, excuse me, prior to every business meeting, you as a council have opportunity to review a packet that relates to not just the finance matters of the city, but also the action items that you'll be taking. And there's a lot of work that goes into those packets. And I'd like to highlight Mia's team because um, it never fails that they're waiting for someone to submit a report and get things done, but they're always very patient and they make sure that the packets get out to you as a council so that you're prepared for these meetings. So, thank you to um Max Batista because he's always the the one who's helping us quite a bit and then Rio God's helping us a lot with our finance packet and then always the leadership of Mia and and what she does as our administrative services director. So, I thought it'd be appropriate to take a quick moment to say thank you because oftentimes it it's just unsung work that we take for granted. So, thank you. Uh we will have uh no planning commission this Thursday and I'd like to announce that um while we are sad to move on from Christy Peterson and her role as a um building technician, we will have a new person filling that role starting next Wednesday and we're excited to welcome them. There will be an airport board this upcoming Friday and then also a fix our road citizen committee meeting um this upcoming Monday. and want to express gratitude to our community for the patience that they have as they see uh detours and other impacts to their regular commutes as we are improving the

infrastructure. We know it's frustrating, but we encourage folks to be patient because uh while it's an inconvenience, it also means that we're improving Riverton and um progress is a good thing even if it provides a little pain for a short period of time. I experienced that on Monday as I forgot about the closure and um taking my kids to Willow Creek and um we were pretty close to being late. So it it cut close. So I just appreciate the patience of the community on that. Um, as reported in our finance meeting, uh, the long awaited procurement of the street sweeper is here and, um, our residents will have been able to see it working already in the community. And I do believe, uh, the public works department and Mr. Tolman are soliciting names for that new street sweeper. And, um, I've provided a few, but, I don't know if they're as creative as maybe what the community can come up with.

Oh, I I want to hear them. I saw some of them in the report. Um, Dirt Reynolds is a classic. Oh, that's great. One of the best. We need to give it like a mustache though of some sort.

I wish I could take credit for it, but um when Brendan asked for names, I pulled up Google and asked them to help me out. So, at any rate, we're glad to have that improvement. Also, uh the drinking fountain that you as a council prioritized, especially with your community gas grant funds, is underway right now in City Park. Um that it should be completed in the near future, and we're excited for that improvement. There are two bids out currently for uh upcoming improvements. One is the slurry seal project that is supported by the optional 1% tax that will provide necessary pavement preservation to several streets throughout Riverton. And then also there is uh an advertisement for a fixed base operator um who will provide fueling services at the airfield and uh work through some of those u services provided to both commercial and general aviation operations. I want to note that um while the public was able to observe that um the Verizon lease for the tower that's located on Griffy Hill um was not successfully negotiated before it was expired. Um Verizon has recently reached out to the city and is very interested in recommencing negotiations and um if the council is immunable to that, we'd be happy to bring back this opportunity for reconsideration um as new representatives with Verizon are are interested in ensuring that that um asset remains in place for them. Uh a few items just to close on relate to the police department. um BNSF um was able to provide a $5,000 grant to the city of Riverton to help support a vehicle replacement um for our community service officer. And then really want to say thank you to um Casper and the Troan County because um they have provided

$8,000 worth of equipment and um about $2,600 in cash to support a new program that the chief of police is working on, which is our police cadet program. This is a great opportunity to engage our youth in the community and expose them to um a career in law enforcement and also provide service and support to their community. We we anticipate that this program will be up and running by June and the chief will have a meeting tomorrow in fact with some of the um future cadets. And with that, your honor, I'd like to turn the remainder of the time to the chief. Um this uh last week we had some um challenging things that one of these times I'm not going to tear up over something like this, but um our community has gone through some hardship recently and I appreciate the efforts of our first responders across the board um for the way that they responded to that and I think it's appropriate to turn it over to the chief now.

Thank you, Mr. Butterfield. Chief,

thank you, Mayor. Uh, as everyone's aware, the last couple weeks we've had three house fires in our community. The most tragic struck last Thursday at about 1:30 p.m. on Thursday. Uh, our dispatch center was inundated with 91 calls reporting a house fire on Persian and North Broadway. Uh our first officers respond respond and arrived within a minute of the initial call. Uh there met with neighbors that were at the residence. Uh luckily the uh the neighbor who is a relative, the uncle of two children that were later found uh or helped bring out two children uh was able to bring them out. The neighbors uh and family were frantic and reporting that uh there was several other people still inside the house. Uh the house was fully uh charged with smoke uh flames inside. Uh officers tried to go in through the front door. Uh it was too hot to go in through the front. They went to a side window where the children uh tried to escape and had partially collapsed outside halfway hanging out the window. And that's where uh the uncle was able to uh help along with uh another passer by to rescue the two young children and get him out of the house. Um officers tried to make entry into the back of the

house. Uh they were frantically trying to get to reports of other children still inside the house. Um ultimately they spent about 10 minutes inside the smoke filled house uh crawling through trying to find the children. Uh the call was assisted by the Fremont County Sheriff's Office. Uh obviously Riverton Fire Protection District, Fremont County Fire Protection District, um former uh city employee and neighbors and other people that helped during this tragic event. Uh ultimately uh Macy Bolsby was uh found after our firemen tried to uh they went through the flames. Uh was able to bring her outside. She was transported to a local hospital along with the two children. Uh she was ultimately pronounced deceased at the hospital. The two children are still, from what I understand, undergoing several surgeries for burns all over their bodies. And the fire is still under investigation as [snorts] uh the state is assisting on uh helping find the cause of this fire. Your honor, uh we would like to come before the council soon uh once we can uh gather everyone that did help at this uh tragic event. Uh it's not so much as what they did or what they didn't do as what were they willing to do that day. Um, as as I said, the the fires are still under investigation.

Um, there'll be more announced later, but I think a common theme is have smoke detectors. Um, I can't overemphasize that a total of uh 10 police department employees are involved in either entering into the burning building or uh caring for the the children. With that, your honor, I'll kind of be limited and like to come at a later time to fully recognize uh appropriately recognize all those that helped that day. I appreciate it, Chief. Thank you. I guess keep us updated as to how things go. We'll make sure we're praying for the kids and everybody affected by it. But certainly appreciate the quick action of our uh police department, fire department, everybody that was involved. And I know citizens that were involved in helping out and getting that notified and everything. So,

yes, your honor, but we'll look forward to hearing a full report later and recognition for those who are involved. So, yes, thank you.

Um, I have my comments then to make. Uh, was able to recently recognize Arbor Day. Uh we had the um uh tree board that had decided some locations to plant some trees in JC Park. Um something I look forward to every year. Enjoyed uh participating in that. Read a proclamation for that. Those things are required for us to remain a Tree City USA. uh also had the chance to attend the Boys and Girls Club recognition for um Cody and Crystal Meyers and uh gee, that was just a a great event, a well attended and appreciated the opportunity to speak about them. Uh Cody Myers was a long time uh SRO for Riverton, so I think we're going to take credit for some of his recognition for employing him. I I don't I'm just kidding. But um Cody and Crystal are excellent people who have done a lot for the youth in our uh community both of course as an SRO here and Shosonyi and um also with the uh program that he does with rodeo for youth which has been incredible. I think also had the opportunity to attend a region 4 virtual meeting um just recently. Region 4 for WHAM. A lot of different things going on with the legislature there. Good opportunity to attend with them. [clears throat] Uh we do have a if you recall I'm on the WHAM board. So we have a meeting next week over in Lander. Next week the week after I'll have to look at my calendar. It's coming up. So, um going to be attending that and we'll keep you posted as to anything

that comes out of that. Uh also had the opportunity to attend [snorts] uh the yesterday all the academic awards for a lot of our uh Riverton High School students. Was a lot of fun. uh got to see a lot of students I know and some students who are here in the audience right now who received recognition for things like an academic letter that kind of thing. So congratulations to you. Well done. And there may or may not be recognition deserved for our uh Riverton Youth Council chair who was recently recognized for academic all-American which if you're familiar with that is the top one to two% of uh students uh in the United States that get recognized for that. And so very proud of Royce Hancock who is probably texting me right now.

Yep.

Um [laughter] very proud of him for receiving that recognition and proud of everyone who's uh who's been working very hard for the high school and and uh we have some great students. All right, we'll move on. Uh citizens comments right now. Anyone in the audience wishing to address the council regarding an item that's scheduled for a public hearing will be given an opportunity during that public hearing to speak. If there's something that's not scheduled for a public hearing, um you could come up and speak now. It's as you like. Even if it's not scheduled for a public hearing, I try to give people an opportunity to come up and speak. It's we don't I guess stand by a lot of ceremony when it comes to making sure that people can be heard. It has always not it's always made sense to me to have people come up when an agenda item is called rather than making you come up now. So, if there's an agenda item you want to speak about, just get my attention. I'll let you speak then. If there's something that's not on the agenda that you want to speak about, this would be the time to come up and address the council. Um, in either event, we'd ask that when you come up to the mic, say your name, tell us any organization that you're with. Um if you're a part of a group uh you can speak but split up the time with your group to take no longer than 10 minutes and as an individual take no longer than five minutes but in either event uh would ask you to avoid keep decorum as we might usually call it during the meeting please. So address all comments and questions to me that's just parliamentary procedure. uh refrain from uh making comments of a personal nature regarding another person's character, conduct, personal criticism, ridicule, name calling, that sort of thing. Avoid fighting words, other language that might be disruptive to the meeting. And uh if you're going to speak during an agenda item, please keep your comments directed to that agenda item

and don't go off track. So, if you want to speak, right now would be the time. We'll give you five minutes for it. We've got a timer here that you'll be able to keep track of your time and I'll let you know when it's over if you want. Um, but you could also speak during the time and agenda item is called. So, if you'd like to come up, please come up now or wait until a little later if you want. Okay. I don't see anyone rushing the podium. Next up, we have our consent agenda. Uh, Miss Harris, could you please read the consent agenda items?

Yes, your honor. Minutes of the April 21st, 2026 regular council meeting. Minutes of the May 5th, 2026 finance committee meeting. Finance committee recommendations from May 5th, 2026 municipal court report for the month of April 2026. And Councilman Carr, if you could give us your recommendation from the finance committee. Thank you, your honor. Uh the finance committee met at 6:47 this evening and recommend consideration of claims to be paid in the amount of $86,000800 $86,8408. Payroll and liabilities for April 17th and May 1st 2026 in the amount of $525,646.93 for a total of 1,332,4871.

All right. I'd entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. So moved. Second. Councilman Larson with the motion. Councilwoman Johnson with the second. Any discussion. Are you still with us? Councilwoman Borders. I'm here. Okay. All in favor say I. I. I. Any oppose say nay. I vote I. Motion passes. real estate services contract agreement. Mr. Butterfield, how about you tell us about this item?

Thank you, your honor. This is a followup to um an item from your last meeting. Um HomeSource Realy was selected u to provide professional real estate services to the city of Riverton. Um they have provided a contract for your consideration. That contract um is very similar to the uh just recently expired contract. It will run for four years and um staff does recommend that you approve this and the mayor be authorized to execute it. We do have a representative from Home Source Realy here if you do have questions, but it is staff's recommendation that you move forward with this contract.

Thank you. I'd entertain a motion to approve the agreement with Home Source Realy for Professional Real Estate Services and authorize uh myself to execute the contract. So moved. Second. All right. Councilman Larson with the motion. Councilwoman Brothers with the second. Any other discussion? You have anything to say, Mr. Pipla? Go ahead and come on up. Yeah, your honor. Do we have any problems with agency on this? George

um George Pipla Home Source Realy. So, under this listing, we're you're you're we're the sellers agent. So, we represent the city. We're proud to do that. Mayor, your honor, thank you. Council, thank you. Staff, thank you. This is the third term of this listing and started, I don't know, 8 10 years ago with 20ome lots and then 18 and then 16 and nine. We're down to the final four lots. So, hopefully that will get that done in this time. They're all on Piper Drive. They're all pretty much similar size. We did write make a recommendation in your new listing to drop one of the lots down in value a little bit because it has a bigger easement and encroachment in it to make them all the very same basic square foot price. So, but we just mostly wanted to say thank you for the opportunity and we're proud to be a part of the working with the city.

Appreciate your hard work with it. Thank you. Yep. Thank you. Keep it up. Anything else? All right. All in favor say I. I. Any oppose? Say nay. I vote I. Motion passes. All right. Next up, because we are going out of order from what was printed in the agenda and I modified it a little bit. We've got the Riverton Youth Council fiscal year 27 goals. Hold on before you all come up here. Let Mr. Mr. Butterfield, introduce it real quick and then you can invade. Go ahead, Mr. Butterfield.

Your honor, I'll be very brief. Um, we're so thankful for the youth council members and uh for what they do for our community and um every time I attend a meeting with them, I find myself energized and I enjoy being in their presence. In March of 2026, the youth council participated in a facilitated working session led by our very own Gary Misho, our community development director. And um from that facilitated working session, the council focused on identifying priorities and refining the mission for the council and establishing actionable goals into the upcoming fiscal year. Following that session, the youth council met several times and uh honed down what they have finalized as their fiscal year 27 goals. And with that, I think they could speak better on behalf of the goals that they would like to communicate to you. So, thank you your honor and we appreciate what they are doing.

All right, sounds good. And I guess you want to come up and speak, right? Okay. How about you come on up then? [clears throat] As you come up, if we could have one of you just introduce everyone there and then uh this this looks like this looks like our full council. We're missing We're missing some people. We're missing Brook Brown and Yep. TK and Tyranny. Tyranny. Yeah. And Tyranny. Yes. And by the way, she was recognized last night, too.

All right. So, um, it is pretty much everybody. There's We have Braden Thcker. Almost forgot my name. I almost did too, Braden. So, it's [laughter] Oh. Oh. Um, Aurora Baldesk, Capri Miller, Caitlyn Bower, James Pearson, Hunter Masters, and Danny. And we've all we're we have this big thing. So, it's kind of like your list here, except it's it's better. And [laughter] just kidding. Um, and so we kind of split it up. So, uh, we'll just go down and I think Aurora, do you want to start us off?

Okay. So, one of the first goals that we wanted to really prioritize was our public engagement. And I'm the public relations officer for the youth council. So, with public relations, we had like three main ideas with that. So, increase youth council visibility on like social media and local media. So, maintaining consistent presence on like our social media platforms. So, our Instagram, which has been definitely a little bit of a struggle, but so far we're doing pretty good and we're definitely kind of getting into the groove of that. And then sharing information with County 10 and the ranger uh for like relevant information like we did that with snow angels and we've done it a couple of times kind of just like making sure that we're continuing that. And then this is kind of like a new one that we want to implement which is focusing on clear recognizable sorry focus on clear um messaging about what we are for youth council kind of just like better advertising especially on that social media and trying to get in new members. We also wanted to regularly share updates events and accomplishments. So, kind of just like almost what I mentioned earlier, kind of just like using our Instagram and like the ranger and that sort of thing to keep updates about what we're doing, highlighting the activities that we're doing and like how kind of just our outcome, like what we're actually doing, our impact, and then keeping everything kind of simple, timely, consistent, so that people can understand quickly and easily. And then creating opportunities for community feedback and youth input. So um this is also kind of like a new idea for our Instagram. So making it more accessible for people to give us their input specifically youth uh kind of just like their ideas and encourage community engagement through that and then yeah use that feedback to guide us for future goal setting meetings and just like our year.

Thank you Miss Baldez.

Okay. So our next biggest one that we were talking about was to promote youth community service which um I had presented this idea. I'm the community engagement coordinator. So my whole job kind of revolves around bringing youth council out into the community and making sure that the community knows about us uh specifically through service. So we had uh like three main like points around it. It was develop a centralized calendar of community service opportunities in partnership with local nonprofit service groups in Riverton High School. So currently we have a calendar that I've made for just the youth council where I've been keeping track of some projects that we've done like rotary cleanup and ball guns and badges and that's where we put down volunteers. So then in I if I ever need to like give people headc counts then I can put the headcount on uh send it out. Uh, I think in the future we are trying to like through our social media we're going to like kind of send out things are like, "Oh, this is a great service opportunity so other youth can get involved outside of just us." And then our other part was track and promote volunteer hours and participation among Riverton youth council members. So, right now I have a log that's active and it has all of our names on it and then it has like our events that we have done and are doing. And then we just put down the amount of hours that we're in it and it's going to like total up our amount of hours. And we're trying to make sure that our council is very active in serving our community. And part of that is keeping track of it. And then we're probably going to just like encourage each other to do it by keeping track of that and seeing who can get the most. So maybe a little like friendly competition amongst all of us. So and there might be a little special treat at the end that I might give someone for the most. Yeah, we don't know for sure about that yet. But and then it says increase youth council involvement in ongoing and one-time service projects. So that would be things like the Rotary cleanup, making sure that we can continue to do that because that was a really great thing for us to do. and then just future projects that we can be involved in and just really make sure that the community

knows about us and knows that we are very willing to help out and serve. Are you keeping track of service hours? I know that sometimes for scholarships, different things like that, it's helpful to have service hours. Yeah, that's that's what our log has right now. So, um not everyone has used it so far. We're still kind of like it's like active, but we just need to get better about using it right now. But yeah, we do have that and it's in our drive and it has all of the events and hours. So,

and your honor, they're what they'd like to do is when they present at the end of the year, they want to kind of just break it down, not per person. They don't want to call anybody out like, you know, James didn't do any any um service, which is he does a lot, so that's why I can call him out for that. But, you know, they want to say like in total, you know, the youth council did this many hours. They want to be able to say that. There's no requirement. And that's what I love about it because they're able to to just do this of their own free will, you know, um and then they they can say at the end of the year they can say this is how many hours in total they want to be able to present that to you. So that's one of the reasons why you know that we're doing it.

Good. And what was your name, young lady? Capri Miller. I know that, but I just She's joking because that's who you were early. [laughter] That's who That's who uh Councilwoman Johnson was earlier. She represented you. Well, I just wanted to make sure that people who are listening know who you are. So, okay. [laughter] Aurora did very well at introducing herself when she came up.

Oh, sure. Okay. [laughter] Um, yeah, I'm I'm James Pearson. She's my mom. She's awesome. Uh, another thing is Well, we all like field trips, right? Yeah, we all like field trips. Okay. So we were planning a field trip to uh Cheyenne. So like to learn go and learn about government and stuff like that because why not? Government's cool. Um and just uh prepare ourselves to go engage in this experiment uh exper experience and have fun learn about government uh field trips because they're cool. Uh that's that's about it for this because it's uh here it says make a formal budget request to city administrator Butterfield. I don't know much about that.

Well, I like her honor. I'll fill in. Let's tag team. Okay. Um stay up there. Okay.

One of the great things that you know Gary had this good idea. So one of the our goals for doing you know youth council is to make sure that we have this group of future leaders because you know one day we aren't going to be here and they will and they're they get this chance to learn about civic engagement. What is it like you know what is it like at the capital and then what is it like to put in a formal budget request to do this? And so that's one of the things we thought that they could do. So they've already worked with um Representative Larson. And next on the list um young Mr. Masters over there has this idea we're going to be working with um Reed Ras Rner Rasner Rasner who's running for um Congress. And one of the things the kids are going to talk to him about is like because it's an election year, what's it all about running for office? Because guess what? Some of you are going to do that now that you're kind of on track learning about civic engagement. So all of this, you know, with with Gary and Kyle and Reed and everything is all about, you know, one of the main goals of Riverton Youth Council, which is civic engagement. So there you go, Mr. Pearson.

Or or or if that was confusing, field trip. [laughter] Okay. Okay. So the the the request will be though for that field trip to be paid by the city. Is that what the formal budget request would be then? Probably. That would be a yes, your honor. Yes, your honor. I appreciate that you're here, Mr. Pearson. You were here before anybody else was [snorts and laughter] because mom was. Okay. Anything else? No. Okay. Thank you. Who's up next?

Good even Excuse me. I had to do a lot this evening. Good evening, council members. My name is Danny Herb. I've been I'd say the odd duck out of everyone. Uh we're of the other goals is to engage younger children into civics. Um, I don't know about any of these guys because, you know, they're pretty awesome at, you know, government and civics, but I have had this huge fear of like not fear, but anxiety about government, civics, whatnot, because I didn't understand it. So, we were hoping to create opportunities to introduce children like middle school, maybe even younger into civics and give get them into just more of like community involvement to see how a chamber such as this is run and understand that it's not as taunting as it may look sometimes. But yeah, just kind of help them in understand what chambers like this do, what how they're run, and just overall hoping to give them a pathway into government and civics just like we've been given this opportunity to be in civics and government. Yeah,

that's pretty much it. Appreciate it. Any questions for Miss Herb? Thanks, Danny. Thank you for not calling me Britney. You're welcome. [laughter] I know that's your sister. Hi, my name's um Brain Therm I've been with the youth council for a little bit now. I'm actually the newest member member as most of you know. Um [snorts] [clears throat] um we want to form a uh library youth council committee which we um have and we've been working towards um getting in more connection with them and specifically with

[snorts]

um our entire plan is to engage students within Riverton High School within the Riverton uh branch library since they have a lot of room, they have a lot of potential and um we want to um harvest that because we want to engage the youth once more into um the community of Riverton. Um um there's many different um events um from existing clubs we could do. Um new clubs we could create um during our most recent library meeting. Um some of the people on the current library committee did mention um different clubs. I think James mentioned a Lego robotics club if I'm right. Um, and just many other great ideas. Um, and I think this this is something moving towards. Um, people in this town always say like there's nothing to do. We have nothing to do here. We're so bored. Um, and now we're going to give them something to do, especially within uh, youth specifically. Um, and so if they say that there's nothing to do in Riverton, then it's just a hole that they dig dug themselves. So, um, [snorts] it's not aggressive. [laughter] It's very passive. We're supportive. It's okay. So, it's okay to not have anything to do. So, but overall we just want to do this because we want to engage the youth once more within um the Riverton community and we can do that very efficiently by creating new clubs, creating new organizations that um the branch library has a lot of opportunity and they have money on the table to be able to do that. So, that'll be something very useful. Are there any questions about that or

I don't think so. Thank you, Mr. You could have gone to the other side.

Hello, I'm Caitlyn Bower and as the secretary of the youth council, I've noticed while creating my minutes that there are certain parts of our meetings that could very much be improved. So, I thought of the idea of a goal is creating more efficient meetings. So it helps us get through our agenda items because I've definitely noticed at some points our roundt is very long and it should definitely be shortened. So it gives more time to the agenda items and especially as we grow as a youth council we will be a part of more projects and we able and we will be able to help more. So we should have more time set aside to discuss that instead of it all being spent on things that don't necessarily need that time. So, I think it will definitely help to run more efficient meetings so we can establish like time limits like what you guys have and so then we're mirroring the council even more which I think will definitely be very helpful.

Thank you. Appreciate it. Any questions? You do good work. I will tell you I've attended your meetings and I think it's very solidly one hour. I I think that efficiency is great, but I don't know if you've attended any of our meetings until the end. [laughter] We've sometimes been here since midnight or till midnight. Um, but it's a good goal and if you don't set a goal, you're not going to keep it, right? So, good deal. Anything else?

Not particularly. Um, I'm not sure if you guys have received official copies of this. If so, we might get a hold of that later. Do you have like We have it in our packet. Okay. Mhm. Okay. We've been following along. Putting little notes in where there's additions. But did you catch the part about the field? [laughter] We got it. Okay. Came here to beg you for money. [laughter] So,

no, we're not. One of the biggest things is that technically this really isn't like a final draft. I mean it could be but it's kind of what we wanted to be as a final draft. Moreover, uh but it was really up for a lot of consideration. Like if there was anything you guys would want to tweak, then that's also something that uh we would most definitely invite you guys to do. I think these areas are great areas to be in. I the only thing that I would say is it's a it's a lot to be working on at the same time, but we also know that from experience because We tend to set a lot of goals, too, and they get hard. So,

you're I I don't know. Does anyone have any suggestions or anything? I I mean, we could we could vote to approve the goals or we could just say they sound great. I think you being a body yourselves, there's no reason that we would have to approve them if you want to have them. They're your goals. if if we think they're taking you somewhere drastically off task. I mean, we don't want to have the Riverton Youth Council just be a service club. I appreciate that you're doing a lot of service and that's excellent. I think civic engagement, as Councilwoman Brothers said, is is the goal, but

service is a part of civic engagement. So, and I think the idea of keeping track of ours is excellent. Um, any other feedback?

I've got some if I can, and it's I appreciate what you guys are doing. Um, and I think you're doing a good job at it. If I could offer any advice at all, professionalism and quorum, professional dress is important and it's probably something um that can be looked at, reviewed. Um, it makes what you're presenting and what you're asking for seem um more reachable, if that makes sense. So you I I that's some advice that I would give you. Um, I would say as far as funding goes, until it's a little bit more stable and putting them in that kind of position, I wouldn't I I wouldn't I want them to learn before they put themselves in those positions to go. What am I trying to say? When you can prevent when you can present yourself in a little bit more professional manner, I think that you will get more out of it. Does that make sense? I'm not trying to be critical. I'm just trying to give some good advice. That's it.

Your honor, I will say brothers, every single one of them knows how to dress professionally, right? speech and debate every weekend. Yep. They know how to do it.

Doing it, you know, making sure they do it is important. And knowing when to do it is important, but every single one of them has a suit dress. Caitlyn's doing it right now, you know, but um [laughter] every single one of them knows how to do it. And a lot of times when you guys do show up, you're wearing like a lot of times, yes, you are showing up. I noticed dressed appropriately. I know a lot of you were coming from different things tonight, so that was an issue. Um because I got emails and stuff saying, "Oh, oh my gosh, we're gonna be like late." But so I know that was an issue, but every single one of you knows how to do it. So that is um the knowledge is there. So,

and I will say we appreciate a little bit of the the levity, the the jovial nature of the of the council, but I will say there's definitely a time for it and a time not, right? and we all know that. So, um, good feedback. Appreciate it. Uh, Councilman Carr,

thank you, your honor. Uh, just real quick, um, I attended your last meeting as some of you were there and I was exceptionally impressed. Uh, the meeting went well. Um, your discussion was very pointed and direct. Um, so well done. Excellent job. I'm super happy uh with all of the ideas that have been presented. Um, one of my only suggestions would be start reading the code maybe to see what uh what things you'd like to see changed in in state or in state statute. Well, do that too. But uh in city ordinance, maybe there there are things that uh you know you would like to see changed for future generations. So look into that. And then on your goals, it's always beneficial to at least have a quarterly review of that. uh what gets measured gets improved. So if you can go back quarterly and say how did we do on goal 1 2 3 4 5 six uh that's always a a fantastic idea. But again uh can't say enough I will steal Mr. Butterfield's uh word when he said energized after the meeting. It was exceptionally uh fun to to look back on that experience and all of your discussions. So, thank you very much. Well done. Thank you.

Okay. Oh, and your honor, on that note, Gary said that we will be putting the um goals on every single agenda. That's one of the things that we will be doing so that um they review those every single time. So, you are correct on that. Um so, so that they can look at that every single time. How are we doing? How are we doing? Um, so thank you for bringing that up.

Well, you are definitely, and I said this when I swore you all in, right? You're framing what you're going to be doing going forward. You're uh figuring it out. You're setting the tone for the future for what this council is going to look like, and you've been setting a pretty good tone for it. So, would definitely encourage you to keep it up. All right. Um, do we want a motion to approve this or just kind of let them adopt it? I mean, do it. The point is I think the point of presenting it to us is to make sure we don't have any issue with it in terms of the direction they're going. So, we don't have any issue with where they're wanting to go, then go

go for it. Well, thank you guys so Okay. All right, council people. All right. Thank you, young ladies and young men, and thank you for introducing yourselves to us again. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you. All right, we're at 8:15. Our next item is the utility item. Um, we have kids that have early bedtimes. I'm just kidding.

Um, why don't we go ahead and take a quick break? 8:16 8:25. Is that long enough, you think? Okay, let's go ahead and be in recess until 8:25. All right, we're at 8:25 back from recess. Next item on the agenda is a previous item 15, now 16, but on your agenda it's item 15. Um, public hearing and consideration of resolutions 1549, 1550, 1551, utility rate adjustments. Mr. Mr. Butterfield, if you could please uh tell us about this item.

Yes, your honor. Thank you. And I'm happy to also involve members of our team because um they've put a lot of work towards this. Um each year by Riverton Municipal Code, the city council has opportunity to review and discuss the utility rates that um are assessed for the support of our enterprise funds. That's what you have opportunity to do tonight. Um in working with members of our team um it is proposed through resolutions uh 1549,550 and 1551 to increase the current utility uh rates by 2.5%. Um with that brief overview I would like to defer to Miss Harris who has done a lot of work on this and I think it's appropriate that she um has opportunity to speak on it as well.

Thank you Miss Harris please.

Thank you. Um I I wanted to just clarify a little bit about um the utilities. Uh the water, sewer, and sanitation fund operate as enterprise funds, meaning that they're not supported by tax revenue. So often we hear I pay my taxes and this is what what some folks understand this to cover. um much of the instead the costs are funded through user fees which must cover operations, maintenance, um ongoing capital purchases um and and and also debt service coverage. Um so it's just a long-term system investment um is as part of what we use to generate our rates and determine our rates. Uh regular rate reviews are an important part of remaining a healthy b keeping a healthy balance and our last rate adjustment occurred in April of 2025. Um the city continues to face significant capital demands across all three systems. Much of our infrastructure is aging under sized and constructed with outdated materials and several projects are either underway or planned in the next upcoming budget years. Since July of 2022, the city has invested over $ 8.4 million in utility infrastructure with an additional $42 million in needs anticipated through 2032. Uh our funding partners have consistently communicated to us that um incremental rate adjustments are critical to remaining competitive for grant and loan opportunities. as well. Much of our infrastructure is covered through both grant and loan and uh they've definitely stressed that uh we need to make sure that we're being proactive and keeping our rates consistent to keep up with our facilities. While the enterprise funds remain stable for day-to-day operations, the ongoing capital pressures, particularly in water and wastewater, um make continued moderate rate moderate rate increases necessary. Included in

your packet this evening is a history of prior rate adjustments, the proposed changes by meter and container size, and sample billing impacts. The proposed 2 and a.5% increase would take effect with the May 2026 billing cycle. For the average customer, this represents an increase of approximately 64 cents per month for water, 52 cents for wastewater, and 87 cents for sanitation for a total monthly impact of about $28 plus any usage based charges that they may have. [snorts] Based on the fiscal year 26 projections, the proposed adjustments are expected to generate approximately $77,000 in the water fund, $67,000 in wastewater, and $64,000 in the sanitation fund annually. With that, staff would recommend approval of the 2 and 12% increase for all three funds. And I would be happy to answer any further questions you may have.

Thank you. Um, Miss Harris, if you could though, uh, before you get too far away, [laughter] read resolutions uh, 1549, 1550, and 1551 by title only. Yes, your honor. Public hearing. Proposed resolution number 1549, a resolution adjusting the amount of user fees for the city of Riverton water system. Proposed resolution number 1550, a resolution adjusting the amount of user fees for the city of Riverton wastewater system. and proposed resolution number 1551, a resolution adjusting rates for the collection and disposal of garbage, rubbish, and debris. Thank you. I'd entertain a motion to open the public hearing. So moved. Second.

Motion by Councilman Larson, second by Councilman Carr. All in favor say I. I. I. Any oppose? Say nay. I vote I. Motion passes. I declare the public hearing open. Hearing will be conducted in accordance with state statutes, other applicable laws. Ask individuals wishing to address the council approach the podium. Identify yourself for the record. Is there anyone in the audience wishing to speak? Seeing none, your honor, I'd move to close. I think we do have someone. Oh. Oh, holy cow. Good. Try not to jump the gun.

Evening, council. Chancy, local citizen. Uh I was here last year, spoke briefly last week or two weeks ago uh when the agenda item was moved. Uh last year we had a conversation and my followup that I have for you this year is pertains to that question which was how many projects did we have open at that time and how many projects do we have open now? Are we making progress or are we falling behind?

Appreciate it. Um, I don't know if we'd want to do this after the motions or do we want to just do this now. I I'm I'm good either way. It probably makes sense while you're up here. If you could let us know kind of where we're at with projects that are open and I mean what what sort of difference did the increase last year make is I think one of the questions we have.

Your honor, I can answer or help to answer that question. Um, in the the sanitation fund is one of the simplest ones. Um, obviously there was a street sweeper that was purchased in that fund, but there are nine projects that were undertaken in that fund for a total of 520,000 in capital projects last year. The sewer and water fund um if you combine them because some of those projects are in sewer and water similar to the spruce street um project which takes care of sewer um sewer lines and water lines in the interse um a lot of which is grant funded. But between those two projects, um there's 20 26 total or two funds, excuse me. There's 26 total projects um that are being undertaken currently. Um the total um cost in those projects and some will carry into the next fiscal year, but um some are work or have been um com will be completed in this last fiscal year, but there's um just over $5.9 million worth of projects. Um that's matched with uh only $1.1 million of city funds. It's about a five a five times increase on on the city funds to uh what what kind of projects are undertaken. Um I mentioned the spruce street project. Um the city is going out to procure a new hydrovac excavation truck. Uh this truck also is used to um clean uh sewer systems throughout the city which uh we're asked to uh clean every seven years um as we kind of rotate through the city. So, this is over $650,000 um piece of equipment, and the city is uh matching um uh SRF funding with a 25% grant on the funding um and then would be able to pay that over a 10-year um time period, too. So, just one other project we're undertaking. There are some others I can list off as well, so if that helps. And then uh what are some of the plans I

guess this upcoming year that we have going on?

Absolutely, your honor. In the upcoming year, one of the larger projects will be the West Main Street water line project. It's just over two miles of of water line that will be repaired. Um this is a project that was identified with the master plan in 2024. Um this is a water transmission mainline. Um these transmission main lines um are are are enabled to be funded through Wyoming water development which funds these project at 5050%. Um excuse me. And so this project is is around an $8 million project. Um with that master plan, then it did recommend that we have over in just the water side. Um for instance, we do have over 100 miles of water line, 103 miles. And um with new materials, the uh the length of a of a water line that goes into the ground, the the useful life is about 100 years. So, if you figure you replace those 103 miles in 100 years, you need to replace about a mile water line a year. Um, we're a little behind um because we do have some older um lines in the ground such as transite um cast iron that's been around for over 80 plus years and it's failing uh daily. So, um we've gone down in the last 5 years from about eight breaks per year to about three or four breaks per year that we're able to take care of. Um and that's because we've been a little bit more preventative on um um taking care of a lot of the water lines that have broken in the past. So um that's one project. Uh other projects include uh the wastewater treatment plant. We'll we'll get a new um UV room plus a new clarifier. Um this is about a $2.8 million project. $2.6 million of that is grant funded and not u matched by city funds. Um there's the uh um so a couple other items there too. I just have a

list in front of me and some of these um um so the water treatment plant um has a um the water treatment plant tank will be rehabilitated. I don't believe that this tank has ever had an interior coating since it's been in service. It's it's sorely needed. It was just put to bid. Um that's over $700,000 project. 600,000 just over 600,000 is grant funded of that project. Um there's um one vehicle that would be replaced. This replaces a 2009 nine um Ford with over 100,000 miles. Um and then um yeah there there's also a Aspen um street water line. It's broken multiple times in the past 10 years even. Um a lot of patches throughout the street. It's in need of repair throughout the entire length of the w of the water line. Staff's recommended to put over $100,000 set aside to repair that line. I'm afraid that won't be enough. So, we'll reach out for grant funding to try to come back and repair that line as well and then also uh update the fire hydrants throughout that that location. So, those are a few of the projects we're looking at moving forward.

Anything else, Mr. Wizeski? I I if if not to be blunt, but uh learning about some of the projects that we're working on doesn't really address my concern. Uh I believe the number that was thrown out last year was 109 active projects and uh I believe the clarifier at this treatment plant was one of those projects that was listed last year. So that alone indicates little progress. So without knowing where that 109 number stands today, did we make any progress over the last year or we just putting [clears throat] off like we have been on the water lines?

Yeah, it's hard. I mean, you've got a balance, of course, between deferred [clears throat] maintenance, right, where we're not going to be taking care of something because we don't have the money to take care of it right now, and um trying to prioritize. So, yeah, your honor, I can't speak to the 109 open projects, but the the water treatment plant project is a project that will be going into year three. Um the first year typically is is um funding is procured. the second year then uh the project's identified and then bid out and then the third year oftentimes it's in those bigger projects it's completed. So we like to keep that a little tighter but that's kind of how that project um moved along.

We did talk about the clarifier last year. So tell me I guess specifically about that

uh the the clarifier project itself um in 2024 the fall of 2024 um funding was procured um and then shortly after that um we worked to procure an engineer to identify the necessary upgrades at the pro at the plant. Once the engineer identified those within about six months or so they were able to put together the first project and then uh utilizing the available funding and then and then take on that project. So at at those kind of at over half million dollar projects then um sometimes uh um getting the funding it becomes the harder part than doing the project. So um now we're in construction right now. two finally had talking about fire for a bit.

Oh, now yeah, about a year and a half later. Sorry, you're you're welcome to continue if you have any other questions. I I hear uh no more questions that I think I'll be able to get an answer from. So, just a parting comment. I think the people would appreciate not just seeing their rates go up and knowing that it costs money to operate a city. I think everyone understands that. Uh but I think the people would appreciate some metric of progress.

I hear you. And I will say one of the things that's unique about the um utility rates is when you have taxes that are based on how much you're making, right? That's something where if the if the economy is improving in some form or fashion, you're going to see those taxes increase. So depending on where the economy is going, you're going to have an increase in sales tax, you're going to have an increase in property tax, that kind of thing. Utility rates don't work that way, right? Unless you have an increase, it's not something that goes up with the economy. So that's one of the reasons why we're kind of stuck every year having to say, what do we need to do to make sure we can kind of keep up with the way things are going when all the prices and everything go up. But I I appreciate the thought in terms of wanting to know some more exacts. And uh there's no reason you can't come and ask and I understand what you're saying, Mr. Wizowski. I'm sorry, Wizeski. Did I get it right?

Close enough. Damn it. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Wizeski.

Uh just a real quick comment. Uh I would highly suggest reading the water master plan that was produced in I believe 2021. That is a comprehensive game plan for all of the projects that the city of Riverton is trying to accomplish under perfect conditions. That does not include uh any projects that come up under an emergency type nature. So oftent times uh as we're following the master plan line which also details funding scenarios for each one of those projects um when emergencies arise that then defers uh especially if it's critical line infrastructure that defers that schedule of construction down the road because those funds have to be appropriated for the emergency situation. So, um, if you want a game plan and a number of projects, read the water master plan. Uh, the only other items that I would, uh, probably discuss at this time would be as we improve the the water the portable water side, uh, then in turn that wastewater improvement needs to also be made. And so as we improve the portable side of the water system, we are also improving the wastewater side. Well, i.e. the the clarifier, uh the UV disinfection projects. Those are those are huge projects for us. So that's it.

And your honor, I would recommend reading the book 13 ways to kill your community because one [clears throat] of those things is um

water. uh if if we do not work on and make sure that the community does not have really good water, that is in fact one of the ways that we kill our community. Um that is one of our very first responsibilities as a council. And um because the taxpayer money doesn't pay for some of these projects, we have to look at that. Um not only that, but also, aren't grants tied to some of this, too? Yeah. So, if we do not do this, we don't get that grant money as well. So, I want to acknowledge no one likes seeing those rates go up. It's not like we'd like that. That's not something we like, okay? But it has been shown in other communities when you don't do it in similar communities very close to us when you do not do this because they do not have the guts to do it. Okay. There they see not good water. Okay. And then they have to do it very large rate increases five years later where they're looking at $40, you know, very large rate increases. Okay. So, if you delay them and then the infrastructure is broken or bad, okay, if we stay on top of it, our we have the best crew ever. Our city crew is amazing. So, while this is a modest increase, staying ahead of the problem, this is what this is what we must do. This is the most responsible. I think that's the word is the responsible thing to do. So, um, thank you, Brandon, for taking care of that, for taking care of our city and and doing the responsible thing, even though it's not

something that we like to see, um, happen. It's It's a great thing. So, thank you, okay, let's I I guess just so we're not getting too far out of order, is there anyone else in the audience that wishes to speak regarding utility rates? Then we can move on to more council discussion. I'd entertain a motion to close the public hearing. So moved. Second. Councilman Larson with the motion. Uh Councilman Carr with the second. All in favor say I. I. I. Any oppose say nay.

I vote I. Motion passes. I declare the public hearing closed. So let's start with the water fund. I'd entertain a motion to adopt resolution 1549. So moved. Second. Motion by Councilman Larson. Second by Councilman Carr. Councilman Larson. Uh your honor, was that figure right? $283 cents per user. Was that Was that right?

Your honor, Councilman Larson, it's $2.8. It's for the average user. Our rates are based on um waterline size and meter size. And so the majority of our our customers, threequarters of our customers are all residential uh water users. So, I based it on the average user and it would be $2 I have my glasses on now. $2.3. $2.3. Yes. Now, that's per month or a year or what period?

Um, council member Larson, it's per month and that's for the base rate. So, if you're looking at um usage charges as well, and I've provided the information in your council packet, but the rate increase for water usage is going to be 8 cents per 1,000 gallons up to 5,999 and then it's 9 cents per 1,000 gallons for any water above that. uh for the incity water rate um for sewer the proposed rate increase for the usage would be 10 cents per 1,000 gallons. Okay.

And that's regardless of meter size. That's just usage. And that is the same price across the board regardless of meter size. Thank you.

Any other discussion? Okay. So, this is resolution 1549 supporting a 2.5 increase to the water fund. Um, we had had a rate study done. Are we outside of the recommendations from the rate study now or was that just 2.5% till the end of eternity or? Yeah, the the rate study um recommended a 3% increase. Um the 2 and a half% that's proposed actually ties back to the more recent water master plan that Councilman Carr referenced,

which was more of on a 2.5% rate. The 2.5 increase was from the recent water master plan study,

but that's not taking into account anything that could happen with the economy. I mean I I know previously for example we had been making increases that were based on whatever the um cost of living increase was kind of in terms of how that was indexed for the year and I'm talking many years ago probably about when you started maybe Mr. Butterfield and then um we had had the rate study done that kind of gave us a little bit of a benchmark but this is now based on the most recent water master plan.

Your honor that's correct. Um previously in the Riveton municipal code um the council had opportunity to review the consumer price index as it related to the cost of um inflation for procuring materials and and performing business. The council could also consider other variables as it related to capital construction needs or other operating needs. Um in I believe it was 2019, uh that's when the city went out and um had a consultant um explore um a rate study across all enterprise funds. And from that study, it was recommended to just keep up with inflationary um aspects of running a utility system to uh annually increase at 3%. And then the council, I think, considered that for several years, but also, as I said, took into account other variables as it related to capital construction needs and emergency needs as well. Well, and I remember was it last year or the year before there had actually been a recommendation to go higher than what had been recommended for water just because where we were at with the water fund that year.

Your honor, Councilwoman Johnson.

I'll be the unpopular opinion up here tonight. I understand the need. I understand that we have miles of water line that need to be replaced. I understand that we have to have clean water to get to our citizens, but there's also this this is a fine line that we have to also look at. There's a certain humility that goes with this as well. And people are struggling. may not be everybody, but the increasing costs that people face every month just to have that clean water to their house. It comes at a cost and not everybody can afford it. And we see that every week in the report that comes out and the amount of shut offs and the non-payments and um sometimes I think people just need a break. And when we're not offering additional services and in fact I've seen and heard and talked to several people this week about the services they receive. I was one of them not getting full services and being charged for it. So, I'm not going to support it tonight. Um, I think that the community could use a break. We've raised the rates for the last five years. I think it is. I think it's the last five years. Five or six years consistently. And I don't see where the rate increase is going to complete any one of these projects. It's going to help, but I don't see where it's going to complete it. So, I'm going to air on the

side of a little bit of humility tonight and not support it. Okay. Your honor, do we does the city have any program that helps people out whenever they're at risk for their water shutting off?

Where are we at with that? Yes, Mayor Council Member Brothers. We don't have a specific program um to assist people with paying their bills, but we do offer uh payment arrangements for folks who are behind or unable to pay their bill before shutting them off. Um they're asked to contact our office. We do allow three payment arrangements per year for that. Um we do hold property owners responsible for any unpaid bills left by tenants. Um to help protect the property owner in that regard, we collect a $150 deposit upfront from the renter, which is refundable to them at the time that the water services are shut off. When a a service is scheduled for a shut off or a tenant is laid on a bill, the owner does receive a notification because they are being ultimately held responsible. And when a tenant wishes to make a payment arrangement on a utility bill, um we do that for all property owners and tenants. we do as well. We just require the permission of the property owner to allow them to extend that bill out for a longer period of time.

I think that um Thank you, M. I think that that's maybe what we need to do. We we should uh fix our water thing, but maybe look at maybe grants or federal grants or state grants. I don't know if there is anything. you would be the one cuz you're so smart about that that could help with that situation or problem. If we have if we're having that that would be what we need to do instead of not fixing our water um [clears throat] problem, we could maybe look at a a program that would help those people. I know that's a separate issue and problem, but uh maybe that's something we could look at.

Thank you, your honor. We've also looked into um we've we we've discussed internally the idea of coming up with some sort of a roundup program. We're just still trying to work through the logistics about that and actually even having just the software capabilities of of financially tracking that type of thing. But that's definitely been something that's um been discussed. I would love to help with that if you guys want some help. Councilman Larson, your honor. Oh. Um, Councilwoman Borders, I'll let Councilman Larson go first and then you right after that if you don't mind. Sounds good. Thank you. You bet. We can hear you very well now. Thank you. Thank you to our wonderful IT staff who got that sorted out.

Absolutely. The um the the discussion on water usage and the cost of maintaining water. uh is a um closely watched by the legislature. Anytime you have the ability to charge and you don't when you go to the legislature and ask them for help, you get turned down town. They tell you

you've passed your opportunity up by being benevolent. Now, um it comes to mind, uh fires in California, empty reservoirs, uh pipelines not fixed, yeah, uh mayors somewhere where they shouldn't be. And uh the thing is when there's a fire, the fire department depends upon that fire suppression line working. Mhm.

And everybody pays homeowners insurance that lives in Fremont County.

And the better off we are, the lower our rates are. And if we don't maintain adequate delivery systems, adequate pumps, adequate, if we don't take care of it, we're doing a malfunent whether we uh give people a break or not. The unfortunate thing is we've got we've got you've got to put your big pants on and say this is what is needed to do. And um supporting supporting the water fund when I pay uh close to $1,800 a month in water fees for different properties that I own. Um, I am so in love with not using water, but you just have to gird up your loins and you're going to have to do it. There's other things that are going to have to you're going to have to have clean water. That's part of being a big city. Having a hospital is a big city. Having an airport's a big city. Having good sewer systems a big city.

And [clears throat] that's just part of the deal. Mhm. Thank you, your honor. Thank you. Other discussion. Okay. Uh, Councilwoman Borders, I didn't I was not going to forget you. Okay. I was waving my flag. You did good. So, you know, I I don't think people realize how much we wrestle with this

as council members. And the last thing I want to do is see rates re I mean, I'm a I'm a city water user, too. These rates affect me as well. But the thing is this is meant to be self- sustaining and there are so many expenses and the the costs are increasing for this as well. It just it's not cheap to fix water pipes and sewers and things like that. So to me, $2.3 for the average user is not a bad deal. And I know people are hurting, and I totally understand that. But we have an obligation as council members to make sure this program remains solvent. Everybody wants clean water. They want to be able to flush their toilet and have it go away. They sure don't want it coming into their house. And um I just think it's important that that we follow this plan. And I know that's going to upset some people and I'm sorry about that, but that's just my two cents.

Okay. Thank you, Councilwoman Borders. All right. All in favor of passage of resolution 1549 supporting the 2.5 increase to the water fund, say I. I. I. Any oppose say nay. Nay. I vote I. Motion passes. Next up, I'd entertain a motion to approve resolution 1550 supporting a 2.5 increase to the wastewater fund. So moved. Second.

Motion by Councilman Carr, second by Councilman Larson. Discussion on this one. I think we wrestled that pig. Well, and that's true. I mean, it's just we've got to be talking about each of them individually. So, I know we kind of sometimes lump it together, but the reality is these are three separate funds, three separate increases. And I will say there had been some discussion about this with someone saying, well, if it's 2.5 for one, 2.5 for one, 2.5 for one, that's 7.5. That's not the way the math works, just in case anybody's curious. Um but uh yeah so wastewater fund anything to add.

All in favor say I. I. Any oppose say nay. Nay. I vote I. Motion passes. Last up. Entertain a motion to adopt resolution 1551 supporting a 2.5 increase to the sanitation fund. So moved. Second. Councilman Carr with the motion. Councilwoman Brothers with the second. Discussion on this one.

All right. All in favor say I. I. I. Any oppose say nay. I. Nay. Councilwoman Borders. I might have gone too fast. I just wanted to know if that was a registered I vote or a nay vote. It was I.

Okay. Thank you. I also vote I on this one. Motion passes. Next up, downtown parking recommendation. Police chief's report, please. Thank you, your honor. At the February 17th uh regular council meeting, a business owner on East Maine uh requested the city council reinstate a two-hour parking limit along Main Street corridor. and the distant history of Riverton, there had been parking meters installed in this inter uh in this section. Uh they have been since been removed and parking reverted back to the existing no overnight type of parking. Uh members of the police department performed a survey where merchants along the affected section of this corridor were contacted regarding this request. Um merchants were asked a series of questions to determine if a change in the existing parking regulation needed to be changed. Uh, currently there are no overnight parking along East Main Street with signs posted for no parking between 3:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. As part of the survey, the merchants uh questions the merchants included, on the average, how long do your customers stay at your establishment? Uh, second, would you prefer to leave the parking uh this in this area as is or change it? Uh next they're asked uh if there was timed uh time limit parking well what should it be? Uh examples of either 20-minute temporary two or threeh hour and any other input they'd like to uh

participate in the survey. Results of the survey are attached to this report. In summary, the results of the survey show that the majority of merchants along this corridor uh do not desire to make any changes at this time. There were several requests made during the survey to limit uh who would be allowed to park in the area. Um but enforcement that would be difficult to enforce. Uh specifically, they only wanted customers to park on Main Street. Uh there is a desire to add additional handicap parking in this area. But placing such parking along uh east main does have limitations uh due to the narrow roadways and ADA requirements. Um for council information, I did have uh a couple of uh discussions with the public works director and there is some future expansion of parking along the side streets that we can see in the near future. Uh for discussion, the council can review the survey and direct staff to perform additional research. um or accept the results of the survey and take any or take no action. At this time, your honor, I'd stand for any questions or input and council direction. All right. Thank you. Any questions or [clears throat] appreciate you going through and doing this, Chief. Um, looks like we've got uh three blocks basically that we're looking at here.

Yeah, Sean, just the the main corridor. Um,

just where we tend to have a lot of the parking, right? You know, one of the things that I thought was interesting I was thinking about when we were talking about um parking is if you were to park probably the furthest spot from the Walmart entrance, which most people don't park there, but it's about the same distance I think I figured out from that if you were going to park there from probably just about anywhere. where downtown from the city parking lot. Not that I'm saying people park that far away, but maybe it's not. I don't know. Councilwoman Johnson.

Yes. Oh, I thought you were wanting to speak. No, I'm just [laughter] talking. I just I don't know. I

I mean, I got lots to say, but No, I'm just teasing. No, I'm just watching. I don't have anything to add to it. I I uh I was talking with someone about, you know, different ideas we could have for different businesses in downtown. And one of the things they brought up is, you know, you could have something that draws people there, but if you're going to draw a lot of people downtown, you're going to have issues with parking. Um, so I I I don't know if there's anything we want to do as a city to try to address this. I know this is something that a citizen had brought up, a business owner had brought up, a couple of business owners, I think. And um do we want to get some different things going on it? Do we want to have more done on it?

Has there ever been a study conducted about like on the side streets parking at a diagonal direction and leaving Main Street as it is, but diag to to get more parking spaces in the area? We do have that right over there near the uh chamber or like it is by the post office. We do. Um I don't think we have a lot of diagonal on the side streets though, your honor. Um I may ask if the public works director may have

he was just getting ready [laughter] direction of uh [snorts] maybe on his in his crystal ball what may be happening in the near future. Your honor, I think I can add a little bit to this discussion. Um, shortly after the last year's slurry seal project was done was completed, um, diagonal parking was put back in locations, uh, south of Main Street, um, where it it existed. that included um Sixth Street um as well as um so it's both sides of Broadway and then uh over by uh um Brown Sugar Coffee Roaster. There was a spot that was missed and uh the diagonal parking was not uh um marked in there was brought to my attention. So this spring as soon as weather permits we'll we'll put the diag diagonal parking back in. And that's on Fifth Street, South Fifth Street East. uh that's next to the smart insurance building. So that'll go back in and then it um um and then we'll continue to mark diagonal parking on the north side of the street uh straight across from that. And then um there's been a request to u put diagonal parking in next to the movie theater as well. So the study is is this the roadway width does allow for at least one site to have the diagonal parking. We recognize that. Um, so if there's a need and somebody's requested it that it goes in in that area, then we can we can assess the area, make sure it fits, make sure there's not diagonal parking on the other side of the street and then uh um either uh give them a recommendation um go ahead. Yep. Go ahead [clears throat] and put install that or if we have the availability and the paint, then sometimes our crews can do that as well.

Well, there's been people that have been talking about doing diagonal parking on Maine. I would love to see that, but just I'm not a big fan, but I think it would slow traffic down altogether. But is the reason why and I'm sorry I didn't mean is the reason why it's only on one side of the street. Is that because it's the the distance of the the street? It can only be so much accessible.

Your honor, each street is a little bit different on width there. A lot of times the wider you have the first block is pretty wide on either side of Main Street. Um so you can fit diagonal parking on one side and then move over the lanes. So you can do diagonal parking and then uh parallel parking and often uh make that work with the street. It's kind of a street by street uh scenario there. Um and then uh currently um um so yeah that that is is kind of street by street and dictated by the width of the street. The width I guess is what I try. Thank you. Correct.

It sounds like we're on it. That's good. Appreciate that we're looking at that and trying to improve that. Um, Chief, it sounds like this is kind of mixed. I would say maybe what [clears throat] percent would you say of the ones that were asked actually were in support of a change? Uh, about 50. No, there was six

18 total. So 13. So it's it's up there. 20 some% or I'm sorry 70ome% were in favor of leaving as is. But I'd offer this, your honor, if if after uh the additional striping is done and if any concerns or requests brought forward, I'd be glad to work with the the businesses and get with the public works director. Maybe we can find a solution, but maybe try to see if this additional parallel parking project uh that will come maybe doesn't resolve some of the the issues. But be glad to receive any anything in the future and look at it.

Do we have any action that the council wants to direct staff or do we have a vote or motion in any regard or just kind of accept the report right now? I could just I think accept it because

you could come up here Mr. Delgado. Just wait. Hi, my name is Raphael Delegado, mayor, city council, and staff. Um, I don't speak for the uh downtowners, but I am a member and uh we've discussed this many times and the consensus was that we wanted to have limited parking on on East Main Street. Now, what I noticed in the survey is that it ended in the 400 block of East Maine. It didn't extend to the 5,600 or 700 block to federal. Now, if you look where current public parking is adjacent behind the I think it's Custles. Is that how you pronounce it? There uh there's a parking lot. Then there's the Amanda Henry parking. But from the five 500 block down to Federal, there is uh no public parking there. And so that might be more affected. What I would think is that uh you know I would like to take this to my group on Wednesday's next meeting to discuss it and if there's a consensus that they're fine with it, that's fine. Otherwise, we can make some suggestions later.

Sounds good. Um and I do agree this you're right. This tends to be the ones that are closer to the the city lot and to the future brown sugar roastery lot. Thank you. Thank you. [clears throat]

It might be worth looking into establishing like employee downtown employee parking or residential parking areas specific to them because I think the last time I spoke to a couple of the business owners, it was that some of the businesses employees were taking up the parking spaces up front which hinders regular customers from coming in. But if the diagonal parking could go in and then maybe establishing an employee or business parking down the side streets to keep Main Street open, that might be an option, too.

It gets a little bit difficult because, you know, if we're going to sit there and say, for example, customer parking only, right? If it was going to be along Main Street and we don't want to have business employees, business owners, that kind of thing parking there. I mean, how are you going to enforce that? That's where that gets a little bit hard. Yeah. Are we going to sit there really and say in a in a public parking area? You can't park here. That's for customers to a certain extent that I don't know heavy-handed, but

it gets hard. Well, do we have any action that we want the does the council want to have any other action taken? Do we want to have uh maybe the chief go through and see if we can get some responses from some areas further down or do we want to wait for a report from the downtowners? I would say just let them okay come up with solutions. I guess we'll just keep taking any reports or recommendations as they come. Thank you for the information. Okay, next up, consideration of resolution 1552. Pause for the cause committee, city administrators report, please.

Thank you, your honor. This is in relationship to a direction that was provided at the last council meeting and I want to start by saying the name of the committee is up for grabs and you can choose if you like positive. [laughter] Um, in brief, uh, City of Riverton is responsible for promoting the health, safety, and welfare of the community, and that does include the enforcement of animal control regulations. Riverton Municipal Code does establish requirements for animal ownership, and then also provides authority to the city to impound, quarantine, and manage dangerous, nuisance, or at large animals. The city does own an animal shelter facility to support its role as associated with the municipal code. That facility does serve a dual purpose. First, it functions as a critical component to the city's code enforcement operations, but it also secondly provides a broader community um uh value by sheltering stray, unwanted or mistreated animals. Pause for Life Animal League um has had a long-standing relationship with the city and it has um held a lease agreement for the um facility referenced at 515 South Smith Road for several years. The relationship between the city and PAUSE is interdependent u with both organizations working collaborative collaboratively to support animal control and animal welfare services. In recent years, the population of animals and demands on the shelter facility have created a need to evaluate current operations, facility capacity, and service delivery. Um, these evolving conditions highlight the importance of exploring uh solutions or answers to these current constraints that ensures both the city and pause can effectively fulfill their respective responsibilities.

This resolution, again, the name is up for grabs, establishes the pause for the cause committee to accomplish just that, to explore solutions and provide recommendations to the city council. It is um currently uh proposed by the resolution that the committee will consist of five voting members appointed by the mayor and consent of the city council. that includes one representative from PAUSE, one from the Riverton Police Department, one from a local veterinary clinic, and two at large community members. Additionally, it states that up to two council members could serve as a liaison to this committee, as well as two Riverton Youth Council members. The city administrator or their design will also serve as a non- voting member and provide administrative or professional support to the committee. There is no budget impact associated with the um passage of this resolution and the formation of this committee. Um if you um so choose to form it, staff will immediately begin advertising for the atlarge positions that are available with the current structure. Naturally, as a council, you can choose to modify any language that's uh currently listed in the resolution. Thank you.

Thank you. Administrative Services Director, could you please read resolution 1552 by title only? Yes, your honor. Proposed resolution number 1552, a resolution of the governing body of the city of Riverton establishing the pause for the cause committee to explore animal control and animal shelter needs of the community and make recommendations to the Riverton City Council. Thank you. I'd entertain a motion to adopt resolution 1552 establishing the pause for the cause committee. Authorize the mayor to appoint members with the consent of the city council. So moved. Second.

Councilman Larson with the motion. Councilwoman Brothers with the second. Discussion on this. Mayor Warp. What an exciting meeting this evening.

They all are. Hancock council and staff. Um, you know, I just don't know where to begin. We talk about utility rates. Um, the last year, I remember when you did this, I came forward with a suggestion and shared it with me and few of the people and it got absolutely no traction. So, it's um and the downtown parking recommendations that's been ongoing since heck was a pup. Um you know, it's the [snorts] parking lot that the city has there uh was purchased by the city um owners in that area. And my parents that had the fashion bar uh helped pay for that lot. And it was for uh uh the uh employees to use, not the customers. and the customers are, you know, you're supposed to use the main street. So, you know, it just goes on and on and on. And um I've uh and then looking at the pause um when I took office, uh our animal shelter down there was a small little garage. Okay. And we put down I think something like four or 500 animals that year and it was just unconscionable. So, we've made progress in these areas. Um, Vern Heisler was our city engineer and Bill Urbite was a public works director and Bill Iller was the mayor at that time and uh we were able to come together and and build this the facility that we have. Well, it's not adequate and it needs a lot of work and whatnot, but um you know, it's just and then as I think about these things sitting here with over 20 years uh in uh this type of struggle that we all have

and these are difficult issues and I commend everybody for spending [clears throat] the time here to do it. Um, for the gentleman that was asking questions in the back, um, uh, I would like to suggest that, uh, if you're in the city, come and run for the council and get on and learn what it takes to make a community run. And, um, because uh, I was instrumental in helping get the 1% tax so that we could fix our roads. I still haven't been able to get the airport road fixed and that every time I come to the council I growl about that. So it's it's a study in futility and and there's a word that keeps coming back to come and enjoy this type of entertainment. You've got to be a massochist and that's the only only term I can come up with that makes sense. But um at any rate, regarding the animal shelter, um that's one that is near and dear to my heart, and I'll try not to spend too much time um but um as uh the chief pointed out that the municipality has to deal with um or Kyle pointed out that it's the city's responsibility to care for animals and whatnot. at the last meeting why Councilman Carr suggested that well if we do it for this um uh group why then we'll have to do it for all the groups. No, you won't. The the Eagles hope they don't have the same status as the city's responsibility for animals. Uh the homeless shelter, same thing. The they're the right things to do. I'm not arguing that. And from a moral and ethical standpoint, you have that obligation, but you don't have it codified in a state statute that it's a city's municipality's responsibility to

care for the animals. And so they're they're apples and oranges. So anyway, um, Pause is a nonprofit organization that's accepted the challenge of dealing with animals. Uh, for the most part, they're volunteers and given what they're dealing with, they're doing an outstanding job in my feeling. Um, pause has marginal funding from the city and must continually struggle to raise operational funds over time. This causes burnout. You just you I I have coffee with Kent Moss and Kent worked his heart out for years raising money for the animal shelter and Pam back here, she's done the same thing. So, um, the animal shelter and general facility are not adequate to the needs of the community for the animals. Um the solution has been suggested that every five uh if days if an animal comes in and if they're not gone in five days, put them down. Well, that's going back to the way we dealt with them before. And that I don't think I certainly wouldn't support it, but it is a solution. Is that the kind of solution we want? Come on, we can do better than that. Um so anyway uh my suggested solution that the council I think can take into consideration um at this time there is no legal number of animals that a person can own in the community. Okay. When I was in your position, Mayor Hancock, um it was brought to me by a lady on the south side of town. She says, "I lived next to nine animals." And I thought, "Really?" So I went down, looked and it was a mess and it was noisy and on and on and on. And so I brought it before the council hoping that we could come up with a number between one and nine.

Council wouldn't touch it. Okay. I had the chief of police at that time, Mike Broadhead. Uh I said, "Mike, you look at it and see what we can do." And he says, 'Well, if you have one animal and you don't take care of it, it's one too many. And if you have nine animals and you take care of them, it's not a problem. Well, that's not helpful. That's not giving you much direction. So, anyway, the council didn't do anything with it. And it's my understanding that we still don't have a number that tells the citizens that you can have, say, four animals, okay? And if you come move into town and you've got five, okay, we will have a non-existing pre-existing condition like they used to work in engineering. And when one of your animals die, you just can't replace it. Okay? And and so there's problems associated with it. But just as we have speed limits on roads, okay? People break the speed limits all the time. It doesn't mean we don't have um limits on the road uh speed limits. And I think we should have the same thing for animals in town. We should have a number the citizens can anticipate not having to live next to a dozen animals or whatever just but we just don't have that. So, I would strongly recommend that the city pass an ordinance setting the number of cats and dogs that a citizen can have at any one residence and then enforcing it. If you don't enforce it, we went round and round when Todd Smith was a councilman. They wanted chickens and I wasn't wildly enthusiastic about chickens. We got chickens in town. Okay, so you can have 12 chickens. No roosters. Well, I live right across the street from a rooster. So what do you do? You know, you you do

the best you can. Put guidelines in place. And I think as far as our animals are concerned, we need some guidelines. Okay. We need some guard rails. And that would be something that the new committee that you're getting ready to create uh can do. And uh if we passed the law for chickens, as I recall, you could have no more than 12 and no roosters. And in some place you can now have more chickens and there's many roosters in town. But the the difference is we can eat chickens. We can't eat dogs. U so anyway um the pause board does not have the authority to pass such a law but it has to live with a fallout due to the lack of such an ordinance by the council. In my opinion more money is not the answer currently. I think we need to say, "Okay, citizens, you can have this number of animals, take care of them, be responsible, and enforce it." And over time, that will mitigate. It won't solve all the problems. You'll still have problems as you go. If somebody moves into town and they've got a dog that's pregnant and all of a sudden she has six pups, what do you do with this? [laughter] [snorts] You know, it just goes on and on. But um at any rate, those are just some thoughts that I had. Um and like I say, the the term masochist comes to mind because I enjoy coming to council meetings and hearing all the discussion and uh so for what it's worth, that's my two cents.

Thank you for your feedback. Appreciate it. Mayor, any other discussion on this? You're welcome to come up if you'd like. coming up alone. There's Mr. Mayor. Name's Lonnie Slack, director of PAUSE. How are you guys this evening? The uh resolution that that you had talked about there would like to add a couple of thoughts that to to add to this. I if they're going to be voting people, correct? Right. I think I think they should was that

I think that was the idea. Yes. Okay. If they are going to be voting, I think before they are allowed to be voting, they should come down to the shelter and work 8 hours and of course two weeks saying a whole day at once, but eight hours and two days. That way it becomes very it becomes a lot clearer on the daily grind that happens. and then they're they're much more informative. It's easy to sit at home and then talk about problems that you can't see.

But if they're there, just asking for eight hours. I think we talked about at least putting one person from the pause board on and it would be Ashley. She volunteered. We put two, I would take the other position. Apparently, I'm really good at volunteering myself to do things lately. Or Ashley.

Or Ashley. Well, she's the one that brought it up. I'm just saying. And then as a non- voting person or as a type of a liaison information person that could help, I would say we need to have Whitney. She's down there every day for the daily grind. I mean, sometimes I hear about things or I'm down there for a day, but she's there day in day out. So, she would be a very good person to have there. Not necessarily I'm asking for her to have a voting power, but to have the ability to answer questions when that comes up. My time done. Uh, sure. If you'd like. Oh, no. I just keep hearing beep.

Well, it it tends to beep at the at the top of the hour and at every half an hour. Oh, and I'm always up here at that time. Okay. Yeah. Has nothing to do with you other than your timing, probably. Anything else, Mr. slack. I don't think so.

I think we've got uh let's see, five members appointed by the mayor, one member would come from PAUSE, one from the police department, one from our local veterary clinic, two from the community at large is what we have right now. Um and then up to two members of the city council and I think we did even discuss who those two would probably be would serve as liaison to the committee and then uh up to two members of the uh Riverton youth council could serve as liaison to the committee non- voting just liaison. So and you're wanting to have added to this a requirement of spending some time at pause.

Yes. Okay. You know, I I I don't think that is unfair. Uh if you're going to go that that extra mile, you to have a voting power with that, you should kind of live it a little bit. Yeah. I mean, obviously, as the director, I can't stay at home. I have to go down there. It is, you know, you just that it it just helps. Gotcha. Any uh any questions or anything at this point regarding the committee for Mr. Slack?

Your honor, I think the only thing that needs to be made very clear is that council members participation in this committee is not to direct cause in any way, shape or form. We are there to let you know what our needs are as city members or as as city representatives. what the city's expectations are from PAUSE going forward is what I would say. Um Carla may have a something else to add. Um and I just want to make sure that that's there there's a the city's responsibility is is impounding as as this says vicious animals, dogs at large, etc. And there's a clear difference between impound and rescues and how you guys choose to run that. And if you want people to be there eight hours before offering any suggestions, I I wouldn't have an

It's not the worst idea. No, it's not. But I just want to make clear that city's participation in this is just to put forth what the city's needs are. Clearly,

council member, um I do understand that I I worked with RPD a number of times. Yes, we cannot I'm in 100% agreement. We cannot have animals running loose in town. It just sometimes we get bogged down and it's just it's just the difficulty. You guys do have the city does have municipality codes that we can't have dogs running around. We as a non non-kill shelter, we live by our own codes as well. We we just don't do that. So that makes us the IC the only place that we clash. It's just there some other help other knowledge from pause. I think it could probably be cleared up. probably not gonna be cleared up in a day, but it could be worked on.

Well, and I think that it we want to be very clear with the purpose of the committee um being trying to look at trying to look at what can be done to ensure and separating out and I think Councilwoman Johnson said this very well. There's animal control and empoundment and then there's shelter and and that sort of thing. Those are two separate things and they kind they feed into each other. Obviously, if you impound a dog or cat for 5 days, then from there it goes to pause and then pause is trying to get that animal adopted because those five days are up. I agree with uh Mayor Warp. We certainly don't want to be in a situation where we're having 400 dogs, that's incredible, um euthanized in a year. We don't want to be there. But there's there's something where we have the need of ensuring that we don't have dogs and cats at large and ensuring that dogs and cats are being able to be adopted and rescued, but it's just not been working. And I agree with you, that's where the conflict really is, is we have that five-day obligation and then we have pauses uh operations.

Correct. So being able to look at that and and and really that's what I want the focus to be on this is ensuring that we don't have dogs and cats at large period. That's that's what we're trying to address and how can we get that with what we have right now and how can we improve that.

Yes. Yes. I'm I'm with you. The uh the other aspects that you know I I do have wear two different hats on a regular basis here. So I tend to look at this more as has as as the college has moved several years ago with the AAS programs terminal degrees they have an advisory committee is a professor of photography I have a I'm in charge of a terminal photo degree it's an AAS so they're we're working on the same get people graduated get them out there but then it allows I get to hear from other sides to help streamline it so [snorts] that's what I was looking at or how I see would hope that this is going to work

right well and I think that's just it is I think having this be something where we can discuss what we can do to ensure that the city's needs to protect the community um and pause where we can kind of find where those can work together and how we can assure that really the city's needs and pause needs are both Matt, correct. Councilman Carr, were you you were holding up? Were you wanting to speak? I sure sometimes I It doesn't happen with Carla. Carla's the only one that I don't get false signals from. She's got a flag. I may have been twirling a pencil, but uh since you're

calling on you, granting me time. Yeah. Um I I think one of the one of the key things uh for me at least is uh cohabitive solutions uh you know to balance the needs uh of the impound needs that the city has versus the shelter needs that pause has. Right. Correct. And

how do we cohabitate with that both and meet both of those objectives? um as well as and I think I said it at the last meeting, we're turning over every stone that we can so that uh the the operations that you're running can become or as close to self- sustaining as they possibly can. Right.

Correct. There may always be need for some sort of subsidy, but if we can minimize that, it makes that uh, you know, an easier task to deal with for for you guys, for us, for everybody, for the community, and and it keeps the the kids safe, you know, when they're at the parks. And and that's really what we're talking about is that public health issue of nobody wants to see the headline with a mauled three-year-old kid. Nobody wants to see that. And those are the the really important takeaways I think is is how do we bring a group together that may have some outside objectivity to say, "Oh, have we thought of this?" Well, maybe not. And so I think this is a good thing to to just turn over all the stones and and see where we can go maybe and hopefully have some new light shed on uh no pun intended shedding uh have some new light shed on you know the the issues that we face with with capacity. So thank you.

All right.

As as Mr. Mr. Warp had said said, "If you live next door to somebody that has nine dogs, I've always been for years I've been in great fear of a hoarding situation here in town." And you can I mean, we can sit here and think maybe it's not. It's here. We just haven't. It has not come to head yet, you know? Oh, we're not No, I don't even know how we could handle 12, 15, 18 intakes all in one evening. Got pretty close a couple of times. and it's going to be hard. But yes, it's just some other aspects need to be looked at both pause maybe with you guys of how many animals somebody can have. So there's a lot of different facets and that will help the city help pause help our PD.

Okay. All right. Thank [snorts] you, Mr. Slack. Um, Councilwoman Borders, since you're our liaison pause, I wanted to get your input if you had any before we vote on this and wanted to know if we had anything we wanted to change on it, if there was a motion to uh um amend in any way. So, take it away.

Okay. Um, first of all, um, I think we might have a bad connection because I haven't been hearing everything that's been said. Um, but I guess from what I could hear Councilwoman Johnson say, you know, I think it's important that um that this isn't being done to tell POG what to do because they have their own um business they're trying to run. But I I think having this committee to kind of look and find solutions to the issues that are popping up like overcrowding and stuff, we probably need to look at that. Um I do think it's important that we have uh Whitney Fontes on this committee, even if it's a non- voting position, because she's at pause every day and she knows all of the operations. Um, and then Lonnie, whether he wants to do it or not, I guess that's up to him. I think Ashley, of course. So, um, I really don't have anything else to contribute. I just think that it's a good idea to get this going and and try to get some collaboration.

Okay. Thank you, Councilwoman Borders. Any other discussion? I'm sorry. Was that for me? No, I said thank you, Councilwoman Borders, and just was curious if there was any other discussion from anyone at the table. And I apologize that uh you weren't able to hear very well. Mr. Slack, I think, sometimes is a little softer spoken, which is not a bad trait. No, it's much better now, but it's been cutting out a lot. So, we'll try to get right up near the mic from now on. [laughter] Thank you, your honor.

Thank you. Do we need to add or can I add Bonnie's request to have some service service hours prior to We could do that. We could also just recommend it. Okay. Yeah. I mean, I don't know that that either way. Um, I think anybody that's on the committee, it would make sense to say, "Hey, we think it'd make sense to go do that." We can have it in the resolution, though. I They could also make it part of the bylaws.

True. We've uh when we've done committees like this before, one of the things that we've had is like a charge letter that would specifically have some specific things. um at least with FCAG, this resolution, I think, functions pretty well as that. We could also have in the resolution a specific date to report back to the council. Um I don't know if you'd want to have that set. You know, you wouldn't want to say report back in July. It's probably not enough time, but um maybe if she said report back by the end of uh by the end of the year, December or something, there'd be plenty of time to look a lot a lot of different options and their feet under them and

but um could also be something where we would want them to establish bylaws. I I don't know that we specifically have that in here, but there'd be no reason they can't. If you want to make that motion to add or change anything in there, you certainly can. Before he makes that motion, I'm sorry. If you if you plan on doing that, go ahead. I guess I'm I'm I'm just confused at this point. Why are we creating bylaws to discuss what the city needs? That's true. I mean,

we we have clear we have clear ordinances of what we have to do. We know as a council what we have to have and where we need to put them. Why are we creating all of this to see that that happens when our objective is to go to the committee that they're forming to fix the issues that they are working on to just say this is what the city has this is what we need and this is our recommendation. I I I don't understand why we need bylaws and all of this hub to go with it.

I Well, I think as as I said before, I we're working on more than just what the city needs. We're working on the relationship that we have with PAUSE and the services that they provide under contract. So, I I mean, yes, I I agree. We we have very black and white ordinances that that dictate here's our our needs. Um I think the the real issue is finding out how we can assist them in accommodating not only our needs but then the needs that the shelter needs because there's two uh functions as the mayor said. We've got a shelter and then we have the the impoundment. So how do we how do we cohabitate? How do we get those two to mesh successfully in a in a self- sustaining manner?

And I understand what you're saying with that, but I'm saying that it is not the council's responsibility to see that PAUSE operates efficiently. It's our job. It's our job. It's our job to communicate with PAUSE what our needs are and what needs to be met in order to continue the relationship. we [clears throat] have obligations that we need to express to them and that's the purpose of having all these other different people on the committee is to help them with the direction and fundraising and and and all the things that they're going through to be able to work with us and we support them through providing them the building. So, we're we're still supporting them through the building and paying utilities and that kind of stuff. We're not just cutting them off, but we're just making clear communication as to what the city's needs are and what we have to have going forward. So, I'm just trying to understand why we need bylaws and votes and all these people involved to just fix the issue. This is what our needs are. We need you guys to fix whatever you have going on so that we can work together. And I that was my understanding of the purpose of the committee. So, I'm just looking for clarification. Right. Well, I think and the resolution specifically says that it would be established to advise city officials on the animal control and animal shelter needs of the community. So part of the purpose would be to ensure that the city's needs are met, ensure that we're able to meet our obligations that we're not going to have stray dogs and cats and how that can fit in with pause. Um, so I think the idea would be to have a recommendation that they would make to city council at a certain point and say,

"These are the things that we can do to try to address the issue with stray animals and also be able to ensure that we're not, like Mayor Warp said, putting down 400 dogs a year." So I I I mean I agree you can we can complicate it with bylaws or that kind of thing and but uh it's not just something that's going to be communicating with pause. I think our resolution specifically is saying that it's going to be advising us so that we can figure out where the city's role is and what we need to be doing.

Don't we already know that? Sure. But just what our our options are going forward and how we can ensure that we're not having stray dogs and cats. Okay. I was just under the assumption that we needed to clearly communicate what our needs were to pause and the purpose of the committee was so that PUSE could work out whatever issues that they're working through so that we could work together. That was my understanding, but I I could have misunderstood. So

that's okay. Sometimes we make things a little vague when we write it up and sometimes that's where you have some different things that could squeak in. But no, I I think the resolution is basically act would be saying this is an advisory committee for the city council so that we can address the issues that we have and be able to figure out where there's balance that we can find between PAUS and the city.

Okay. Any other discussion? [snorts]

Hi, Chancesi again. Um, bit of a semantic problem. I take umbrage with the resolution stating that the city owns an animal shelter facility at 515 South Smith Road. I would argue that that property is no more an animal shelter facility owned by the city than this building is. It is a building. It is a property. It is fences. Uh it is not an animal shelter. The only reason it's an animal shelter is because of PAUSE and their organization. So I just take umbrage with that statement saying that the city owns an animal shelter facility. They don't. They own property. Okay. [snorts]

All right. Have any motions to amend or modifications that we want to make or where are we at with things here? I'm not trying to delay too much, but I'm just wanting to make sure everybody has a chance to be heard before we vote on this. I would probably move to accept the resolution as written with the exception of uh placing a recommendation on uh members to have at least eight hours of service at the shelter. Okay. So, you'd like to add language to the resolution that would recommend that they do eight hours of community of uh service over at the shelter

over the span of two months. over the span of two months. Is that voting members or all members? Voting members. I think that was the request. Okay. All right. We have a motion to amend to add a recommendation for service over the span of two months and eight hours. Do we have a second for that motion? Have a second for the motion. Okay. Um, motion would die for a lack of a second then. Any other discussion?

Okay. All in favor say I. I do. We This would be the main motion. Sorry to be clear. We're back on the main motion which is adoption of resolution 1552 establishing the pause for the cause committee and uh authorizing appointment of members with the consent of the city council. So all in favor of passage of resolution 1552 say I I I oppose say nay. Nay. Nay. Okay. I vote I. Motion passes. Mayor Yes, ma'am. May I get clarification on the vote count, please?

Yes. I was uh Councilman Carr, Councilwoman Brothers, Councilwoman Borders, Mayor Hancock. Thank you. Nay was Councilwoman Johnson, Councilman Larson. Thank you. Did I misrepresent that at all? I'm sorry. I am confused. I'll say, are you are we voting on the amendment? No, we are voting on main motion resolution [clears throat] 1552. Motion motion for amendment for lack of a second. Okay.

And then when we had the first vote on it, I said, let's clarify this is for passage of resolution 1552, the main motion establishing the resolution. My apologies, it's late and I would like to change my vote to a yay. Okay. I know there was some confusion and I also apologize. It's all good. All right. Let's move on. We still have a lot of stuff to do. Um a airport lease agreement, ground lease for FBO terminal and fuel farm.

Thank you, your honor. The lease agreement in front of you updates two lease agreements that are um currently have currently expired at the airport. One is for the fixed base operator, the FBO operator. It's for the the actual building footprint at the airport and the second is for a fuel um farm flow lease agreement at Central Wyoming Regional Airport. The current lease agreement with Classic is with Classic Aviation. Uh the new one is with Inter Mountain Healthcare. They both expired on March 1st and then March 31st respectively. Um so the these renew these two agreements. Um the main the main main items to note with the two agreements is that um um they they mimic our current standards for agreements at the airport. Uh additionally um you have uh the one that's um for the airport building uh ter um excuse me the FBO um fixed space operator building itself. um it's now um moves it over to actually have the footprint of more of like a hanger um space um that would have at the airport and then updates their lease agreement um for current standards. Um the second fuel flow agreement just updates that um fuel flow fee which was um originally 6 cents per gallon brings it up to about 12 cents per gallon um which is which is in line with other operators around the state um and airports around the state. So, um the agreement is for a one-year lease. Um and then it also can be uh renewed each year. Um it will be renewed automatically. There is a 60-day notice um that can be given by either party to uh to not renew the lease agreement. And there's a 45day written notice that can be given by either party to terminate the agreement. So, it brings us into more of a shorter term agreement and and it kind of couples along with that um

FBO um um request for proposals that's out currently right now. Um so, um with that, with both agreements um put together, um the the one thing I think to to highlight along with that is kind of the budget impact. Um, this will bring in an additional $1,800 a year with just the uh terminal building uh footprint rate lease agreement. And then it'll bring in approximately about $27,000 a year with the fuel flow uh rate increase um with these two agreements. And I'll take any questions um that you may have on these agreements.

Okay. I'd entertain a motion to approve the lease agreement for the FBO building footprint as well as the fuel arm flow lease agreement at the central Wyoming regional airport. So moved. Second. Councilman Larson with the motion. Councilwoman Brothers with the second. Discussion on this matter. [snorts] All in favor say I. I. I. Any oppose say nay. Councilwoman Borders, are you still there? Did you hear the call for the vote? Uhoh.

It was cutting out. We'll try again. Councilwoman Borders, are you still there? I'm here. You want a vote? Um, I had called for the vote on uh the airport lease agreement, ground lease for FBO terminal and fuel farm. Did you have any discussion? Thank you, mayor. Let Mr. Larson know that I can't hear everything so I I can do without his comments and I'll vote I.

Okay. I Thank you. I vote I. Motion passes. All right. Um, did we need to have an executive session on real estate, Mr. Butterfield, or No, your honor. Uh, no. We'll plan on doing a followup at the next meeting for the real estate matter. Okay. Thank you. Um, I'd entertain a motion to convene into executive session for the purpose of personnel pursuant to Wyoming statute 16445A2 and Wyoming statute 16405 A10. So moved.

Second. Councilman Carr with the motion. Councilwoman Johnson with the second. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I.

Any oppose say nay. I vote I. Motion passes. We're not I don't anticipate we'd have a motion after this, just so you're aware. Um or any action after the meeting. Um for right now, would not invite any other staff members in there. I guess I'll keep minutes and um but uh we are convened into executive session at 9:59 p.m. I can't deal with I'd entertain a motion to reconvene into regular session.

So moved. Second. Motion by Councilman Carr, second by Councilwoman Johnson. All in favor say I. I. Any oppose say nay. I vote I. Motion passes. This regular session of the uh Riverton City Council is now reconvened at 11:24 p.m. Have a motion to adjurnn. Motion to adjurnn. I'll second. [laughter] I'm going to say it was a motion by Councilman Carr, seconded [laughter] by Councilman Larson. That'll do. Uh all in favor say I. I.

Any oppose say nay. I vote I. Motion passes. We are adjourned at 11:24 p.m. Thank you very much.