Council - Regular Meeting

I would call the Finance Committee meeting to order at 6.50. I would entertain a motion for consideration of claims.

I'll move for consideration of claims to be paid in the amount of $2,015,739.13, Elon credit card in the amount of $4,063.49, manual check in the amount of $67, payroll and liabilities for 5-1-2026, payroll in the amount of $62,067.54 for a total of $2,081,937.16. I second that. We have a motion and a second.

All in favor?

Aye. Aye.

Any opposed? I vote aye. Is there anything else to be brought before the Finance Committee?

Mr. Chair, I have nothing additional to add.

Seeing nothing else, we are adjourned at 6.51.

I now call the May 19th, 2026 regular meeting of the Riverton City Council to order at 7 0 1 PM. If Councilman Bailey could lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance, after which Councilman Larson, are you willing to give us the invocation? Of course, thank you. Everyone could please rise and remove cover.

with allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Our Eternal Heavenly Father, we are thankful for the opportunity to be at City Council and to represent our constituents. We're thankful for the opportunity to live in a country which allows us so many freedoms. Father, we would ask that thou bless and watch over our police force, our first responders, and our men in the military this night. Watch over and protect them. Bless their families also. Bless us that we might be mindful, that we might be in tune with the citizens of can for them. We ask this humbly in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.

Thank you very much. Ms. Harris, could you please conduct the roll call?

Yes, Your Honor. Council Member Eric Carr.

Absent.

Council Member Rebecca Brothers. Here. Council Member Mike Bailey. Here. Council Member Carla Borders.

Absent.

Council Member Kyle Larson. Here. Council Member Karen Johnson. Here. Mayor Tim Hancock.

I'm here. I declare we have a quorum. I would entertain a motion to excuse Councilman Carr as well as Councilwoman Borders from tonight's meeting.

So moved. Second.

Motion by Councilwoman Brothers, second by Councilwoman Johnson. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. Motion passes. I vote aye as well.

I'd entertain a motion to approve the agenda as presented.

So moved second.

Motion by Councilwoman Johnson, second by Councilwoman Brothers. Any discussion, additions, changes? I'd considered putting the executive session up earlier, but I think it's still at the end.

OK, any other discussion?

All in favor say aye.

Aye. Any opposed say nay. And the motion passes.

First thing we have, National Public Works Week Proclamation.

Let's read this here. May 17 through the 23, rooted in service powered by community. Whereas public works professionals focus on infrastructure facilities and services that are of vital importance to sustainable and resilient communities and to public health, high quality of life, and wellbeing of the people of Riverton. And whereas these infrastructure facilities and services could not be provided without the dedicated efforts of public works professionals who are engineers, managers, and employees at all levels of government and the private sector who are responsible for rebuilding, improving, and protecting our nation's transportation, water supply, water treatment, and solid waste systems, public buildings, and other structures and facilities essential for our citizens. And whereas it is in the public interest of the citizens, civic leaders, and children in Riverton to gain knowledge of and maintain an ongoing interest and understanding of the importance of public works and public works programs in their respective communities. And whereas the year 2026 marks the 66th annual National Public Works Week sponsored by the American Public Works Association, Be it now resolved, I, Mayor Tim Hancock, do hereby designate the week of May 17th through 23rd, 2026 as National Public Works Week. I urge all citizens to join with representatives of the American Public Works Associations and government agencies in activities, events, and ceremonies designed to pay tribute to our public works professionals, engineers, managers, and employees. to recognize the substantial contributions they make to protecting our national health safety and advancing quality of life for all and witness whereof i have here unto set my hand and cause the seal of the city of riverton uh this 19th day of may 2026. um mr toman what do we have going on for public works week just so people know while we're talking about it

Thank you very much. On Friday this week at City Hall parking lot, there'll be an equipment expo from noon to 3 p.m. There'll be a shade canopy set up, also drinks. I've sent flyers out to the schools. We've asked any parents, any families, any students, any kids come out, use the equipment that the city uses to take care of, or the employees of the city use to take care of the city on a daily basis. And maybe put in a bid for the new name of the street sweeper.

Ah, okay. Yeah, what are some of the top ones that you like so far?

There has been Riverton Rumba, I've heard. Riverton Rumba. And I think the other top one was Dirt Reynolds.

I like Dirt Reynolds.

But I am open to any and all ideas.

I think that's exciting. Great way to celebrate Public Works Week and... Well, great way to celebrate a new street sweeper.

Long-awaited street sweeper.

Yes.

We've been talking about that for some time. And we've had some issues with our other one for some time, which is still in service, though, as we can get it out.

Right now it is, yes. Next week, we don't know.

We'll see how that goes forward. All right, well, I would certainly appreciate anyone who wishes to attend those events. Please come. I would say I was just visiting with someone who's a treatment plant operator in another community. And we were just talking about how great of a career that is and how you can get in, get a lot of experience, and have opportunities to move up and They're good jobs, good opportunities to serve your community, and so appreciate all that Public Works does in all the different capacities.

Thank you, Your Honor. Appreciate that.

All right. Next one I have, I don't have it on a sheet right now, but we'll get it there. So this is EMS week, and that's the same week as Public Works week, and I'm trying to think if that's every year if they run on the same week or not, but probably pretty close. This is a proclamation to designate the week of May 17th through 23rd, 2026 as Emergency Medical Services Week, EMS Week, whereas emergency medical services is a vital public service, and whereas the members of emergency medical services teams are ready to provide life-saving care to those in need 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And whereas access to quality emergency care dramatically increases the survival and recovery rate of those who experience sudden illness or injury. And whereas emergency medical services fills health care gaps by providing important out-of-hospital care, including preventative medicine, follow-up care, and access to telemedicine. And whereas the emergency medical services system consists of first responders, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, emergency medical dispatchers, firefighters, police officers, educators, administrators, pre-hospital nurses, emergency nurses, emergency physicians, trained members of the public, and other out-of-hospital medical care providers. And whereas the members of emergency medical services teams, whether career or volunteer, engage in thousands of hours of specialized training and continuing education to enhance their life-saving skills. Whereas it is appropriate to recognize the value and the accomplishments of emergency medical services providers by designating the Emergency Medical Services Week Now, therefore, I, Tim Hancock, in recognition of this event, do hereby proclaim the week of May 17th through 23rd, 2026 as Emergency Medical Services Week. The 52nd anniversary of EMS Week theme is EMS Week Improving Outcomes Together. I encourage the community to observe this week with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities in honor of the EMS profession and the essential services it provides.

Ms. Harper, you were the one who wanted this read. Did you have anything you wanted to add to it?

I do.

Please do. Come on up.

And for those who are watching or listening, if you could just tell us your name.

Yes, I'm Carol Harper. I'm with Frontier Ambulance and also the Red Cross of Wyoming. I have a few words to say. Go for it. Thank you, Mayor and Council. I'm humbled and honored to speak on behalf of our local EMS providers tonight, but that proclamation says it all, so I'll try to be brief. There are no words that can describe the courage and strength of our first responders on any given day. The scenes that they come upon, the stress they endure, and the mental impact and strain that stays with them all their lives. Every day I'm in awe, and yes, many times in shock, at what they have to endure 24-7, 365. This week, one week out of the year, we respect and honor them for what they do, but also understand that it takes a very, very special person to be an EMT. whose job it is in the back of that ambulance to save the life before them. So to our communities in Riverton, Fremont County, and the Wind River Reservation, take care of yourself. Get healthy. Be healthy. Stay healthy. Check on your neighbors. Check on your congregations, your elderly. Wear a seatbelt. Wear a helmet. Don't drive buzzed or drunk. Call Safe Rides. Slow down. Be prepared. Have a 72-hour kit of food and water supply, medications, and important documents ready to go in the case of a disaster or a mass casualty event. Learn hands-only CPR and how to stop the bleed. Sage West is offering community CPR courses. Sign up if you can. When you go into a public building, be aware of where the exits are, fire extinguishers, and AED devices. Teach your children safety, swimming, bicycle, pedestrian, ATV, internet, social media. Teach them the fire exits in your home, in our schools. Have an escape plan. Review it often. Make it into a game. If you're in a store, quiz them and yourself as to where the exits are. Be aware of your surroundings, of where you are stepping and how you step. Make sure your home has a smoke alarm. You can contact me at the Red Cross for their free Sound the Alarm smoke alarm program. And in emergency, call 911. Don't hesitate. Seconds count. Our first responders are here to help. They have emergency protocols in place to serve, protect, and care for our communities. Think about all of them when you see the lights and sirens, and please pull over. Honor, respect, integrity, courage, and service. At this time, I have a gift for the mayor and each council member, our chief of police, and our administrators. May it be a reminder that all of our first responders in the county work together. Dispatchers, law enforcement, fire, corrections, hospitals, search and rescue, victim services, that we all work together for the citizens, businesses, and governments of our communities so that our local economies have the ability to thrive and survive for whatever comes and that we are all connected. In this family, no one fights alone. Thank you.

That's awesome.

Oh, perfect.

Thank you so much, Carol. This looks great. Love it. says sure we can either get it to me and I'll get it to them we'll put it in their box I think so that'll be good so we have here on the back respect integrity courage service honor that has police military corrections nurse dispatch firefighter and EMS and Love it. Just exactly like you had said, Ms. Harper, in this family, no one fights alone. So I appreciate you very much for these. These are incredible. Thank you.

Absolutely.

Thank you. Thank you for all your work, and thank you for making sure we recognize this this year, and appreciate it. All right. Next up, we have Council Committee Reports, Council Members Roundtable. Let's go ahead and start with Councilwoman Johnson.

Yeah. So I attended the work session last week and thought that we was able to discuss some needed things there. And then I was in Texas all week. So I don't have much to report on. Okay. Thank you.

Sounds good.

Councilman Larson.

I attended the annual or monthly meeting of the Solid Waste Board yesterday where we had four inches of snow in Lander and we presented a balanced budget And at the same time, we looked, and I think there was a raise given to all of the 25 employees so that they could keep up with the cost of living. It was also talked about that the Solid Waste Board would like to meet with the people of Riverton on the timelines that exist from currently now until the closure of Lander and what they would like to do with the present facility in our borders. And if they could, they would make arrangements to make it worth our while to haul garbage by ourselves out to the future garbage selection. the meeting I Think there will contact you or Kyle on that okay?

What was the timeline they were thinking of that well?

Currently we don't have a main office over there, but all of the Foundations currently at The current oil development out there are failing So they need to do some engineering studies on foundations and specifications They also need to decide on Size of garage and what it's going to have They in 2013 they had employees of approximately 50 people and They have 26 now, and of those 26, they always do full employment, but it very rarely is full employment, like our police force.

Right, in terms of if they're fully staffed.

That's correct. But anyway... That was the highlights. We have a balanced budget. We've got money enough to put a lander to bed, which is estimated about $15 million, with a 30-year care cover. And whether they're going to use it for bike paths or recreational development, they're really not gonna do. The main dump is about 40 acres. The rest of it could be that. Also, I attended the 250th year planning board along with some other councilmen which i will not talk about because they can use that time thank you your honor okay all right sounds good councilman bailey thank you um i attended the airport board meeting and uh the numbers through april are

IDENTICAL TO LAST YEAR, SO WE'RE HOLDING OUR OWN. 8,125 PEOPLE HAVE BOARDED THE PLANES. THIS YEAR SO FAR?

THIS YEAR SO FAR.

SO I REMEMBER A LOT OF YEARS THAT WE DIDN'T HARDLY THINK WE WERE GOING TO MAKE IT THERE IN 12 MONTHS.

SO PRETTY AMAZING.

THERE IS A, LET'S SEE, OKAY. There are bids out for looking for a new company to operate the FBO at the airport. They have received those. They're in the stage of rating them and working on that, so that'll be coming here soon. In August, we're going to have a Wheels at Work fly-in at the airport, which is the airplane and car show and all that up at the airport that we rotate one year at Lander, one year at Riverton. So that's coming in August. The self-serve fuel system is going to be going out to bid soon, so hopefully that will get done in the upcoming fiscal year, I think. And then they have bids out for the Taxiway D rehabilitation and lighting project. It came in a little bit over bid, but there is only a single bidder, which then allows them to negotiate and try to find some cost savings to get it within our budget range.

So they think they can do that.

So things are going really well at the airport. Again, I think a lot of people using it. So looking forward to the future when we hopefully pass the three-quarter cent tax and get the consistent funding lined up for that. Then I also attended the Forest Committee 1% committee. And again, they've got some projects going on. They're just getting ready to finish up on Spruce Street, waiting for the asphalt plant to get fired up so they can pave the street and stuff. And then that one will be done. Again, as most people know, Riverview Road, they're working on that. They've got Majors Avenue rotamilled off, and they're going to be doing a new eight-foot concrete sidewalk all the way down Major Avenue from Main Street down through the intersection and down toward Willow Creek School, which is a combined project with the two different grants that we've got, one for Riverview, one for the Safe paths to school, I think it's called. So those are moving along. Again, they've got a pavement preservation project lined up and some concrete repair lined up for the summer. And then they're doing some studies, you know, getting, you know, engineering and getting ready to bid on some other things, depending on where our finances fall this year.

Some of them will get pushed into next year also.

So again, that committee always does a lot of work. getting, you know, good projects to keep the city of Riverton up and going. You know, I think overall we've got a pretty good street system, but it takes consistent work and keeping it up. And, you know, none of us like potholes and streets that are all beat up and all that kind of stuff. So I think they do a good job in rating those and making sure we get as much out of our dollars as we can. And then I did attend the 250th 4th of July celebration at the Chamber of Commerce and Yeah, Carl was there and myself and Carla and Kyle and so we've got plans for oh and mr. Doug a deal So we've got a lot of plans going on for the and I'm sure Cindy will go into it deeper so I won't go into it real heavy, but we still have you know need people to turn in applications to we're gonna do a parade and

And then we're going to have some events at City Park.

So people that would like to have their organization, you know, do an event at the park. And so we're just looking to overall have a good old fun time. And they're going to have music at night and hopefully some food trucks. And we're going to have a free lunch. And so it ought to be a great time.

And then...

It is the season, so political offices are open and you can apply through the 29th, so you've got 10 days left. And I want to read one of my favorite quotes. This is from Theodore Roosevelt. From 1910. And it's as much true today as it was then. It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who's actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs, who comes short, comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who does actually strive to do the deeds, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who best knows the end of triumph of high achievement, and who's at worst he fails, and at least he fails while daring greatly. So that in his place,

shall never be those cold and timid souls who neither know victory or defeat.

And so I would encourage people to get out and be involved in your community. And if that's running for an office and there's three council seats open, or being involved in our committees or getting involved in the school board or any of the many, many other things. It takes a lot of us to get together and contribute and try to make our community a better place to live. So with that said, I'm a candidate for the mayor of the city.

And I would appreciate all your support.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Bailey.

All right.

Thank you. And that's one of my favorite quotes, by the way. Tim Nichols, FCAD director, has that on his wall. So anytime you go into WRTA, I love it.

All right, Mr. Butterfield.

Thank you, Your Honor.

Bill, you skipped me.

Oh, we're skipping you. That's okay. Mr. Butterfield, we'll just skip Councilwoman.

There's all the Bs, you know, and just, it's okay.

I'm sorry, Rebecca.

That's okay. Go ahead. Thank you, Your Honor. I'm happy to go after Mike there.

I saw you.

That's good. That's exciting. How fun. It's always good to have good people running. Are you sure you're not going to stay? I've really enjoyed my time here with everyone.

Yeah, that was nice to hear.

Thank you, Mike. I have had four meetings. I've had a few meetings here. I've had the budget meeting, which was good and fruitful. We had a canon graduation meeting. We barely had a quorum. We had the privilege of hosting Senator Eric Barlow today with the Youth Council for just a quiet, small, personal meeting. He's running for governor and he wanted to sit down with our youth and talk to them about ideas for how, you know, to make Wyoming better. It was a privilege for those kids to speak to someone who's running for governor about, you know, what they think about Wyoming and what they think could make it, could improve it. You know, their big thoughts were education. They really were talking, their first thoughts were talking about the activities issues and things like that. But they enjoyed speaking with him and he had questions about what it was like, you know, being the governor and things like that. It was a privilege for them and also in the vein of our goal about civics and learning about civics. I think that I just love working with the Youth Council

WHAT THAT DOES FOR THEM.

AND IN THAT VEIN, WE HAVE A YOUTH COUNCIL TOMORROW MEETING FROM 4 TO 5 HERE. They're full of ideas, and so they are going to be running throughout the summer. They've decided that they do not think that they want to take a break, that they want to make it as similar to the adults as possible. I think that I was very proud of them for that decision, knowing that with all the vacations and everything that happened, Their answer to that was almost immediate when I asked them, do you want to take a break in the summer? It was a resounding no. Let's do it just like the adults. Just was very proud of them. So we're continuing onward. doing the thing through the summer, which I think is fantastic because of all the community events in the summer that our youth will have an opportunity to attend as members of the Youth Council representing the city. And I think that this it's it's just a good opportunity for them and they're very proud. OF THEIR CITY, WHICH IS ALSO ONE OF THE THINGS THAT THE GOALS AND THINGS THAT WE WANTED TO DO. YOU KNOW, AT THE HIGH SCHOOL SOMETIMES WE HEAR THINGS LIKE, OH, RIVERTON, YOU KNOW, AND IT'S JUST SOMETIMES THERE'S THIS NEGATIVITY TOWARDS IT. WE REALLY WANT TO ENCOURAGE POSITIVITY AND PRIDE IN OUR CITY. AND THE MEMBERS OF THE CITY GOVERNMENT TAKING PART OF THAT MEANS THAT THEY have pride in their city, and that is what we want. So I appreciate that in our youth and what they're doing, and they're just lovely. So thank you, Your Honor. Thank you.

Good opportunity. And not just a gubernatorial candidate, but a current Wyoming state senator. Yes. so good to be able to have him be able to meet with them and i think it would be great if there's other candidates that want to kind of meet with our riverton youth council to try to make that an option as well and i think good opportunity yeah all right mr butterfield it's you thank you your honor at least that's the consensus here okay i'll take it

I do want to thank the Council for all the work it's been doing lately and for coming in for that special meeting. I think it meant a lot to the high school graduates and to our partners with the school district. So thank you for facilitating that, especially with it being short notice. And it's nice to follow the process that's set up. So we appreciate that. There will be no planning Commission this week and next Wednesday, May 27th at 3 PM. There will be a kickoff meeting for the Brownfield project that we've been discussing for some time and I want to thank Mr Michaud for taking the lead on that and preparing us for the great things to come with the grant that was received. uh we also uh well i want to underline again that the public works equipment show will be this friday appreciate mr toman and his team for putting that on it will be from noon to three uh we're sad to say that our building inspector aaron troyer has taken another opportunity in the state of washington we wish him the best of luck however um we're very grateful that dave pascott is willing to come back and help us again That poor gentleman needs to leave town if he ever wants to get rid of the city.

But it speaks to...

how much Dave loves this community and how committed he is to the city. And I just can't tell you how much I value that individual. So Mr. Paskett will be helping us as we advertise for a placement for Mr. Troyer, and he will be doing that on a part-time basis. So Mr. Michaud is able to ensure that we do not skip a beat when it comes to the services that we provide through our building department.

We're also working through some other hiring processes.

Ms. Harris is conducting interviews for an administrative assistant right now. We're doing a final interview for a vacant community service officer position this week. And our new evidence technician will be starting shortly after the holiday. And I'm sure I might be missing something, but I just want to keep you apprised of some of those movements as we ensure that we have the people to provide the services necessary to keep the city running. I appreciate the update that's already been provided for the 1% project, so I won't belabor that point. But I do want to note that the City Park drinking fountain has been installed, and we're just waiting on the final water connection, and that will be a nice amenity for our community, something that the City Council and all Councilwoman Borders particularly has really tried to spearhead over the last couple years, and we're happy that that was a priority and that we're getting it done before the end of this fiscal year.

Great job. Thank you for getting that done.

I'd like to finish my remarks by turning the time to Ms. Harris as she has a few updates as it relates to the Administrative Services Department, if that's okay. All right, thanks. Ms. Harris?

Yes, Mayor, Council, I wanted to advise you that the City Clerk's Office received a communication on May 5th from Rafael Delgadillo of No Te Rajas LLC doing business as talk of the town. If you remember when we renewed the liquor licenses for this current liquor licensing period, he was approved in a non-operational status pending construction on his building and he is going to be has opened a store as a package store beginning sunday may 17th he's still undergoing construction so he's working very limited hours but his license is now operational we have notified the wyoming liquor division and he is up and running So I wanted to give you the feedback on that. Additionally, we also received a request from Honeyfly Company. I don't know if you've noticed their advertising, but they're gearing up for a grand opening celebration. And they have reached out to us requesting that their license be considered operational as of June 1st. And we've contacted the Wyoming Liquor Division with that as well. And they are working on getting that issued for them. We don't foresee any issues as far as that goes. And their planned business hours will be 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. And I know they invite you to their grand opening on June 20th. And they've got a lot of festivities planned for that period. So I know they would welcome you to attend if you have the opportunity. That is all I have for now.

What was the date again? June 20th. Okay. Anything else, Mr. Butterfield?

No, Your Honor.

Thank you. Well, we didn't get a chance to talk about this at the time. And I know I love reading proclamations. I know that sounds like I'm being sarcastic. I'm not. I enjoy recognizing different things in the community. But May 3rd through 9th was Municipal Clerks Week. We didn't.

recognize it.

And that's probably because I forwarded the email for that to Ms. Harris or to Mr. Butterfield. I don't know. But the point is, if anybody knows Mia Harris, they know that she does not go around saying that she's the greatest or anything like that. She's very humble. And as are our other clerks. I don't think any of them including our deputy city clerk, Mr. Batista, sit there and try to act like they are amazing, but they are. We do good work, and I appreciate it, and sorry we missed out on a proclamation.

It's my fault.

Next year we gotta grab it, or whoever is mayor ought to do it, if they think about it. So thank you for your hard work, and appreciate that that's something that we can recognize. I had the opportunity to attend the WAM board meeting. You may recall Wyoming Association of Municipalities. I'm on the board for them, and it was a good opportunity to meet.

We were in Lander, discussed a lot of different things going on.

They're trying to continue to serve the cities and towns in Wyoming in a lot of different ways. Appreciate their hard work. They go to bat for us in the legislature often. They also, each of the communities now are members of the National League of Cities, which does bring some, I think, other benefits to us in terms of being able to learn and grow together as community leaders. And so good opportunity to meet with them, and I guess I would report they're hard at work. Just as something to think about, I think we have a RFP right now open for 2028 for the Wyoming Association of Municipalities meeting. They're still needing a location for that, and I think it would be worthwhile to consider Riverton for that location. It would make a lot of sense. I mean, we could see if maybe CWC would be available, different things like that. So something to think about and that we can continue to discuss. Also had the opportunity to swear in a new fire board member.

Maybe you're aware of the Riverton Fire District. Yes, I got it right.

We had voted in a new member of the fire board and so had the chance to swear them in and just a good opportunity to rub shoulders with them. So kind of like Mr. Bailey had said, it is the season for things regarding election. And I would say I have appreciated greatly the opportunity to serve as the mayor of the city of Riverton over the last almost four years. I feel like we've done a lot of good things. I feel like we've made progress on matters that matter. I'm very thankful for the service of Mr. Butterfield. Every day, he's hard at work. I text him frequently with random thoughts. As a matter of fact, we were in the meeting, and I texted him something before I forgot about it. And I appreciate the Riverton City Council and how much you have allowed me to serve in this capacity. When I became mayor, things were much different for me in terms of my family and my work. I was third in command, so to speak, in the Fremont County Attorney's Office. And that's changed. I'm now the second in command. We're down two attorneys. Things at that office just are busy, and they continue to be busier. And I also have a young family. I have a five-year-old and a 20-year-old. Actually, today's her birthday. Happy birthday, Katerina.

She's not watching, but I have a five-year-old.

I have other kids, and I've loved serving, but I am not going to be seeking re-election as the mayor. I certainly appreciate that Councilman Bailey is willing to step up and run for that and wish him all the luck in the world. I do care, though, about serving in Riverton, and I intend to go through the paperwork and run for Ward 3 council seat. So my hope is that I could swap with Mr. Bailey, have him step up, and I'd step down. Of course, that's up to the voters, and I appreciate the support that the voters have given me over the last four years, but it's time. Not yet. I still have about seven months, so you can't just kick me out right now. But it's a good time for me to step down, focus more on my family and my other aspects of my life, and so that would be my intention, and I'm very grateful for the opportunity to do that. So that's it for me. Communication from the floor. Yes.

Just before you get there real quick, I forgot one thing.

Oh, my goodness.

Can we ensure, and this is probably for Ms. Harris, temporary vendors in town making sure that they understand the difference between private and public property? I WAS MET THIS MORNING, INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH, WITH AN INDIVIDUAL WHO SPOKE VERY LITTLE ENGLISH SET UP ON THE CORNER WHERE TRUCKS AND TRAILERS PULL IN MY PARKING LOT AND ARGUED WITH ME THAT THEY HAD A CITY PERMIT TO SELL THERE. SO I JUST DIDN'T KNOW IF WE COULD MAYBE MAKE SURE THAT THAT'S CLARIFIED WHEN THEY'RE GETTING THEIR LICENSES OR PERMITS.

Your Honor and Councilwoman, Mr. Michaud and his team addresses these and he definitely wanted to look into that.

Do you have anything you'd like to add?

Your Honor, we're working with that individual today, and it is for sure a constant effort to try and educate the temporary merchants. And just so everybody knows, when you sign up to be a temporary merchant in Riverton, for example, if you have a food truck, you can only do that on commercial properties and not in residential areas. And then you have to have the approval of the property owner as well.

Which obviously was not the case here. normally i wouldn't care but they were blocking my drop off doors so and it was i didn't have much luck explaining so well and i know that we've had a couple of just people selling fruit and that kind of thing which is fine if you have a permit but um i guess would encourage you if you see that and

Thank you.

It's on your property. You have the right to say, hey, no, you can't be here. That's something that is by permission only. So that's a good reminder, Mr. Michaud.

Thank you.

A permit does not mean you can do it anywhere. Which means you can do it places with permission.

Well, and Your Honor, I don't think they can even do it on public property without permission first. So, again, the reason that we have a permit is to make sure they meet all the criteria that you would to have a food truck. You've got an ag department license and sales tax license and have permission to be where you're going to be and all of that stuff.

Right. And I do appreciate, I mean, it sounds like this individual was wanting to go through and get things done with their permit, and that's great, but I think making sure that it's communicated, it's not like Parks and Rec where it's like, this is just a sheet of paper that says I get to do what I want. It's not how a permit works. Okay, thank you.

All right, communication from the floor, citizens' comments.

Anyone in the audience wishing to address the council regarding an item that is set for a public hearing, you can certainly address the council during that public hearing. However, if you would like to address the council regarding an item that is not set for a public hearing, we do things a little bit differently. Some governments will sit there and say, you know, you have to come up during this time. It doesn't matter whether it's set for a hearing or not. If you would like to address the council regarding an item that is on the agenda, please, when that agenda item is called, feel free, come up, let us know who you are, and make sure that you come up and address us at that time. However, if you'd like to address something that's not on the agenda, this would probably be the best time to come up and speak to the council. In either event, I would encourage you to come up and tell us your name, if you're with an organization, what organization you're with. and would ask you to keep your comments to five minutes for an individual, 10 minutes if you're a part of an organization, split it up between you and the other members of your organization. But in either event, would ask that you Avoid making comments of a personal nature reflecting upon the character or conduct of another person. Personal criticism, ridicule, name calling, that sort of thing would encourage you to avoid indecent, obscene, fighting words, other language which might be disruptive to the orderly discussion at the meeting. And if you come up during an agenda item, would encourage you to keep your comments directed to the agenda item. So feel free to come up. I am.

i'm rafael delgadillo mayor council and staff uh two things uh two weeks ago i was here when i spoke regarding the parking survey that was conducted i went to the riverton downtowners we discussed it we appreciated the effort from the chief to do that survey we would like if we do it again in the future to be part of that to make it more uh Expansive so that our concerns can be addressed and so afterwards we had nothing else to follow up on that So whatever you determine to do is fine with us second of all yes I did go through a period right now where I had problem with my liquor license opened up my building, but I wanted to give a you know, a shout out support for Ms. Harris and Mr. Baptiste because they were very informative, supportive, most importantly, very approachable. They were always there. They would answer my questions. And that's very important because a lot of us sometimes are a little intimidated with government. We don't approach it and ask for things that we should. So I just want them to know that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Delvedio. I appreciate that.

My name is Carl Falcon. I am President of the Wind River Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution. I'm also President of the State Society, Sons of the American Revolution, and I am nominee for Vice President General, National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. And I've come here for two purposes. The first one is to ask the Council if they would accommodate a event called the Sharing the Spirit of America. It is nationwide and it is scheduled for the 4th of July this year. And it's basically about reading the Declaration of Independence off the steps of the local city hall. And that's, I'd like to put that before the council. I've already brought it up with Councilman Mike Bailey and in the America 250 Committee so they already have Approved this and I would like to put it before the City Council. Do you have any questions about it?

Questions you have another outfit like that that would fit the mayor this that's the second issue Anything else on that item

I think that sounds good. Would you like to read it, Mr. Falcon?

Yes, I would like to read it, and since I will be also in the Lander and Dubois Independence Day parades, I won't be able to get back here until about 4 p.m., so it would have to be sometime after 4 p.m. on the 4th.

I don't think anybody has an issue with that.

No. And we were talking at the committee that maybe in the evening before we start our music and some of the other things that we would have a crowd gathered. And I think that might be a wonderful time to have Carl read the declaration for us. I think it would work out very well. As long as he didn't get lost on the way back from Du Bois.

Hasn't happened yet. OK. All right, second item. As you mentioned, you're looking for an impression, not a costume. And I talked to your boss, Natalie, and she said that, yes, you would like to borrow one of my impressions. And so I thought I'd come today and show you what you're getting yourself into, literally.

Sounds good. You had asked my hat size, and I have no idea.

You have no idea what your hat size is?

No, I just don't wear hats. I'd have to look.

Well, find out what your hat size is. I'll let you know. And shoe size, too, because these are straight-lasted buckle shoes, and they're size 11.

And if your feet are not size 11, it's not good to wear them.

I believe it. They're 12, but we could see.

Okay, you may have to get your own set of shoes then.

Is it Revolutionary War size 11 or nowadays size 11?

Nowadays size 11, yes. And if your feet are size 12, this could be fatal, so don't do that.

Okay, that might not be a good idea, especially if I'm going to be walking.

Yeah, definitely. All right, well, if this is what you like, we'll have it ready for you then for the 4th of July.

Sounds good. I had already agreed, Cindy Olson-Rodin had already agreed asked me here you know with threat of you know if you say no then you're going to be shamed so i agreed to it but okay well sounds like everything's uh everything's good then but would certainly appreciate borrowing one of your impressions and and i'd love to wear it during the parade so you need a musket that would probably be a good idea yeah okay do you need uh some blank charges to go with that have some fun Probably don't need any blank charges, but musket's good enough.

All right. We'll get you a musket.

Sounds good. Thank you, Mr. Falcon. And thank you very much for appearing here today. And love that you have brought a copy of the Declaration of Independence. That's perfect. Great way to recognize our founding of our country.

Well, I had 12 ancestors that served in the Patriot cause, so I'm pleased to do it.

Good.

Good deal. All right, we'll meet offline and figure things out and. Get whatever I need from you and I'll get you my hat size if I can ever figure it out.

Thank you Mr Mayor.

Thank you Mr Falcon.

Cool outfit.

Cool. I'm not going to sign up for anything else.

That's an all day job.

She just say we'll see. Thanks. Yeah.

CINDY OLSEN- For the audience, I'm Cindy Olsen-Rhoden with the Riverton Chamber and Visitor Center. First, I want to thank Mike for reading that excerpt. That meant a lot. I needed to hear that. It's been a few weeks since I've been here, I think about six weeks. I think we've had two lunch and learns, one after hours, and two ribbon cuttings since then. On the top of the handout is the after hours for next Thursday at Community Health Center of Central Wyoming up on Rose Lane. And we will have the Riverton Search and Rescue, Riverton Senior Center, and Injury Prevention Resources as our nonprofits there. So it should be a... Good event. And I'll send you a reminder. So we have completed our visitor's guide. Thank you, Sarah. She was a big part of this. So I'm so happy. We have 3,000 in our office. We are going to start the distribution process. And when did we start on this? The talking's probably last fall, September maybe. So we are very thrilled with it. It is just in time for passing out to visitors. We are making up 250 visitor bags for the Wyoming Weapons Collection Association gun show this weekend. So it will be, we're just, I'm just super thrilled. This is just, I even posted a video, sent it to my directors, put it on Facebook. It's just a huge accomplishment, something that I've been wanting to see happen. We needed the guide. It's great to hand out. It's got some good information in it. So look through it. I'm proud of it. I think Sarah is too. And she was a huge help for getting this accomplished, which I'm very thankful for. A couple other things real quick. Governor Gordon is going to be here on Saturday, June 6th. I will get you information via email. It's going to be kind of a listening Q&A session with him. We'll have it up at CWC at room... 116 the one we usually have lunch and learns it's going to be like around one o'clock um it's not going to be very long but it is a saturday so i know that's not the most convenient time but we weren't asked what time we were told what time so we'll get more information out on that but please put that on your calendar We did have our meeting yesterday for the 250th. I think things are coming along. We really do. Anyone that's interested in performing musically, we'd like to have you call the chamber or fill out the vendor application. We need to get those. We are looking for... A food trucker, too, or a food vendor, that might be a little tricky down there, you know, late afternoon because there isn't a lot of electricity. So, you know, the food truck is probably the best option. What else? If you can't do anything specific, call the chamber. We're making a list of volunteers. We can always use help that day. But it's coming along. I'm super happy with it. But what Mike read today kind of helped me. I was kind of a little down after yesterday. It's like... my god we're six and a half weeks out we got a lot to do so uh keep moving forward it's like you know you don't eat an elephant all at once one bite at a time so we'll keep on it um any questions for me questions Okay. Oh, where should I, I have a stack of these. Is there a good place here at the city other than on that bench where there's a lot of flyers that you guys would prefer these to be put?

I know that there at least had a place we could put them, but those tended to be for information from the police department. Where would be the best place to put them? Terrace?

Your Honor, Cindy, we could take a stack and put them in the administration waiting room area as well as keep some out on the main bench.

Okay. I'll give you part of my stack. Okay. One last thing I've had. Sorry. Go ahead.

Your Honor, I was just going to mention it would be great to put them at the terminal as well.

Yes, we will.

Let me write it down so I don't forget.

Thank you. I've had a gentleman come into the chamber a couple times in the last 10 days, and he's insistent that I need to do something about there being bathrooms down on Riverwalk. So I am, I'm going to pass it on to you and give that, and I will tell him I did my due diligence. He's also the gentleman that wanted me to fix the light at Maine and Federal because it wasn't long enough or it was too short. One of the two I couldn't remember. I kind of stopped listening after it wasn't one of my fixes. You didn't fix it? I didn't and I didn't even call YDOT so shame on me. But he's come in twice now so I don't know if this is something that's been talked about. I know there's a little bit of issue down there on who's down there and who's going to use them and what that's going to look like. I don't know.

Well, anytime someone comes and it's something that's a city issue, please send them our way.

I will. I will.

I just need to head down to Federal and take a left.

Yeah, as long as he doesn't get caught at the light.

Right. Okay.

All right. Sorry, 10 minutes. Thank you, guys.

Thank you very much, Ms. Olsen-Rhoden. Anything else? Okay. Consent agenda. We're taking a little bit of time to get here today, but IT'S OKAY. MS. HARRIS, COULD YOU PLEASE READ THE CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS BY TITLE ONLY?

YES, YOUR HONOR. MINUTES OF THE APRIL 21, 2026 EXECUTIVE SESSION. MINUTES OF THE MAY 5, 2026 REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING. MINUTES OF THE MAY 5, 2026 EXECUTIVE SESSION. MINUTES OF THE MAY 12, 2026 COUNCIL WORK SESSION. MINUTES OF THE MAY 15, 2026 SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING. MINUTES OF THE MAY 19, 2026 FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING. and Finance Committee recommendations from May 19th, 2026. Thank you.

And could I, I have an envelope for one of the executive session minutes, but I need another one for the May 12th, or the May 5th, if I could. I'll put them in there. Thank you. All right. Let's see, who wants to report from the Finance Committee? Mr. Bailey?

Your Honor, the Finance Committee meant earlier this evening before the council meeting And would recommend consideration of claims to be paid in the amount of $2,015,739.13. Elon credit card in the amount of $4,063.49. Manual check in the amount of $67. Payroll liabilities for 5-1 of 26. payroll in the amount of $62,067.54 for a grand total of $2,081,937.16. Thank you.

I'd entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda as it has been presented.

So moved. Second.

Councilman Larson with the motion. Councilwoman Brothers with the second.

Discussion?

All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. I vote aye. Motion passes. Fix Our Road Citizens Committee appointment. Mr. Tolman.

Your Honor, thank you. We have advertised for a vacancy that has come up in the Fix Our Road Citizens Committee excuse me, citizen involvement. There was a vacancy when one of the members had announced his resignation. Two members have expressed interest in that vacancy. And those letters, I think, have been provided to you.

Thank you. Let's open this up real quick. My recommendation and who I would like to have the council vote on for appointment to the Fix Our Road Citizens Committee would be Dustin Welch. So I'll obtain a motion to approve the mayoral appointment of Dustin Welch to the Fix Our Road Citizens Committee.

So moved. Second.

Councilman Bailey with the motion. Councilwoman Brothers with the second. Discussion.

Yeah. With that pose any conflicts of interest, whereas. I would hope so.

He's conflict of interest of doing the right thing and the best type of construction. Or the city of River.

Finish Johnson Councilman Johnson.

Does that pose a complex of interest as a better on some of these projects recommending what needs to be fixed?

Mr. Thomas, what do you think we've had this a similar situation to this where someone had worked for another asphalt company and also. served on the Fixer Road Citizen Committee. It's a different hat, and that person has to know when they come to that committee that they put on a hat that they look at the citizen as a whole and as a committee member. It's nice to have someone that has the technical knowledge. This other person did. And they tend to bring that technical knowledge to the committee and then also are able to give feedback the committee kind of alternate ways to look at things and help to move forward.

Does that answer that question?

I think so. I think it helps. One of the things that I guess I would encourage just in terms of what I would say to answer that is for the most part that the Fix Our Roads Citizens Committee is not going to be privy to information that's necessarily going to give anyone a head start or a an ability to be able to present something different in a bid that nobody else is going to have, if that makes sense. For the most part, they're going to be talking about projects that need to be done. And I don't think we'd be privy to insider information. Mr. Bailey?

As our liaison.

And again, I've been the liaison on that committee for a long time. And we really do use those guys for technical information on how we might proceed and what kind of a solution is going to be the best one for a certain road condition or that kind of stuff. We've got a person that works for YDOT. Again, the person that retired and resigned was a previous asphalt company person, had good construction knowledge. We've got Rick Gilpatrick, who was in the construction industry for many, many years. And, you know, a couple of engineers and some of that kind of stuff. So I really think it helps the committee give better information, which really they are just a recommending committee to the city. And so they do not... have any kind of advantage when it comes to bidding a project. You know, that goes to the city engineers for, and usually they create a committee to pick, you know, the engineering firm or the construction firm. And then it comes to the city as a bid. Here's the, you know, the three bidders for this project.

And us as the city get to approve those bids.

So I don't think it's really a conflict of interest. It's really a pretty good service that we get highly technically experienced people that can help us make better decisions.

And it's without fee, right?

Yeah, that's what I was going to say, too. He's not getting paid.

They don't vote. They don't cast. They don't do anything but provide expert knowledge and the latest and greatest on toppings and foundations and methods of saving us money. The more experts we have, the better off we are.

Well, and I think it's a worthwhile conversation, Councilman Johnson, and that's part of my concern when I was thinking about who I was going to recommend But that's kind of where I came out on it was just an advising body and not something where they're getting a leg up on bids or that sort of thing.

I just wanted to be clear for the public who will ask that question. And is there any, you know, is there any, could there be any conflict of interest there? They were both great candidates. I'm not saying either way. I just want to be clear to the public that

there would be no conflicts there i appreciate it and good good question thank you thank you any other discussion all in favor say aye aye any opposed say nay motion passes uh public hearing and consideration uh fireworks permit application riverton little league june 25th 2026. miss harris tell us about this item please

Thank you, Your Honor. Mayor, members of the Council, the City Clerk's Office received an application for a fireworks permit on May 8th submitted by Elizabeth Coomer of the Riverton Little League. They are requesting to light off the fireworks at their annual 2026 Championship Night at the Baseball Complex at 105 South Smiths Road. The time of the event on the permit is from 5 p.m. to 10.30 p.m. Historically, they have lit those off at dusk. They have hired Phoenix Flying Phoenix Corporation to detonate the fireworks, and their application was accompanied by a letter from the Fremont County Fire Chief in support of their event, and they did indicate that they would have...

wildland trucks and an engine company available at the scene and with that i would stand for any questions all right that entertain a motion to open the public hearing second motion by councilwoman brothers second by councilman bailey all in favor say aye aye opposed say nay what i motion passes i declare the public hearing open Hearing will be conducted in accordance with state statutes and other applicable laws. Anyone who'd like to speak on this item, I'd ask you to come up, tell us your name, and if you're with an organization, what organization you're with, and please keep your comments to five minutes. Is there anyone in the audience who wishes to speak on this item?

Good evening, everybody. My name's Lonnie Slack. Not really, I am always here for pause, but currently, it would be nice that both with the high school graduation, the fireworks for the baseball, we could just, somebody just run a few ads so people can put their dogs away, get their reactive dogs away maybe for past service members to know and they don't get taken by surprise. That's all I had to say.

I don't know if we'd run ads, but we can certainly share it on our Facebook page. That might be helpful, and we'll try to make sure we bring it up. We usually do an after-council discussion with media, and we can bring it up then and just would encourage them to be able to share that so that they're aware.

Yeah, it would be, it's just kind of helpful. Paws, we repost it if we know. Obviously the baseball thing's been going on forever, so we're aware of that. We do special things for the animals at the shelter during that evening. It's a little scary for them. Right. But yeah, just common people, just so that somehow when it gets out there, they don't get caught off guard. And we see a lot, we see a bit of an influx sometimes. these times of years when people are lighting off fireworks. It's scary to some dogs.

Got it. All right. Thank you, Mr. Slack. Appreciate it. Anyone else in the audience who wishes to speak?

Seeing none, Your Honor, I would move we close the public hearing.

Second.

Second by Councilman Bailey to close the public hearing. Second by Councilwoman Johnson. Any other discussion on that? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. I vote aye. Motion passes. I declare the public hearing closed. I would entertain a motion to approve the fireworks permit for the Riverton Little League on June 25th, 2026.

So moved. Second.

Councilwoman Johnson with the motion. Councilwoman Brothers with the second. Any other discussion on that item?

All in favor say aye.

Aye. Any opposed say nay. I vote aye. Motion passes. Community service contract award prioritization. This was something that after we had had our recent work session meeting had said I wanted to be able to have this on an agenda just so we can discuss where we want to go next. And if we want to do another work session to kind of see where we can get, or if we want to have a regular meeting where we could actually have voting on it. I always hesitate to have this turn into multiple meetings just because I don't want to have every single organization come here every time afraid that there's going to be something that's going to be decided without them being present or able to discuss it. So just kind of wanted to have this be an item that would be, what do we want to do next to be able to make the determination here? There's not as big of a hurry in terms of the budget process. We can take our time a little bit, so long as we don't go outside of the 240,000 that's currently set for these items.

Mr. Butterfield, anything to add to that?

I just wanted to kind of give a little background on it.

Thank you. We'll follow your direction. You are slated to adopt the fiscal year 27 budget on Tuesday, June 9th. In the past, included in the budget are specific line items for each of the awards related to community service contracts so if you would like to continue that practice where we're able to include in the budget a specific line item for the entity that will be receiving funds will need your direction prior to june 9th it is also possible to just have a generic line item with a maximum of what you established which i know from the last work session the consensus was 240 000 we could put that in but i i guess my thought on that is you're delaying getting an answer to those that have applied and I think they probably want to know how much they're going to receive. So that will follow your direction. If you want to go through priorities tonight, I can bring back up the spreadsheet. If you'd rather do that at another meeting or handle it a different way, we'll take your direction.

And I know part of my concern at our last meeting was I like to have everyone here as best we can and that was part of the discussion last time is we didn't have everyone we don't have everyone here either which is fine but um so the reason i had this as an item wasn't necessarily to make the decision but to decide how are we going to decide do we want to have this be something where we have a meeting set aside for it or do we want to have it be something where we wait which um carries with it its own set of concerns, I guess, for the applicants in terms of making their finances, so.

Your Honor, I would just recommend for Ms. Harris's efficiency, which is stellar all the time, staying within the guidelines that we've used previously and have an answer by June 9th for them.

Would we like to then have this as an agenda item at our next regular meeting, which would be June 2nd? Would that be enough time to get it into the budget packet?

I'm good with that.

OK. Come back then June 2nd. Have some final, if we can reach consensus at that time. able to actually vote on it. I know we had a work session discussing it. The pressure will be on, so we'll have to decide. OK. So let's plan on that then, Mr. Butterfield, if we could, June 2.

Make sure we let the applicants know, I suppose, just for them to be made aware that we'll make the decisions then.

I guess I would encourage not to have it be something where we make the applicants get up and present again just because they've been here multiple times and have always been willing to answer any questions. But I think we've kind of had a lot of time to talk about it and just need to vote on it. OK. All right. If we can get that on the June 2 agenda. All right.

I don't think there's anything else in terms of this item.

I don't think there'd be anything to vote on, so we'll move to the next item. Unless there's anything to add, Mr. Butterfield or Ms. Harris?

No, Your Honor. Thank you. OK.

It's almost 8.30. Fine. We can take a break. Yes, let's do that. It's a good time, too. All right, we are at 818. And I would say, let's go ahead and take a recess until 830. Anyone have any problem with that? OK, we're in recess at 818. We'll return at 830. are at 8 30 so uh we are back in our regular session for city council meeting um let's go to our next item this is a consideration of ordinance 26004 first reading animal control police chief's report please thank you mayor and council

City of Riverton is responsible for protecting the health, safety, and welfare of the community through enforcement of city ordinances. This responsibility includes but not limited to addressing issues related to dogs and cats running at large, nuisance animals, and the abandonment of animals within the city limits. Areas of improvement have been identified to assist with enforcement of several ordinances to help promote responsible pet ownership. This amendment would allow for a more efficient and effective way to hold pet owners accountable for abandoning their pets, having them run at large, or for keeping an animal which constitutes a nuisance. The ultimate goal is to promote responsible pet ownership which would be, in turn, reduce the strain on the Burlington Police Department, reduce the strain on PAWS, and increase the overall health, safety, and welfare of the community. The proposed amendments will amend the following sections of the existing Burlington Municipal Code. 6.04.005, definitions. 6.04020, impoundment. 6.08.020, running at large. And 6.08.030, keeping animal constituting a nuisance. The purpose of these changes is to clarify the definition of abandon And to add the ability to issue a notice to appear in municipal court for any violations of the ordinances. Staff is recommending for counsel to approve on first reading ordinance 26-004. With that, Your Honor, I stand for any questioning. And I also have staff, I'm a control officer in Tim Smith's available to answer any questions regarding animal control enforcement.

OK. Thank you. Let's start with the reading ordinance 26004 by title only, Ms. Harris.

Yes, Your Honor, proposed ordinance number 26-004 on first reading and ordinance amending title six, animals, to revise chapter 6.04, animals generally, section 6.04.005, definitions, and section 6.04.020, impoundment. Chapter 6.08, dogs and cats, section 6.08.020, running at large, and section 6.08.030 keeping animal constituting nuisance of the river to municipal code and providing for an effective date all right i'd entertain a motion to open the public hearing so moved second councilman larson with the motion councilwoman brothers with the second

All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed say nay. I vote aye. Motion passes. I declare the public hearing open. Hearing will be conducted in accordance with state statutes and other applicable laws.

I ask individuals wishing to address the council on this item to approach the podium and identify yourself for the record.

Is there anyone in the audience who wishes to speak? Mr. Slack, you just, you don't want us to forget you.

Apparently not, Your Honor. Again, my name's Lonnie Slack. This time, I'm supposed to just be me. I will be with a pause. I quickly seen the resolution of this, and I... It's better than nothing. I seriously, people need to be held accountable for their critters. They just do. You can't, you just, I don't, you have to. I mean, I really like, I like the aspect of the moving forward. It helps the city. It helps our PD be able to gain a little bit more control of the situation as opposed to just being a constant over and over again. I was just talking to Shannon and, She has some dogs that they're repeat offenders. They show up and they know the drill. They get there, they know what's going on.

That's how often they are at the shelter.

And the aspects of it is, I get it, critters make bad choices. That's why everybody should have a chihuahua. They don't make bad choices. They just make choices. But just meaning, yes, every once in a while, one can get out or all of them get out. Somebody leaves the gate open, it can happen. But running around biting, running around just because they're running around is not helpful to the city. It's not helpful to anybody. It's not helpful to pause. So I just wanted to add that, that I believe that this aspect is starting to go in the right direction to kind of actually put some teeth, a bite. no pun intended on that, in this ordinance that will help people, help animals, help paws. Thank you.

Thank you. Appreciate it. Anyone else?

Seeing none, Your Honor, I would move we close the public hearing. So moved.

Motion to close the public hearing by Councilman Bailey, second by Councilman Larson. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. Vote aye. Motion passes. I declare the public hearing closed. I'd entertain a motion to adopt Ordinance 26004. We have that number correctly now, right, Ms. Harris? Okay. On first reading. So moved.

Second.

Motion by Councilman Larson, second by Councilman Bailey. Any other discussion on this ordinance?

Your Honor, I assume under the subject line we've got Ordinance 26-006, and that could be corrected? Yes. It's a little confusing because it goes into Chapter 6, but it's Ordinance 004.

And then I think... so did we when we noticed it i think we had it in there correctly it was just on the staff report that we had a typo is that correct that is correct okay i know noticed is not really a verb but it's one we use i just had a question for clarification um because this does add um

officers or whoever is asked to go issue a citation and they appear before the court and the court orders a payment how is that going to work with the current where they're where we relinquish those fees to them are the are the fines do those have to be paid to the city

Those would go to the city, yes. They would not go to pause. This would be a criminal charge that would result in those, and that would be paid through the municipal court.

So currently, where they're collecting them, how does that affect income for operations?

I guess that the point is, is this could result in additional, I don't want to say income, but it would be fines that would be paid to the court. Chief, do you have anything to add to that?

Sure. So currently there is a, for those that do claim their own animals, an impound fee, a daily fee that PAWS retains for the release of their dogs. If that answers your question correctly, I'm not.

i just know that they pay a fee like if they're impounded they typically pay it to pause correct yes and so these ones that are being issued a citation if need be that will actually go to the city of riverton then because it's a court-imposed fine right so there is a resolution for a schedule in which those owners would

pay pause for city licensing or to get their animals out of pause.

And then those that basically go to pause and like, I really don't want my dog anymore.

I'll just wait until you adopt it out and I'll pay less. This way they would have to go see the judge and the judge can impose a

fine that fine would be paid through the court system and not not deposit thank you and other than I just want to tell miss Anderson thank you for her hard work on this I know she's put a lot of time and effort into resolving some of these issues so I appreciate you very much thank you I've got a question on under abandoned number two says I

An animal is impounded at PAWS or local animal shelter. Really, shouldn't it just say impounded at a local animal shelter? Because PAWS is a local animal shelter. I mean, it's a little bit redundant, and it's just wordsmithing, I guess, to me.

It's actually a fair point. Who knows? 100 years from now, we might not have an organization named PAWS. Might want to change their name. I think you'd want to keep it generic, yeah. I think it might make sense to have that just say a local animal shelter. And the idea behind this really is, as it stands right now, people have had animals. We know that they're their animals. And if I understand this correctly, what we're trying to capture here, someone has an animal. They have let the animal run at large. Animal is then retrieved by Ms. Sanderson. Very well done. And then brought to PAWS. And then don't retrieve the animal from PAWS within 72 hours. So we're trying to say, that's abandonment of an animal. You're saying, I know that this dog has been taken by PAWS, and I'm not doing anything to get it out. So we're saying you could be charged for that, which I think makes a lot of sense. It's an easy way to define abandonment. But I do agree. I think if we said pause and make reference to it, This is something that's going to have to stand the test of time. It might be a good idea just to get rid of that.

No different than we say whenever the animal control officer, we don't say Ms. Sanderson. Right. So that if she gets replaced in that position with somebody else, we don't have to change the ordinance. Yeah.

That's a good point. So I'm assuming that's a motion to amend the language there to remove at pause and just have it be impounded at a local animal shelter. So remove pause and or that's your motion, right? We have a second on that motion second. Have a motion and second to amend as noted with the removal of the word pause. And or and I guess replace with the word a. Any other discussion on that motion?

Is that the only place where they're mentioned?

That's true. Is there any other place where we have pause there?

Maybe just delete if it's in any other.

I don't see any either. OK.

Your Honor, I have a question, though. So let's just say.

Before we get there real quick. Oh, sorry. We have a motion and a second. Discussion on the motion regarding the amendment of removal of the word pause and or and replacement of that with the word aid. Any other discussion on that motion? Is your discussion regarding that motion? No, no, no. We need to vote on that. OK. All in favor of that amendment, say aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay. I vote aye. Thank you, Mr. Bailey. That motion passes. So now we're back on the main motion. Councilwoman Brothers.

Yes, so thank you, Your Honor. Let's say somebody attempts to retrieve their animal, and we discussed this earlier this year, and let's say they don't have the money. It's too expensive, okay? They've gone, they're attempting to retrieve their animal, but they don't have the money. Now what? So Paz says, no, you can't have your animal.

Because you owe us $200 because they've been here four days.

Can't have your animal. They've been here two days or anything, whatever. I don't have that money. Can't have the animal. Okay. Okay. So you have to leave and have the animal.

Yeah, so now they continue to have expense. It gets worse, which means the person is less likely to get their animal back.

And, you know, you asked for them back. Now what?

Well, I think, so the first thing, I guess you're talking... Let's say you go within the first couple days.

Okay. And Paz has... not inexpensive fees, okay? And people, this is not a wealthy community, okay? So we're talking about raising a water bill $2 a month, okay? It's usually, I think, $100 for two days or something like that, okay? So let's say, you know, $50, $100, can't afford it, okay? Now what? And we're going to charge them criminally when they don't have $50. And their animal got out accidentally. And they've showed up. They've said, I would like my animal back. And PAWS says no. Now what?

Your Honor, I might be able to shed a little light on that. Through the committee work, I think one of the recommendations and some things that some of us has been discussing is setting up reasonable payment arrangements for people that are in that kind of situation. And it's, I mean, I can't speak to it now, or what the recommendation will be. But you know, there may be additions to ordinances for failure to pay fines that could be included in that later, but allow them to work out a reasonable payment arrangement initially to be able to obtain their dog back, I think was some of the discussion that was had. I can't say that's what it will be because that's obviously an operational thing for PAWS to decide on. But I know that that's been talked about.

Doesn't quite, I guess, solve the concern in the ordinance itself. And I mean, it's a good point to be discussing with it because there's always unintended consequences, right?

Okay, yeah. Mr. Bailey?

Yeah, your five-year-old leaves the gate open and your dog gets out, you know, go get it the next day. And yeah.

And then it also... Adds additional cost to pause because the longer that animal's there, the more fees that get added up, the less likely the person is to pick up their dog.

And I know it's more expensive if it's not licensed. So let's say it's not licensed, you know. So I mean, so I know that there's those issues. But let's just say, you know. And that's not on them. I mean, I'm saying that that's on the people of Riverton. If we place a law that says if you don't have money, essentially you're criminally liable. I'm just putting that out there. I think that we need to have a way that says that they are allowed to get their animal from PAWS if they don't have money. If they go and ask for their animal back at PAWS,

Yeah, we could build in, you know, they talk about these frequent flyers that, you know, their dog's an escape artist and every night it jumps the fence and goes and prowls around town and they pick it up and then three days later they go pick it up, the customer picks it back up and then a week later here it happens again. You know, there maybe ought to be something, some kind of escalation that

I feel like that's the whole point to being a responsible pet owner.

No, and I agree, but there are certain animals that just get out.

Keep your cat cooped up, right?

The dogs are all better than the cats. Those cats just run free.

Yeah.

They don't have to be on a leash or anything either. Yeah.

That's true.

On that note, yeah. Well, and I would note, so part of what we are discussing here is So first off, there is the idea of cruelly abandons. And that's one where you can be, according to our code, could be held criminally liable up to, I think, a six-month jail sentence as well. That's not the same as what we're talking about here. Sure, if you show up and ask for it. This one is defining abandon. And it says, notice to owner et cetera, the chief of police or designated representative shall, upon the impounding of any animal as provided in subsection A, notify the owner or the person having charge of such animal in writing within 24 hours after such animal shall have been impounded. Such written notification shall contain a brief description of the animal impounded and shall also show the amount of fees and charges then due from the owner or person having charge of such impounded animal. provided that if the owner or person having charge of such an impounded animal be a non-resident of the city, the chief of police or designated representative shall have three days in which to give the notice herein. So then the idea is when you come down to D, if you allow that animal to be impounded for the space of 72 hours after being notified, then there would be a complaint against such owner or the person in charge as the author of abandonment. Abandonment, I guess, is probably maybe the better word there. And then says, basically, if you believe a person has violated one of the provisions of this section, then you can have a citation containing a notice to appear in the municipal court. So I mean, you're exactly right. Somebody leaves an animal at pause or an animal control or an animal facility shelter 72 hours you could have a citation written out for you and you're saying that seems all well and good but if in order to recover that animal you need to pay a certain amount of money you don't have that money to pay Doesn't seem fair.

I think my only yes your honor my only concern is just that in Riverton where we're worried you know Councilwoman Johnson very valid about the $2 a month Water bill and here we are for saying Whether it be whatever fee and whoever imposes it is And if we continue to impose fees on our citizens, if they're attempting to recover the animal, that is the key. If they can't recover it due to the fee, we shouldn't criminally charge them. That's the key. Right. So I think that.

It would be like saying you can throw me in jail for jaywalking, And the fine's $100. So if I don't have $100, I can't get out of jail to go to work to earn $100 to get out of jail. It's the same kind of dilemma that you're stuck in.

Yeah. I think the dilemma that they're facing currently is, I mean, And please correct me if any of you have an opinion on it. But I think what's happening is they don't want to pay the fine. They can pay the fine. And in lieu of paying the fine, they just say, well, then keep the animal. I'm not going to pay that. They don't like the fee. And so therefore, they're not paying it, I think, is a lot of what they're running into or what I've heard. And I agree with you to an extent that But don't they have discretion whether they just issue a warning, like if their gate was just left open, the kids left them open, and they're given discretion whether they can give the ticket or not in that case? But repeat offenders, I mean, if your dog's been down there seven times in the last year, you, by God, should get a ticket.

Absolutely should keep on going and getting the dog back.

And the whole purpose of this is, is to force responsible ownership, if you don't want a ticket for it, and keep your dogs locked up, keep your cats locked up. Because they're, they're, they're causing a lot of cost citywide.

A couple little things. If we're going to give them notice in writing, I don't know that you would receive it in three days. I've had letters sent.

And delivered.

Well, is that what in writing means? I don't know that it does. If you're going to mail it, it may take a week to get your notice. Now, you ought to have figured out your dog's gone by then also, but. I think we have a valid point. I think we need to somehow encourage people to go pick up their dog that does get out. Because we don't want to overload the animal shelter with dogs that do have a home and they want to get back in the home. And so if we can keep the fees reasonable, I think we want to punish the person that doesn't want to keep their dog at home and wants to get rid of it. If some... Again, the fee's got to be reasonable enough that people can afford to get their dog out.

If they're still incurring fees.

Which saves PAWS money and the city money.

Just out of curiosity, does this... So PAWS has had their fees for an animal, but I believe the city of Riverton holds it for, what, five days, ten days before they're given notification. Can we get

Your Honor, I can probably provide some clarification. And I'm going to ask our officer to maybe clarify even more. But Your Honor, Councilman Johnson, you're correct. The officer responding to the call has the discretion if an animal is a repeat offender. And I'll give a prime example of what's about to happen here in the next couple of months, as Mr. Slack alluded to.

Fourth of July is busy for our animal control staff.

There will be animals that will get spooked because of noises in town. And we usually use the spirit of the law rather than the letter of the law. these holidays come in, whether it be wind or fireworks, there's times of the year where animals do get out. The idea of the 72-hour notice, we'll use this weekend, Memorial Day weekend. If you have an animal, your pet, and you're gone for three days and you don't have somebody looking after it, there may be a problem. So usually you have somebody, they can come check on, feed the dog once a day or every other day. Somebody should be there to check on the animal.

And the notice, and I'll ask for animal control officer to speak up.

Usually post notice at the residence where we believe that the pet owner lives and resides. And, Your Honor, if we may, we can have Shannon come forward and answer any further questions or clarify for Council.

Come on up here, please, and tell us a little bit about what written notice looks like from your perspective.

Your Honor, Councilmembers, when I pick up a dog at large, and I know it's a repeat offender either by, I have a per se mug book of dogs and cats that I have that if I take a picture of, I can see that they've been a repeat offender. I get a hold of pause, the repeat offender, they're chipped. So that goes back to the owner. It's been in there multiple times. I know where the owner's at, what the owner's address is, phone number. I will either call them or put a notice on their door and let them know that picked up the dog. It's a pause. Contact me as soon as possible.

And I know, because I've received one of those when I had a dog that was barking.

Pretty sticky note.

Not just a sticky note, it's a pretty good written note. It's a door hanger, yellow. So, yeah. But I think, you know, in terms of if you've got a place, we were talking about is 24 hours, 72 hours enough time to be able to get that. And I think That's been the common practice that that written notice is not something that you're sending through the mail or anything like that.

No, it's same day notice. Delivery by the animal control postal service.

Yes. And then, so tell me, how often do we have situations where an animal is recovered by you And then it's returned to the owner without even having Paz involved. Like maybe somebody will call directly to the police department. Does that happen pretty often?

Yes, it does happen often. There are times when I pick them up. I will do my best to, because I mean, it is stressful to go to animal shelter. If there's any way possible, I can avoid that and just get them returned home, you know, same day where they aren't have to be kept there in a stressful environment. I do it. I do everything in my power to get them to avoid that and get them home. you know, providing I can get a hold of the owners. There's been times where I can get a hold of the owner and they're at work and I'll just keep the dog, you know, in my vehicle or whatever the case may be until they can get off work just to avoid that going to pause and the less stress on the dog.

So I guess in terms of if we have a situation, a responsible owner, that's looking for their animal, has posted something and saying, hey, my dog's at large, keep an eye out for him, and we're trying to recover him, you would usually just get that right back to them, and there's not going to be any sort of fee or anything like that associated.

I mean, every circumstance is different. I mean, it's, yes, do our best, and I will tell, you know, hopefully they'll call the RPD and put a, you know, let us know, hey, my dog's out, and they're pretty good about that. Some There are just those repeat offenders that there I do try and get them that just constantly are out all the time. It's just tough when, I mean, I can, a lot of, what I do the first time is I give them a warning. Say, things happen. Gates blow open, fireworks, things happen. It's these repeat offenders that they can pay this fine, $75 fine. It really doesn't mean anything to them. They will just go pay the fine and take my dog home and tomorrow we're not going to do anything to make adjustments to keep the dog in. So, I mean, I can cite them and cite them. It's set at $75 for a dog at large, a $200 nuisance animal, but it can't go up. It's being able to cite them and have them go in front of a judge to be held accountable and to answer to the judge and perhaps face a larger, hey, this is like your third time of the dog at large. This has got to stop. We've got to do something to protect the safety of the animal, for one thing. I mean, it's one thing for them to go and pay the fine, but you're not thinking of the safety of the animal. I mean, nobody wants to see a dog hit on the road or wounded. It's not fun. It's not fair to the dog.

So I guess here's my question, though, too. For those individuals that kind of have paws take the animal and then they just pay the fee, get the animal back, this wouldn't necessarily apply to them, though, because they're getting it back before the 72 hours is up, usually, aren't they?

Yes. Yeah, they have five days to claim the dog. So, yeah, it doesn't. I mean, if a dog goes to PAWS, I can still cite them if I fill it two or three times. But I mean, there's times where they can claim the dog from PAWS without getting cited.

I guess that's my point, is we've got five days under code before it's something that we basically say, okay, this is now something that's going to become the property of PAWS or the property of the city, whatever it might be. Yes. And then... So this is kind of before that. We're talking about 72 hours that they've been at pause. You're not getting them back.

And they know that they're there. The thing is that they've been, they know, I get a hold of them. They know that the dog's there. You have a certain time to get them. If you don't get them just for the fact that, well, I didn't really want my dog anyway, I'm just going to leave it at pause. you're abandoning them. I mean, it's, I was really, I was thinking about getting rid of my dog and this just takes care of it. I'm just not going to claim it.

And then the idea that you're saying is if somebody does that, they're not paying a surrender fee then, because normally there'd be a surrender fee and nothing. They're not being held accountable. They just let the dog stay there, pause, five days hits. And they're like, well, I didn't want my dog Yep, it's your responsibility now. Your proposal is this would be holding someone like that accountable for that.

Yes, and make them think about next time, make it a bigger decision that's going to be a lifetime of the dog, not just, you know, if I don't want my dog, I'm just going to let it out and let it run at large and go down to paws and I just won't claim it. A month later, I see a little puppy, well, I'm just going to get this puppy for my kid and it grows up to be a dog and, oh, we don't want it, we'll just let it run at large and go down there and we won't claim it. There has to be some accountability. It's not fair to the animal.

Any other questions for Animal Control Officer Sanderson? Glad you're here. Thank you for providing your expertise and perspective, Mr. Bailey.

And I guess it's very admirable, and you've always done a good job, I think, in getting dogs back to their owners, which is what we all would want. And that way Paws doesn't have to pay to feed them for a week or whatever it is and all that the trick is how do we put that into the ordinance pretty much now you're at your own discretion to do you know to go the extra little bit to get those dogs back to their owners yes so the trick is how do we make that in the ordinance to where, you know, there's some, you know, we all agree that the ones that are just abandoning them and pushing the cost off to somebody else deserve to get, you know, some kind of punishment for that. Right. We're not trying to punish the, you know, five-year-old that dog gets out and you pick it up right right there everyone's different circumstance yes i think everybody agrees with that the trick is it's hard to put that down in something that's more finite to me that's that's the trick and i don't have a good answer on how that Which we can think about it on other readings too.

We can decide that we'd want to kind of change it a little bit to be able to handle that. And I really appreciate the forethought of Councilwoman Brothers to say, OK, wait a minute. What about this set of circumstances?

But I do think the 72 hours in your practice kind of captures that.

In terms of if someone's being responsible and trying to get their animal recovered, we're not going to have them ever hit the door at pause.

Right, and like I said, there's a different circumstance. It's these ones that just have this attitude of, you know, not taking responsibility and being a responsible pet owner is pretty much what it boils down to. I mean, like I said, accidents happen, but it's the Ones that, you know, oh my gosh, the same dog. Yeah. You know, it's not fair.

Does she have a pug book that she looks at? A mug book. A mug book.

Yeah, a pug shot.

We're like a pit bull.

I did have somebody who was adamant that we should just ban pit bulls in the city of Riverton. That's what bit me.

How many of these animals that you pick up, aren't tagged, aren't collared, aren't chipped, you really don't have any idea who owns them?

It's more so that are picked up that are chipped or tagged or I know who the owners are than not. Wow.

I'm just curious. I didn't know how many that were just pure strays.

Yeah, we do have those, but there's more. I mean, the ones that as soon as I hear the description, it's like, oh, I know that dog or their area that it's at or just the picture, you know. Yeah, more so.

I had one of those. I think you've met my old dog that we had that passed away. It's like. The fence only worked when he wanted it to because he could jump a six-foot fence without any problem. So if he wanted to get out and go run around, he would. So, yeah, that becomes challenging.

Maybe we could discuss along the lines of with your city license fees microchipping so that they can be returned without going to the impound. You're saying discussing that as a requirement for the city to have microchipping when you get your city tags get your pet microchip because a vet does not have to do that. Miss Anderson can do that and then we would just have to supply the microchips and maintain the data.

We, when dogs were impounded, microchipped the dog? Is that, what kind of expense would that be?

I don't know how much micro, I mean, I haven't done it, so I don't know how much microchips are, but I mean, definitely a possibility.

I know PAWS microchips each of their animals, so that's, well, it's a worthwhile discussion. I mean, just to be able to say.

It's a great resource to, anything to help get them back to their owner. providing that they re-register that chip if it goes to a different owner. A lot of times I get them and say, it hasn't been registered. It came from PAWS and it's not, they didn't register the dog in their name. But that's, I mean, we can address that.

Okay. Any other discussion on this ordinance? Thank you, Officer Sanderson. Thank you and appreciate your hard work every day. I've seen you out there so many times lately. I was just at the doctor's office the other day and you were out there catching a couple of cats. Oh yeah. And I just, I didn't knock on the window to be like, hey, but I was tempted. This was like a couple months ago and it was an area that you caught like four or five cats, I'm pretty sure. So.

Ongoing problem. Yeah. Thank you.

Thank you.

We have a group of cats in our neighborhood. My wife has started calling them the mafia, the cat mafia, because They all come into my backyard. They gather up in a little huddle for about five minutes, and then they all go off their ways. And she's like, they're scheming against the world. She knows they are.

I have a cat in my house who's a guard cat. And the only thing he guards against is other cats. She sits there and watches the other cats as they come into our yard and gets all hissy at them from behind the window. And they just ignore her and sit there and swish their tails and make fun of her. And it's very funny. She does not like being a house cat. But I'm going to tell you what right now, she is a house cat.

Any other discussion?

Okay. I think as we go forward, I mean, I agree with you, Mr. Bailey, we could approve this today. And if we want to finesse the language a little bit, I do really appreciate what Councilwoman Johnson said about discretion and being able to have decisions made as we go forward and appreciate Councilwoman Brothers too. Good discussion on it and We'll keep it going. All in favor of passage of Ordinance 26004 on first reading, say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, say nay. I vote aye. Motion passes. Wyoming Department of Health Wastewater Sampling Agreement. Mr. Thoman, tell us about this item, please.

Thank you, Your Honor. In front of you for consideration tonight is an agreement for wastewater sampling. This agreement would be between the City of Riverton and the Wyoming Department of Health. That's the Public Health Division. A few months back, the Department of Health approached the City of Riverton, and more specifically the wastewater treatment plant chief operator, Shane Sweeney. They have a proposal to pay for sampling that would occur at the wastewater treatment plant. They already currently sample to test the wastewater on a daily basis. The sampling would be twice a week sampling that they would then send off to the Department of Health. The Department of Health would pay for all materials. They'd also pay for the labels and then provide a location to ship off the sampling twice each week. As a part of the agreement, they have a lump sum. number that they would pay for up to a three-year contract. The contract would set to expire if signed tonight. It would expire July 31st of 2029. So the Department of Health would pay $93,600 up front. That's within 45 days of the signing of this agreement. And then those samples would be sent off to Cheyenne on a biweekly basis. When they use that data, the state uses that data, they would make it publicly available. This would be kind of similar to the testing that was done during the COVID kind of era. And then if entered into this agreement, again, the city would be paid that lump sum amount within 45 days of entering into this agreement. Thank you, Your Honor.

Okay. I'd entertain a motion to approve the contract agreement for wastewater sampling between the City of Riverton and the Wyoming Department of Health.

So moved. Second.

Motion by Councilwoman Brothers, second by Councilman Bailey. Discussion on this item?

Yes, sir. Is this how we've been doing it for the past?

Mr. Toman?

Your Honor, in the past, I'm going off just a little bit of memory, but there wasn't an upfront sum.

I believe it was paid during the duration of the contract.

This is paid up front, and then all materials are then provided. So a little better deal than some of the past sampling contracts that have been entered into.

Yes, sir. So they're supplying us with everything we need to do this, including postage and whatever, and we're just getting paid this for our labor to do this.

Your Honor, that is correct. It's a shipping label for a FedEx shipment.

I just won't make any jokes about this.

There's so many you could make in terms of sending these samples through the mail, but I will refrain. Any other discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. Vote aye. Motion passes. Resolution 1553, Riverton Emergency Response Plan. Police Chiefs, report please.

Thank you, Mayor and Council.

The Emergency Operation Plan identifies the City of Riverton emergency planning, organization, and response policies and procedures. It addresses the city's responsibilities in emergencies associated with natural disasters and human-caused emergencies. The plan provides framework for coordination, response, and recovery efforts within the city in coordination with the county, state, and federal agencies. It provides an overview of each jurisdiction's approach to operations. The plan details emergency response policies, describes the response organization, and science tasks, and how the tasks will be addressed. I've drafted an EOP to conform and provide interagency collaboration during an emergency event. The county's EOP was approved and adopted by this council on January 6th of this year. The Riverton EOP was designed to provide a local response in the event of a disaster and to interact with broader Fremont community. The Riverton EOP conforms with NIMS and defines the primary and support roles of each department, which will allow them to prepare for, respond to, recover from, and mitigate impacts of a variety of hazards and disasters. Pursuant to state statute, this EOP is exempt from public disclosure as it contains information pertaining to the deployment, mobilization, and tactical operation of the city of Riverton in response to emergencies. As such, a copy of this EOP was not included with this report. The city minister has coordinated access to council members to review the documents. Staff's recommendation is for City to adopt, via Resolution 1553, the City of Riverton Emergency Operations Plan. With that, Your Honor, I stand for any questions.

Thank you. Let's start with reading Resolution 1553 by title only, please, Ms. Harris.

Yes, Your Honor. Resolution number 1553, a resolution adopting the Emergency Operations Plan for the City of Riverton, Wyoming.

Thank you. I'll entertain a motion for the adoption of Resolution 1553.

So moved.

Motion by Councilman Bailey, second by Councilwoman Johnson. Discussion on this item? All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. I vote aye. Motion passes. Just moving like gangbusters through these. All right. Consideration of Resolution 1554, term clarification for optional 3.25% sales tax, sales and use tax. City Administrators, report, please.

Thank you, Your Honor. I'll be very brief. The Council adopted Resolution 1545 on March 3rd, 2026, supporting the proposed 3.25% economic development sales and use tax proposition for the August 18th primary election.

The ballot exclusively supports commercial air service, public ground transportation, and emergency medical services or ground ambulance.

Recently, the County Commission felt it was necessary to provide more clarity on the ballot language to ensure that it was explicitly stated that this is a four-year measure. This resolution before you tonight just mirrors this slight adjustment in the proposed ballot language. It does not change anything else. It just clarifies that. that this is the initial term, I should say, is going to be for four years should it be approved by the voters. Thank you, Your Honor. I'll stand for any questions.

Thank you. And for those who were looking at this, this is basically all it says. The language before just said it would be up for consideration at the next general election in 2030. The only change was just saying every four years, basically, and at the general election in 2030. So very slight change. Fremont County started kind of looking at this and said, hey, we want to modify that. They quickly jumped on it and modified it. And so that's why it's here before us today. If you could please, Administrative Services Director, Ms. Harris, read Resolution 1554 by title only.

Yes, Your Honor. Resolution number 1554, a resolution of the governing body of the City of Riverton amending resolution number 1545 to clarify the question of the three-quarter percent sales and use tax to specifically establish a four-year term.

Thank you. I'll entertain a motion to adopt resolution 1554.

So moved. Second.

Councilman Larson with the motion, Councilman Bailey with the second. Any other discussion on this item? All in favor say aye. Aye. Say nay. Vote aye. Motion passes. Okay, next up. Memorandum of Agreement, Optional 3.25% Sales and Use Tax.

Mr. Butterfield, tell us about this item. Thank you, Your Honor. This Memorandum of Agreement, or MOA, establishes the framework among participating governing bodies regarding the administration and distribution of the tax that was just discussed for the previous resolution. I'll point out a few of the important notes for the proposed memorandum of agreement that was included in your packet. Essentially, the first item in the agreement acknowledges the way that the money works from the Department of Revenue to the municipalities. Essentially, this is the same process that works for our current sales tax, wherein businesses assess the sales tax, remit it to the state of Wyoming, and then the Department of Revenue distributes by population the ratio of the sales tax to municipalities and counties. So this clarifies that to make sure that people are aware that the funds don't route through the county treasurer, but like all sales tax, it goes directly to the municipalities. The agreement further notes that it shall exclusively be used for economic development purposes and that the parties agree to create a restricted fund or line item for use as approved by the ballot initiative. Essentially, the agreement states that no part of the tax shall be transferred to any of the parties' general fund for operation. I think that's really important because I know there is some concern among our constituents that the potential optional tax could be used to support things other than what the voters approve. This agreement ensures that each party agrees to utilize it as required by the voter and that it's accounted for separately. It underlines that the parties agree that the net proceeds of the tax shall be used for economic development only to support emergency medical services, commercial air service, and public ground transportation. Again, there is no discretionary part of this optional tax that's being proposed. It has to go towards those three services. The ballot language does not provide a percentage as to how much of the tax proceeds will be used. for either of the proposed core services. The purpose of this memorandum of agreement is to define that. And we've talked about that in previous presentations. Tonight, this MOA memorializes that 54% of the party's proceeds will be distributed monthly to Fremont County for emergency medical services. So 54% go to the county to cover their obligation for ambulance services.

Furthermore, 31% of the party's proceeds will be distributed monthly to the City of Riverton for commercial air service.

And finally, 15% would be distributed monthly to Fremont County Association of Governments for ground transportation. That would be for WRTA or any other ground transportation alternative like senior centers and others. This agreement is streamlined and it's brief, but it's important in the sense that I think the voters are interested and want to see how the funds will be used and to what ratio. I think it's also important to note that this does not account for any excess because I do not think that it's appropriate that this tax should create an excess.

The funds should directly go to the services that are being provided.

Therefore, the 54%, 31%, and 15% go from each entity that participates in this agreement to those that provide the services. The effective date that's proposed for this agreement is essentially after the three-quarter percent tax is passed.

If it does not pass, obviously this MOA does not go into force.

The term remains in force until the potential initiative is defeated. I also want to note that this MOA can be amended in the future and then also It denotes the ability of the parties to audit each other to ensure that the funds are being used appropriately. Really, that's a feel-good paragraph because we are public entities subject to open and public record law. If anyone in the public is curious about how these funds are used, they can talk to their governing bodies and submit a public record request to ensure that they're being used appropriately. But that clause is in there as well so that we as governing bodies can work together to ensure that there's full transparency in how the funds are used.

I think it is a opportunity to go back and present that to them.

Fremont County Clerk Julie Fries did propose an item that was of interest to the commissioners. If you'll look at the handout that I provided you, naturally this happened today, so I could not include it in your packet. But Ms. Friese recommended that should there be an amendment to this MOU in the future, that a 30-day public comment period be provided before the governing bodies take I think this is a good recommendation in the sense that it allows anyone who's curious about how the potential tax is being used to be notified, especially if there's a change in the ratio of where the funds go. And it is possible that an amendment would come forward for the use of these funds. It may be that Fremont County doesn't operate the ambulance a year and a half from now and another entity does. If that is the case, it's important that this MOA can be amended.

It may be that the percentage allocations need to be changed as market influences change in the future.

Those can be addressed through an amendment to this MOA.

However, before those amendments occur, Ms.

Freeze proposed that that 30-day public comment period occur. I've also provided a second option to that proposal, and that would be that prior to any approval of an amendment, each governing body would have to have a public hearing before acting. So that's one way to handle that, but I do believe the commissioners prefer the first option, which is basically a minimum of 30-day public comment period coordinated by the Fremont County Clerk's Office. And upon conclusion of that period, the Fremont County Clerk shall compile and provide the results and comments received during the public feedback period to each party prior to them taking action. That's language that was just drafted today. I've shared it with County Attorney Maxson and also Ms. Freeze, but have not received feedback. But you get first opportunity to consider.

With that, Your Honor, I hope that appropriately addresses what's coming before you.

I'd be happy to stand for any questions, should you have them.

I'd entertain a motion to approve the MOUA between governing bodies of Fremont County regarding the proposed 3.25% optional sales and use tax.

So moved. Second.

Second by Councilman Larson, second by Councilman Bailey. Discussion on this? Is that... I GUESS THE MOTION IS FOR THE APPROVAL OF IT. WHAT WOULD BE YOUR PLEASURE IN TERMS OF THE 8C AMENDMENT? WANT TO DO IT WITH THE 8C AMENDMENT OPTION 1 OR OPTION 2?

OR NONE.

I GUESS I HAVE A QUESTION.

SO IF THERE'S TWO POSSIBLE WAYS FOR THE 30-DAY the public input on a amendment. If all the entities don't agree on the amendment, so half pick one, half pick the other, how does that work? Does that mean we got to start over?

Your Honor, Councilman, I should clarify that in order to amend the MOA, all parties to the MOA have to be in agreement. It's not a majority rule situation. So prior to that amendment coming forward, hopefully the governing bodies would have opportunity to look at the need for that amendment and have some level of common accord. What Ms. Fries proposed is just a better way to communicate with the public about it. I think if the commissioners and Ms. Fries really like the idea of the minimum 30-day public comment period, I think that's great. And I recommend you put that in. Any of the governing bodies could still hold a public hearing, should they so choose, prior to an amendment. So option two is, I think, not recommended by the county. It's just another alternative, as you as a governing body can consider the way to ensure that voters know when this MOA is going to be amended. um commissioner jones felt that since the county represents everyone in the county they were a good clearinghouse per se for that public comment period ms freeze is used to running these and um oh my mouth's getting away from me so i'll just finish my thought but if if the county wants to pay for the cost of that public comment period we appreciate that and would let them do so mr bailey so

Kyle, are you okay with that included in your motion? I would agree. And that still gives the city the ability to have a public hearing before we vote on the amendment anyway, so we really get both.

Or could.

And I guess I just don't want to find us in a position where Two of the communities want the public hearing at their meeting, and three of them want the county to do it, and then we're in a place where then we technically haven't agreed.

I think we all should agree that... We have to all agree to amend it.

Your Honor, Councilman, that is correct. So let's say in the instance of the city of Riverton, if for some reason the contract cost for commercial air service increases, it would not... be the City of Riverton's ability to amend the MOA on its own to cover that. It would need to work with the other governing bodies. And I think that's the right way to go. We do need to work together as governing bodies on the use of this tax.

I'm more worried about us approving this memorandum tonight because if if we go through and all the communities if we make two separate amendments to the end of it that means we didn't agree right your honor if i may answer that um that's correct as we go around and speak with each governing body there's a potential that they may want to add different language

However, I think we need the first domino to fall and take an agreement for the other municipalities to see has been already approved by one governing body. If it's amended, we as staff will bring it back to you for your consideration. But the option one is fine from staff's perspective. Option two is not necessary. It's just an alternative for you to look at. And if you're okay with that option one, That first domino can fall and then we can work with the others. I worry that this could be a corkscrew effect where we'll never get a motion made because it just is an amended document as we circle the county and we need to at least get something going.

Mr. Sollers, do you have any issue with option A or option one? Any changes, modifications, revisions, or amendments to this MOA which are mutually agreed upon by the party shall be incorporated by written instrument executed or signed. No provision may be modified or altered solely by an individual party. Prior to consideration of any amendment to this MOA, the proposed amendment shall be subject to a minimum 30-day public comment period coordinated through the Fremont County Clerk's Office. Upon conclusion of the public comment period, the Fremont County Clerk shall compile and provide the results and comments received during the public feedback period to each party. for consideration prior to any action on the proposed amendment. Following receipt and review of the public comments, the governing bodies of the party may consider approval of the proposed amendment in accordance with their respective procedures.

I have no problem with that. While you always can hold the public hearing, I mean, if you wanted to go one step further, combine the two options and say in addition to the 30-day public comment period, any entity may hold a public hearing. Right. And then that would take away the we want to do a public hearing or we want to do the 30-day comment period. put them together in the amendment so that those that want the public hearing you do the 30 days and then have your public hearing others that don't think that's necessary you're not required to right well then i think we could also just leave it like it is and then the communities that want to do it could do it if they wanted to i mean i guess your honor i like rich's suggestion because

Some of this is a little bit of maneuvering to cause discourse and have it fail. And so I think we need to make it as encompassing as possible so that everybody has the flexibility to do what they need to do. And if the county wants to do their 30-day public notice, they're fine. We can do a public hearing. We're fine. We can not do a public hearing. We're fine.

I think that gives everybody the most flexibility, and I think Your Honor, I think the amendment's a really good idea so that the public can be assured that what they're voting on, this is how it's going to be. And if some entity or all the entities want to change the percentages or something else, they're going to have an opportunity for input. They can't be blindsided by it. So I think it's a very good amendment. And I think if you find the two options, should satisfy everybody.

So the motion was for passage for approval of the MOA with option one. If I'm understanding correctly between the motion by Councilman Bailey or motion by Councilman Larson, second by Councilman Bailey had conferred that was with option one. Anything any other discussion on this? Go ahead, Councilman.

You can finish, because I'm going to take up that.

I would offer an amendment to that that we combine the two options together instead of picking one.

Yeah, Your Honor, we would combine option A and B to make it as broad, covered all the elephants, and make sure that the public has the opportunity to... sit or not sit in judgment at some future time for the percentages may increase or decrease subject to those times.

So with this option one, would it make sense just to add then at the end, following receipt and review of the public comments, the governing bodies of the parties may consider approval of the proposed amendment in accordance with the respective procedures, including but not limited to a public hearing. Would that be a good way to kind of incorporate both of them there?

Yeah, and it makes it elective on the public hearing.

may consider approval of the proposed amendment in accordance with their respective procedures including but not limited to a public hearing would that be all right okay so let's just make sure we're really clear on this motion was for passage of it just to make things as clear as we can make it i guess i would say then is the motion then for an amendment to be Amendment 8C, Option A, with that portion below. Correct. OK. So we'll just treat that like another amendment, I think. Then we'll discuss that amendment itself right now. Motion was for passage of it. And then motion for the amendment is indicated with the including but not limited to a public hearing. Any other discussion on that?

Your Honor, point of clarification, I'm sorry. I have a question about the disbursement.

Sure, go ahead.

I understand and appreciate, Kyle, you've given some clarification on the 54% that would be distributed in the event that Frontier would not be the one providing services. Does that 54% cover a private ambulance company that would come in and want some of those funds?

Your honor, go ahead. Councilman right now that 54% goes to the county to support the contract that they have currently for ambulance services, that service that exists today. And then that service, which my understanding is they are going to continue for 1 additional year. However, as things may change, there's a committee right now looking at ambulance services. So once that potential option changes, this can be amended. So I hope I'm answering your question. But right now, the 54% covers the current contract that's in place with Frontier, as well as opportunities to replace ambulances and to consider opportunities for service expansion.

Well, here's my concern is that If the money is going to be distributed to Frontier Ambulance and they have not provided any of their financial information, we don't know how that money is going to be spent. If a private company comes in and wants to utilize some of that money, as it's worded in this verbiage, is for emergency medical services. So should they be afforded that? Same thing with the 15% distributed to the Fremont County Association of Governments for public ground transportation services. Does that mean that Gator Taxi can apply for some of those funding? Or is it already established that it's going to WRTA?

I think it's very clear. Number one, it's saying public ground transportation. That is not meant to go 100% to WRTA. That's meant to be for public ground transportation.

So anybody that provides public ground transportation can have access to those funds?

Or the ones that would be going to FCAD, correct. And so part of the idea behind it is That could be going to not just WRTA, but any of the senior centers who operate ground transportation.

Okay, but could Gator Creek Taxi access those funds? They provide a public service.

They're not public transportation.

They are public transportation.

No, they're not.

They do provide public transportation. People call them for public, for rides all around public. And this is why this tax is so convoluted, and I don't support it at all. There is no clear definition, and it leaves a lot of room for open interpretation on this as to who's getting the money, how it's going to be spent, and who's entitled to it. There's no clear definition that this is who the money's going to, and I think the public deserves to know that.

Any other discussion? The government definition of public transportation, Gator Creek Taxi or Karen Johnson or Mike Bailey are not public transportation. Is WRTA?

Is WRTA?

Let's not talk over each other.

Is WRTA a private or a public entity?

Public entity. 50C3. All right.

Let's not talk over each other. I understand this gets a lot of frustration, but I think It's pretty clear where everybody sits on this. Regardless of, I guess, how you read it, Councilwoman Johnson, I think the typical nomenclature for public ground transportation would not include someone like Gator Creek Taxi. That being said, I understand your point.

So any other discussion on this? and I guess point of order, we're talking about the amendment that we're adding to the end of the agreement. We're not talking about the other percentages. Right.

So we'll just finish this one in terms of adding the amendment, and then we'll go back to the main motion. So those who are in favor of the amendment as indicated, eight C amendments, option one, adding to the end of it, including but not limited to a public hearing,

all those in favor say aye aye any opposed say nay nay vote aye and that motion passes now we're back on the main motion any other discussion on this item yes your honor i'm sorry i have a headache so i haven't spoken much for a few minutes but i just wanted to make my point clear on this um i was four the bill that failed last year that would have supported this, and I'm for this. We are, our airport, notwithstanding the other emergency services, our airport alone is necessary to Riverton and our economic services that we maintain. And that we need to continue maintaining and to continue to grow, such as the hospital that we're bringing. I use it a lot, but it doesn't matter about me. It doesn't matter if any of us individually use it.

Our businesses need it.

Our businesses use it. And that right there is reason enough. Just for that, we absolutely must and need to put this on the ballot. But I urge citizens all around the county to vote for this. um we need our airport we need our emergency services i mean there is a reason we call them emergency services they're necessary so uh that's what i have to say i think it's important to say that thank you your honor okay any other discussion all right all in favor of approval of resolution

Where are we at 1555? Well, I'm sorry, just the agreement, not a resolution. The MOA between the governing bodies of Fremont County regarding the 3 quarter percent optional sales and use tax say aye aye. Any opposed say nay nay. Vote I motion passes. All right on to consideration of bid taxiway D rehabilitation and lighting project. Mr. Tolman please.

Thank you. Your honor. Um, for you tonight is the consideration bid for the lighting project and the taxiway D rehabilitation project. Um, this is the crosswind 1 runway at, uh, central Wyoming, uh, regional airport. Um, this taxiway was originally constructed in 2006. Um, and now it's need a full rehabilitation. along with the project then they'll upgrade the lighting the lighting has caused a number of issues in past years with many lights many many grounding problems circuitry problems and some of the lights being blowing um and the bulbs blowing there so that it's caused quite a maintenance headache so this will upgrade the light into LED a lighting system this also paved the way for the by creating a conduit that can be used for the self-serve fuel tank project that's upcoming as well. So this project was put out to bid May 5th. One bid was received from Century Companies Inc. The bid came in in the amount of $2,362,537.50. That was about $400,000 over the engineer's estimate on the project. Being essentially was the loan bidder on the project, there's been a supplemental agreement, which I've just received. I received about three o'clock today and I can send out just right away as well on an agreement that will be included with if this bid award is approved tonight, the supplemental agreement will go along with that for approval. And what that supplemental agreement will do is reduce the contract amount in the amount of $212,778.80. And then that would leave with all of the funding combined, that would bring us under the funding parameter of about $27,971.66. Originally, this was put into the fiscal year budget. And the city would match us at 2.5%. So the city match would have been $71,053. Now the city match can be reduced to $70,353.71. Those are some updated numbers from what's been provided in your packet. So I apologize for that. When supplemental agreement came through, I was able to update those numbers. Then I can, like I said, make that available as well.

that concludes my report on that okay thank you i'd entertain a motion to approve the bid for century companies inc contingent on approval of a supplemental agreement for the taxiway d rehabilitation and lighting upgrade project second motion by councilman bailey second by councilman larson discussion on this item Say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. Aye. Motion passes. Thank you for getting that done. I feel like we've been talking about this a lot.

It's just over the years.

So we have. Yes.

The amount of money the city of Riverton has spent on bulbs for that taxiway is, I hate to think what it is. And those bulbs were super expensive. And they've been fighting this problem for a long time. Ever since I can remember being on the airport board, this has been an issue. So, about time.

They have no shelf life. And again, there's a circuitry problem of some kind that they just got to. Well, it's a moneymaker.

I guess as long as you're the bulb salesman, you're okay. I guess so.

That kind of makes me think of the whole idea of razors, for example. Yeah. Gillette, that was one of the things, you know, when they came up with the safety razors, he's like, oh, yeah, we need to make it so this is something that's replaced frequently so we can make money.

A seven-year-old straight razor? Yeah.

Now, mind you, it did save lives, too.

Well, and not having a razor strap in your closet at home saved a lot of kids' hind ends, too. Oh, that was a saving.

That's what we used to get a whipping with. All right. Well, we're at the quarterly fiscal health report. Ms. Harris, are you getting that going for us?

I'm trying here.

Okay.

That's my presenter mode.

Mr. Toman, this notice of award, are these the most recent numbers then, the one that I have here? OK.

They are, yes.

This one is?

That is. And then I'll send the supplemental over.

OK. I just like signing it right here while I'm sitting here.

I'll send this to you right now.

Perfect.

are we ready yes ma'am please um thank you for offering me grace on getting this report out this is for our fiscal year for the third quarter which ended march 31st but we've been buried in budget planning and i hadn't had an opportunity to get this on the agenda yet so i appreciate your patience while i work through that So we are, this is just a report, um, three quarters into our current budget cycle, uh, for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 2026. Uh, the council approved last year, a budget of 38 million, $27. Uh, there's 12 funds that we, um, allocate within the budget, uh, including the general fund enterprise funds, which are water sewer sanitation. And then we also have several proprietary funds. which includes 911 Economic Development, the 1% Fund, Senior Endowment Fund, the Riverton Rendezvous, and Air Service Fund. So the general fund itself accounts for approximately 31% of the total budget, with the remaining 68.2% coming from the other city funds. And you've heard this from me throughout the year, so I'm not going to go into too much depth about what we planned. I'm just going to cover more about where we sit right now. so with our general fund it is our largest fund it is our operating account and the monies that are processed through the general funds are tax supported dollars so this is where taxpayer dollars go departments include the police department streets and alleys parks courts building maintenance i.t fleet, community development, among others. Our largest source of revenue is sales and use tax, mineral royalties, severance tax, and fuel tax. And then we also receive direct distribution funding which we use primarily for one-time capital projects or expenditures. Over the course of the last few years, we have used that to additionally help supplement our airport budget and cover some operations as well. So at the close of the third quarter, the general fund reflected a positive balance of a little bit over $1.4 million. And I know these spreadsheets are a little bit hard to see on the screen, but they're available out on our website. And then they've also been provided to you in your packet. And you can see from looking at our expenses, the capital outlay line item, we have projected $3.7 million in capital projects. And to date, we've only spent a little over a million. So when we talk about that we're ahead $1,450,000, it's because we have a lot of capital money that we haven't spent. And as you saw in last week's budget work session, Mr. Butterfield did indicate that there are several projects that are very expensive projects that we will be carrying over for the next fiscal year. So we will help to use some of that money to help support that. Our sales and use tax revenues were 9% above projections at the close of the quarter, which amounted to $246,000. So we budgeted pretty conservatively last year, and it's showing in our numbers this year. When we went through our budget this year with all the cuts we had to make, less conservative in our sales and use tax projections. So we're probably going to have to watch those a little bit closer as we move into the next budget cycle. Other revenues exceeding our projections included our Rocky Mountain Power franchise fees, which are currently at the end of the third quarter, 20% of our projections, which means we're making about $118,000 more than we budgeted for this period during the fiscal year. And then also our paramutual commission, we budgeted We were at 42 percent over our projections We've received 50,000 more than what we projected At this point in the year I believe we received all the money that we're supposed to receive for the budget cycle and if you'll remember we're losing para mutual commissions in our next budget cycle due to the closure of the Derby Club so unless something comes in in the year, which will be good as far as revenue projections go we'll be missing that money next year and And then our interest on investments, we've earned $88,000 on our interest on investments in this fund alone, and we budgeted $25,000 for the year. On the expenditure side of the budget, we have 11 of our 17 operating cost centers are at or below the budget for this period. So kudos to our employees who are managing their budgets wisely, managing them well. We are underspending. Of the few of them, there's four out of the 17 that actually reflect an overage of less than 4%. on their budget. So while they're over the 75%, they're still very, very well, doing very well as far as budgets goes. And then the cost center that's really exceeding the percentages in excess of 5% or more is our municipal court. And the reason behind that is our prisoner housing costs are through the roof this year, currently at 200% of our budget. So we budgeted $145,000 for prisoner housing. And we spent twice that already at this point during the year. So we did budget higher for next fiscal year, but still not even that much. So we'll have to kind of watch that as well. As far as capital, our capital budget is only 27% expended, and I already mentioned that. Some of our projects were network upgrades, city hall HVAC upgrades, which is substantially complete. So we're almost done with that project. police vehicles, fleet maintenance equipment, and a secure record storage for our police department. So some of those projects we will get done before the end of the year. They just were not done by March 31st at the time of this report. Overall, the general fund is in a stable fiscal position through the third quarter. Revenues are performing above projections and expenditures are within expected limits. So we'll continue to watch those as we go through the year. And I'd stand for any questions you have on the general fund so far.

Any questions? Okay. Okay.

Okay. Moving on to the airport fund. The total budget for the airport fund is $6.43 million. And of that $6.43, $5.7 million of that is dedicated to capital. So our operations is a very small portion of the budget for the airport fund. At the close of the quarter, the airport fund reflected a deficit balance of $873,000. And I know that sounds weird, but if you remember the last quarter's report, we were over $2.2 million in the deficit. So we got a lot of grant funding in over the course of the quarter, and we're still expecting more in before the end of the year. But it's mostly the cost overrun is attributed to capital project expenses, and it's just the timing of receiving our grant reimbursement. The budget also included a transfer of cash reserves for capital expenditures of $6,313. And then we also budgeted that supplemental funding that I discussed earlier for the general fund. $355,000 of that was budgeted to transfer to the airport fund to support operations. And then another $230,000 in supplemental funding was budgeted to help supplement capital outlay as well. The next fund that I'll cover is the water fund. Enterprise funds such as water, sewer, and sanitation resemble traditional business models. So we charge appropriate pricing to help keep these funds whole and they're based on the services that we provide. It covers not only the delivery of service, but future capital planning and repairs to our infrastructure. The governmental accounting standards board does require the use of enterprise funds for services that derive a portion of their income from user charges. Um, and they are, they are designed to be self-sufficient operations. The council did approve recently a two and a half percent increase to our water sewer and sanitation rates to help keep up with our ongoing infrastructure needs. And I know we've got a giant West main water line project just coming up next year. So, um, the annual budget for the fund is $4.66 million. And the fund closed the quarter with a positive balance of $370,000. So that's where we stand with the water fund. This budget did include a transfer of cash of $132,770 and then $269,000 from the 1% fund to help support the Spruce Street water and sewer line project, sewer project. And that $269,000 has been transferred in both the water and sewer fund and is reflected in this budget. As far as the wastewater fund goes, the annual budget for this fund is $6.42 million. The fund closed the third quarter with a deficit balance of $29,199 in expenditures over revenues. I do have a grant reimbursement request sitting outstanding for some of the projects that we've been doing at the wastewater treatment plant, as well as the Spruce Street Water and Sewer Line project. working real hard to make the timing appropriate that we get the money back into our account before the close of the fiscal year. But sometimes it just depends on how quick the funding partners move it through. So $29,199 deficit balance for the end of the quarter. Similar to the water fund, we did budget a transfer of cash of $325,000 for this fund. And again, $269,000 from the 1% fund to support capital projects. Oh, my five minutes is up. So lots of big projects planned at the wastewater plant, and they are underway. I don't know if you've paid attention to our social media site, but we've had the dome removed from the clarifier, which was really neat. I mean, it was something to see considering how old the plant is. But lots of money goes into keeping up with that aging plant. the UV disinfection system, rebuilding clarifier units, enhancements to the grit system and digester. And then they also purchased a loader for the plant this year as well as the vac truck. And we do have funding secured from the state to help us pay for that as well. As far as the sanitation fund goes, the annual budget for that fund was 2.73 million and we did close that with a positive balance of 344,291. Um, we did purchase in the three in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year, got our street sweeper. So, um, dirt Reynolds is here and that was a little over $400,000. So while we're showing that we're ahead at this point, um, we've got some capital expenses that we're paying for out of the fourth quarter as well. I think we'll realize some of that money back with just some of our regular user fees for the billing for the fourth quarter. But that's where, um, we know that we've got that large expenditure that we're still paying in this fourth quarter. And with that, the council approved a cash transfer of $161,000 to support planned capital. And the street sweeper was our major purchase for this year. Excuse me. And last but not least is our airline service fund. That closed with a deficit balance of $1.1 million. And we did approve, the council approved a cash transfer of $1.8 million to cover air service. So we will have one more invoice coming through before the end of the year. I'll let that land and then we'll get that cash transferred from our reserves to cover that and take care of air service through the end of the fiscal year. with that i just want to thank the council and the mayor for all of your support with our budget and our finances and your involvement in the details and asking the appropriate questions and also want to thank kyle and our senior staff members for their support and leadership in this as well and i'd stand for any questions you have any questions always nice to be able to see um positive balance in the difference yes well and even the 2.2 million oh that's just such a big number but it's just a matter of timing of when our revenues arrived it's hard to be able to I mean even if you look at a budget as a whole then with it for the year it's always unique it's always unique your honor I think one of the things that sometimes the public forgets is

like they'll say, oh, well, you have all this money in reserve or whatever. And most of these projects, we have to totally pay for them and then wait to get grant reimbursement. So, I mean, we're always floating a lot of money So we have to have some good reserves to be able to handle these projects.

Absolutely. Well, and it's basically being able to handle the fact that we have aging plants. We have aging everything. And we'll be able to address those as they come up.

The sewer plant's 40-something years old? So, I mean, yeah. So, yeah, I mean, a lot of deferred maintenance.

What's wrong with something being 40-something years old, Mr. Bailey? Tell me more about that.

Well, it's knees start creaking, and its back starts hurting, and probably going to need a shoulder replacement.

Okay. Thank you for the fiscal health report.

We have a couple of things to address in executive session.

I'd entertain a motion to convene an executive session for the purpose of, let's see, we've got real estate to discuss, so pursuant to 16-4405-A7, and then also for purposes of personnel, 16-4405-A2 and 16-4405-A10. Do we have a motion?

So moved. Second.

Motion and a second. Oh, and also litigation? Yes. Litigation as well pursuant to 16 4405 A3.

Is that your motion, Mr? Yes.

Thank you. And is that your second Councilman Larson?

Yes, that was OK. Any other discussion?

I'd entertain or I'd ask. Well, let's let's get that done.

All in favor say aye. Aye.

Any opposed say nay. I vote aye. Motion passes. We stand convened into executive session at 10.05 p.m. I'd invite Mr. Sollers, Mr. Tolman, and Mr. Butterfield, at least for this first portion, to join the council. Thank you. Oldman Bailey, second by Councilman Larson to return to regular session. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. Vote aye. Motion passes. We're now at the regular council meeting for May 19th, 2026. We're now May 20th, 2026. I'm going to entertain a motion to adjourn the regular council meeting.

So moved. Second. Second.

Councilman Larson, second by Councilwoman Brothers. Any other discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. Motion passes. We are adjourned at 12.02 a.m.

Tomorrow's RYC. I should be there as long as my 13-year-old can walk.