Council - Regular Meeting

I now call the June 2nd, 2026 Finance Committee meeting to order at 6.49 p.m., 6.48 p.m. Consideration of claims. The chair would entertain a motion for the approval of claims.

Your Honor, I'll make a motion for consideration of claims to be paid in the amount of $224,092.16. Payroll and liabilities for 5-15-2026 and payroll for 5-29-2026 in the amount of $586,989.09 for a total of $811,081.25. Second. Second.

I have a motion by Councilwoman Johnson and a second by Councilman Bailey to approve consideration of claims to be paid in the amount of $224,092.16, payroll and liabilities for May 15th and payroll for May 29th, 2026 in the amount of $586,989.09 for a total of $811,081.25. Is there any discussion, questions, comments or concerns?

Your Honor, I just wanted to let you know I did reach out to Ms. Harris on one of the returns on the, there was a $300 return for the honey fly, and she did confirm that the state said they did not have to pay that fee again, and so that was returned to them.

So we made a refund, I'm assuming, because of liquor?

Mr. Chair, yes. When Honeyfly applied for their retail liquor license, they also applied for a separate winery permit. It was our understanding that it was an additional $300 for the winery permit, and the Liquor Division came back and said no, that that was not necessary. So we are issuing a refund to them for that.

Perfect. So it was covered in their state fee. Excellent.

Thank you.

For all the folks watching at home, for the finance committee, good information. Is there anything, any other additional questions, comments? Perfect. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, same sign. Motion carries. Is there anything additional to come before the committee this evening, Director Harris?

Mr. Chair, the only other thing I would add is this is the second to last finance run that we will have this fiscal year. So the one that you approve on June 16th will be the final accounts payable run for the fiscal year 26.

Perfect. And this was a relatively light one, not terrible. Thank you, Director Harris. Without objection, we will adjourn at 6.52 p.m.

I now call the June 2nd, 2026 regular meeting of the Riverton City Council in order at 7.01 PM. I will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance after which Councilman Bailey will give us the invocation if everyone could please rise and remove your hats.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

Our dearest Heavenly Father, thank you for the many blessings that we enjoy living here in this wonderful city of Riverton, Wyoming. Please pour out your blessings upon us as we, as a council, make the best decisions for the citizens of the city of Riverton. Please bless all of the people that are here. Please bless all of our law enforcement, EMTs, and emergency response personnel for the job that they do and that you would keep them safe in all of their endeavors. Please bless us that we will make good decisions on the things before us. Please bless that we will all be safe on our way home after the meeting is over and that we will bless us through your service in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.

Thank you, everyone, for participating in both of those. So, Ms. Harris, if you could please conduct the roll call.

Yes, Council Member Eric Carr.

Here.

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'd entertain a motion to excuse Councilwoman Borders from tonight's meeting. So moved.

Second.

Motion by Councilman Carr, second by Councilwoman Johnson. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. I vote aye. Motion passes. Declaration of a quorum. We have a quorum. I'm just reading the agenda here. Sometimes I do that. I'd entertain a motion to approve the agenda as presented.

So moved.

Second. I have a motion by Councilwoman Johnson, second by Councilman Bailey. I would note we have, well, this is really for the consent agenda. I'll get to that when we get to that.

Any discussion on the agenda? All in favor say aye. Aye.

Aye. Any opposed say nay. I vote aye. Motion passes. We need to do seven or could we just decline agenda item seven? All right, fine. Ms. Harris, we'd like to have recognition for someone who has served in the capacity that he has served for a very long time. He's an excellent person and someone for whom I sometimes receive emails. because we have the same first name and the same last initial. So, go ahead, Ms. Harris.

Tim H., if you'd like to come up, please. Mayor, Council, and members of the audience, this evening we recognize Tim Hugus, who is retiring after 22 years of dedicated service to the city of Riverton. Tim has served as our Information Technology Network Administrator, leading a small but mighty team of three. Under his leadership, the department has kept the city's system secure, reliable, and functioning smoothly. often without anyone ever seeing the work happening behind the scenes. In a field that changes constantly, Tim has been the steady center, guiding his team with patience, clarity, and a deep sense of responsibility. One of the things we will miss most is Tim's untimely sense of humor. The kind that arrives exactly when the room needs it. Whether we realize it or not, he has a way of cutting through tension with a quick comment or a dry observation that reminds everyone to breathe, reset, and keep moving forward. But even more than his humor, Tim is known for his deep care for the people he works with. He checks in. He notices when someone is having a hard day. He makes time to help even when his own workload is overflowing. His colleagues trust him not just because he's good at what he does, but because he genuinely cares about their success and well-being. Tim leaves behind a legacy of reliability, integrity, and quiet leadership. His work has touched every corner of this organization, and his influence on his team will continue long after he steps into retirement. This evening, we are also joined by Adam Wyrick, Tim's longtime colleague and network systems analyst. Adam has worked side by side with Tim for many years, and his presence here speaks to the strong professional partnership and friendship that they've built within the IT department. Tim, on behalf of the city, we have a token of appreciation to present to you in recognition of your service, your leadership, and the heart you've brought to this organization. Thank you for your commitment, your expertise, your humor, and the steady support you've given the staff across every department. We wish you all the best in your well-earned retirement. Thank you.

We're waiting for the sense of humor here, Tim.

Well, I hardly ever don't have something to say, um, but it's been a, it's been a good long run. Um, one of the things you have to come to terms with is that the emotional rollercoaster takes more for me than you can give. And I'm reaching that point and it's time to pump the brakes if you will. But, um, I could have never done it without God's help and strength along the way, the support of my wife and friends and family. Many have surprised me tonight by showing up. Adam couldn't ask for a better right-hand man. Everybody knows he's the real deal, and I'm the right-hand man. But Kurt and others and professional people too, really, As we broadcast this, I think of Mayor Warpness that we've referred to as the father of the broadcast system. And that was one of the first projects, I think it was in my contract. We don't know what this means, but you will be doing it. And working with CWC and their distance learning teams to, they were deploying the remote classrooms across the state at the time and They helped us with the materials and we built it and lots of other projects since then. Obviously, current bosses and past bosses and the camaraderie and support of a lot of people. We just had our survey results that gathered up for that here a while back. I think one of the things that was mentioned during that presentation was the support. Not that you don't always get support from above, but there's an awful lot of horizontal support and affirmation from your peers in the trenches. And I'm grateful for all of those things and the kindness and friendships that you all have taken the time to make with me. Thank you very much.

Well, you left some big shoes behind. I would say in the time that I've been able to work with you both on the council and since being mayor, I have found that you've been so reliable in terms of being able to solve problems quickly. We've had things that have come up that I feel like you guys have just jumped on and i've appreciated it and your professionalism anytime i've talked with you or had any issues to discuss with you you've always been very willing to answer quickly and honestly which is helpful especially in the i t world where it's like well i don't know but i'll find out and uh... appreciate you tim keep up the good work in terms of retirement retire well Don't turn into some of these other guys that retire and we bring them back all the time. So thank you for your service. Yes, sir.

And again, Tim, thank you. IT and a lot of the other jobs in the city are one of those where it's sort of a no-win deal. Because if everything's running smoothly and there's no problems, well, you're not doing anything, are you? And then if everything's broke down and it's chaos, well, why aren't you fixing all that? And so it's one of those, you know, water and sewer guys get the same thing. As long as the water's running, everybody's happy. When there's a problem, it's like, well, what the heck, you know? So we appreciate all the hard work and the behind the scenes and you guys just managing the magic that makes everything work. So appreciate it very much.

All right, well, in the spirit of recognition, we have other recognition to do right now. Chief, why don't you come up and I'll come meet you down here and we'll do all those right now.

I would be remiss to not give Adam credit for a lot of these accolades. Uh, his, his genius and fortitude and, and, uh, hard work, uh, has made me look really good for a lot of years. And so I know I mentioned him earlier, but, but a tremendous shout out to him and, and, uh, you'll be in the best hands absolutely possible. As for the humor, um, I don't know about the humor, um, but I would tell you a quick story. Sorry. Um, We've been trying to decide what to do upon retirement, and there's so many neat places to go and see, and we couldn't decide. So I bought a map of the United States, and I thought we'll just throw a dart, and that's where we'll go, because we can't decide. And so that's what we're going to do. We're going to spend a couple of weeks. behind the couch.

Well, good luck with that. All right, Chief. Thank you, everyone, for attending and helping us recognize Tim.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. Tonight, I want to recognize several of our community members for what happened back at the house fire on April 30th, a day we suffered a devastating event which affected many in our community. Tonight, I'll now go over some of the information about this fire. This investigation is still ongoing, but I wanted to provide an update some information we have currently in our preliminary investigation. This includes evidence obtained by our detectives as well as evidence still being examined by our state partners. The preliminary investigation is pointing towards an accidental ignition inside one of the bedrooms. More information will be released at a later time once a definitive determination has been made. That day on April 30th, about 1.31 p.m., smoke started coming out of a home located at 611 North Broadway here in Riverton. People noticed smoke coming out of the home and 911 started flooding our 911 center. Some of the callers stopped their vehicles and ran towards the home. There are several people trying to get into the home to try to rescue the family inside. Ultimately, relatives, neighbors, and people seeing the burning home stopped what they were doing and acted without hesitation to render aid. Two small children were trapped in one of the bedrooms and cut off from the rest of the house from an active fire. Smokes from the fire quickly filled the home with dangerous fumes. A group of courageous citizens quickly came together and tried to frantically reach the family trapped inside. Ultimately, through their actions, two children were rescued from inside the home. As emergency workers were arriving and faced the report of additional children still inside the home, the same group helped gather tools to assist the initial team of first responders. After approximately 10 minutes of trying to search the home for additional victims, the children's mother, Macy, was found and transported to a local hospital. She died a short time later. Indicators show that Macy ran through the flames to get to her children. We want to acknowledge that she did what any other parent would have done to save them. The circumstances which started her actions, the actions of Macy, the courageous acts of several citizens of our community helped make a difference. There are several awards will be, several people will be recognized tonight. As part of a recognition, there is called a Meritorious Citizen Award. It is reserved for the recognition of individuals who have significantly improved their community through exceptional civic contributions, voluntary service, or acts of heroism. This first award goes to a citizen who was driving on North Broadway when he saw smoke coming from a home. He stopped in front of the home, saw that people were trying to get inside. He helped break out a window and was quickly surrounded with the billowing thick smoke. Ian Macy's brother were able to grab two small children out a bedroom window. While pulling out the children from the window, he suffered injuries from the broken glass. He continued to help as he noticed one of the children had stopped breathing, started CPR, and was able to get the child breathing again. He handed the care of this victim to an off duty nurse while he continued to try and search for other victims inside the home. At this time, we'd like to recognize Paul Bailey. All for your meritorious service and your selfless and courageous acts on April 30th this year. You acted without hesitation to render aid and it was instrumental in saving a life. Your bravery and dedication to the community of Riverton reflects the highest example of exceptional citizen. Thank you. It's perfect. The next recognition is for exceptional citizen. It's for individuals who, through their acts, have made outstanding contributions to society or their community. The next person, Leonard Kosrog, could not be here tonight. But I had the opportunity to speak with him and express our gratitude. He had already a work project assigned to him and could not join us tonight. But I'd like to spend a moment explaining what happened with Leonard and his acts. Leonard was with other family members and traveling on North Broadway when he saw the house fire. He immediately stopped his vehicle and ran towards the house. Leonard also went around the home trying to get to the other victims. He was pushed back by the growing flames and smoke which was coming out of the windows. He also helped bring one of the victims down from a window, grabbed a ladder and brought to the broken window to help out the other victims. At this time, I'd like to recognize Leonard Kosrog for his exceptional acts by coming to the aid of others on April 30th of this year. He acted without hesitation to render aid. His bravery and dedication to the community of Riverton reflect the highest example of an exceptional citizen. If you want to thank Leonard, he works at Porter's, and he's just not there right now. He's at a state.

Thank you, Leonard.

The next one is also for Exceptional Citizen. It's for Tad Davidson. Tad also could not be here tonight, but I also had the chance to speak with him. Tad was with family members and traveling on Broadway when he saw the fire. He immediately got out of the vehicle and ran towards the house. He also went around trying to get to the other victims through the windows. He was pushed back by the growing flames and smoke which was coming out from the windows. He entered the burning house, started going downstairs to search for victims. He was pushed back by smoke and was at the window to help bring out the victims. At this time, we'd like to recognize Tad Davidson for his exceptional acts by coming to the aid of others He acted without hesitation to render aid. His bravery and dedication to the community of Riverton reflects the highest example of an exceptional person. You also work supporters if you stop by and say hi. Thank you. This next one, she was assistant driving down North Broadway when she saw people running towards the burning home. She saw Paul and Macy's brother pulling the children out of the broken window. The children were placed on the ground where Paul was doing CPR. She let Paul know that she was an off-duty nurse and would help the children while they went back towards the burning building to try to rescue other victims inside the home. While she was treating the toddlers, she noticed that one of them stopped breathing again, and she also performed CPR and cleared his airway. She was able to get the child to breathe again. She cared for the victims until law enforcement arrived to rapidly transport the critical victims to our hospital. At this time, I ask Carla Claussen to please join me as we recognize Carly acted without hesitation to render aid to save and care for two victims who needed your immediate care. Your dedication to the community of Riverton reflect the highest example of an exceptional citizen. Thank you, Carly. The next one was a neighbor. She noticed a fire and she came outside as the first responders were arriving. She rendered assistance to first responders by getting tools, running a water hose to the team who were making entry into the building. Due to the house being around the block from the police station, several officers had arrived ahead of the firefighters within a minute of the dispatch broadcast. She saw the officers that quickly used up their fire extinguishers from the police vehicles, and they were able to use her garden hose to help douse themselves as they repeatedly tried to advance to the home to rescue others. were poorly trapped inside. Her quick action helped our local officers fight the flames and while our volunteer firefighters were racing to the scene. This time I'd like to recognize Lisa Cook for her exceptional acts by coming to the aid of others on April 30th. You acted without hesitation to render aid and recognize the urgent need of equipment by the first responders. Thank you, Lisa. Our next recognition, I'm gonna use his name up front because they're all wonderful people. Dan Adcock was also one of the neighbors at the house. He recently retired as our Public Works Operations Manager. He faithfully served the community for several years. His dedication didn't stop there. When the fire broke out, he went out to help his neighbor. whenever there's something that needed to get done dan was there leading a hand next to the neighbors the heroes and the first responders some of these acts included helping out bring out the children out the window helped with first aid and work with carly assisted in the active fire scene with equipment tools and help gather information for the emergency crews. Dan was a big help at the scene and he has a big heart. Whether as the city operations manager or being a great neighbor, he always reflected professionalism, dedication to our community, and exceptional service to Riverton. This time, I'd like to recognize Dan Hancock for his exceptional acts on April 30th. You were instrumental in saving lives and stepped up to help your neighbor. Thank you, Dan. and our final recipient tonight, a notorious citizen. Sabin Bolesby was at home with his family when a fire broke out at his sister's home next door. Went over to try to help get his sister and his nephews out, and the home was quickly filled with smoke. He was successful in breaking open a window, reached the window, and pulled out and rescued his two nephews. He did what any other family member would have done. He was injured during the rescue and continued to fight to help get his sister. He was able to show the officers and firefighters where to look for firefighters wearing protective turnouts and self-contained breathing apparatus were able to get through the dangerous fire and smoke and locate Macy. The grown fire then cut off the path to the firefighters who were also inside the house and were trying to bring out Macy. They too were cut off and had to go out the same window that Saban had broke out in order to escape the flames. Our recognition tonight is for your actions you performed that day. You acted without hesitation to render aid. You demonstrated bravery and dedication to the community of Riverton. Thank you, Saban. To the community of Riverton, we owe a great amount of gratitude to those who stand before you today because of their efforts, the efforts of these everyday citizens who stopped what they were doing when they knew people were in distress. They came together to overcome fire, smoke, and also while sustaining their own injuries in their efforts. They did what they did to try to do to save the lives of those trapped inside the home. We do have a recent update of the children who were quickly had overcome, been overcome with the fire. Their conditions have improved and are now off life support. We thank you for what you did. Thank you for the devotion to the community. And like I mentioned that day, there are heroes who live amongst us. Thank you.

OH, OKAY. YOU'RE TAKING THE BACK ROUTE. THANK YOU.

THANK YOU.

WELL DONE, SIR.

THANK YOU SO MUCH.

I see how it is. You'll hug him. So I don't know everyone that we just recognized personally, but I do know a few of them. And I can tell you one of the greatest things that's an example to me is just how humble each of you are. I don't think anyone came up here and was expecting accolades, but you deserve them. And when someone deserves them, we need to make sure that we're giving them. So thank you so very much for your service to the community. And I hope everyone else who's watching or who's present can understand We each have that ability to serve in different ways and it can be something small. It can even be just calling it in, paying attention to our neighbors, seeing where there's need and rushing in and being willing to help out. So thank you for that and for being willing to step up and you've been a great example to me and I appreciate it and I certainly hope whatever else happens with your life going forward, that this can be something that you can remember and you can see, I did something that was meaningful at this time. So thank you. Now, we tend to be a little bit forgiving when it comes to people coming and going. So if anybody wants to step out right now, you're welcome to. If you wanna stick around, you're welcome to. I'm not trying to shoo anyone out, but I also know people have lives and sometimes we go until midnight. So I just want you to know it's not rude or a problem if you step out. All right, let's go to the council committee reports and council members round table. And how about we start with you, Mr. Bailey. Thank you.

I apologize. I got tied up in what we were doing. Again, I was out of town last week. I apologize. I did not have any meetings since we met last. And so, again, What we saw tonight just, again, makes me appreciate living in Riverton, Wyoming and the kind of community that we have and that people are willing to put their personal gain aside and help others. And I've never ceased to be amazed at the different events. Again, and there's been some fundraiser events for the Bowlesby family. And again, they need a lot of help. They've got a big road ahead of them to battle. And so, you know, the little bit of stuff that we can help them with, I think will be deeply appreciated. And again, coming from a community where People are always very generous with our causes. And so I appreciate that very much. Thank you.

And Mike, it's okay to say you're proud of your son and call him out by name. Very much. I just want you to know I'm proud of him. I'm proud to know Paul and everybody else here. I, I just, Yeah, anyway, wanted to say what he hadn't said yet. Councilman Carr. Thank you. We'll come back to you, Councilwoman and brothers. I'm not going to forget you.

Thank you, Your Honor. I, too, have been out of town on business, so I have not attended any meetings. However, I did want the opportunity to express my deep gratitude for Tim Hugus, Having had the opportunity to work with Mr. Hugus, I can say without hesitation that I deeply appreciate the conversations that we had, both professional and personal, and that he truly enjoyed working and doing what he did, and he truly held the best interests of his coworkers and the family together. That being said, We should be so lucky to live in a community where citizens banded together to help those in need versus waiting for those first responders to show up. A large contingency of normal citizens, heroes now, were not filming the event on their phone, They took action and saved lives. How lucky are we? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Your Honor.

Thank you, sir. Councilwoman Johnson.

I DID NOT ATTEND ANY MEETINGS OVER THE LAST WEEK. I WANTED TO TELL MR. HUGHES CONGRATULATIONS, 22 YEARS. A LOT OF DEDICATION TO HEADACHES, BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT THE I.T. DEPARTMENT HANDLES ON A DAY-TO-DAY BASIS. TO THE INDIVIDUALS THAT WERE CALLED UP HERE TONIGHT, THEY ARE OUR HEROES, STRATEGICALLY PLACED AMONG US, I FEEL. AND THEY DO They do God's work. And so thank you to every one of you. And I think if you could only do one thing to move forward, make sure your smoke detectors are working, replaced, fixed, whatever. If you need them, reach out. But please make sure your home has smoke detectors in them. It's very important.

Thank you. Councilman Larson.

Like the rest, I only attended one meeting. That was the 250 celebration meeting. We went to the park and looked at the bandstand for outlets. But the most important thing, as I've seen tonight, is that we live in a community that cares. which is more important. Thank you.

Thank you. Appreciate it. Councilwoman Brothers, are you still on?

I am. I hope you can hear me. You guys have been breaking up a little bit.

Well, we'll try to speak more directly into the mic.

Thank you so much, Your Honor. I didn't have any meetings, but I just wanted to say thank you to the chief and to those individuals who that served Riverton in that incident, that was not by accident that they were there. And I know we all appreciate them and their service to the children that survived that. And anyway, thank you. And that was, that was, beautiful and moving and. And appreciative.

Thank you, Councilwoman Brothers. All right, Mr. Butterfield.

Thank you, Your Honor. I do have a few items to run through. By way of upcoming meetings, I would like to announce that there will not be a planning commission this week. However, we will have our Fix Our Roads Citizen Committee this upcoming Monday at 11 a.m. As a reminder, that committee helps steer the use of the optional 1% tax, which is a tax dedicated and voted on by the people to improve our infrastructure, specifically our roads, water, and sewer lines. So if community members would like to attend that meeting, we encourage that because this committee takes recommendations and then makes their work go towards the city council for final approval. We'd like to thank our community development department for kicking off our brownfield program. They had a successful engagement last week with heirs and associate and members of the community and look forward to the productive work over the next several years on the use of that grant. For a construction update, we appreciate the community's patience as they work around the Riverview Road and major avenue closures. We know that that's an inconvenience, but I hope that folks can look forward to a road that is in so much better condition by the end of this summer and they can enjoy it for many years to come. The sewer has been placed along Riverview. Contractor is placing concrete and also beginning the road work portion of that reconstruction project. As it relates to Major Avenue, there is some curb and gutter concrete work that needs to still occur. And the Public Works Department anticipates that that road will be reopened in the next three to four weeks. So thank you for your patience as we work through these infrastructure upgrades. We were made aware that on July 8th, 2026 at 4 p.m. in the Veterans Park, just here behind City Hall, there will be a 250th anniversary of the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence, which occurred on July 8th, 1776. So please come out and participate in that. The community is welcome as we continue to celebrate our nation's anniversary. In closing, I echo all of the comments that have been shared thus far and encourage our community to still serve and move forward as the family responds to this tragedy. I am so thankful for the immediate response that was provided and also encourage that that response continues into the future as the family moves past the tragedy. I'd also like to express my gratitude to Mr. Hugus for the many years that he has served the city of Riverton. He will be missed. He's a very one of a kind individual and made a difference among our team. And I've always appreciated that on a personal note, Tim was a man of faith and lived his faith and improved me in many ways. So we will miss him and definitely encourage him to not sit on the couch for too long and throw darts against the wall. Behind the couch. Yes, true, behind the couch. With that, Your Honor, I'll yield the floor. Thank you.

Just recently had a Fremont County Association of Governments meeting. Was good, had some beneficial discussion, I think, regarding just what's going on with FCAG. We've got a lot of good things happening with FCAG and WRTA. Would note that we have a lot of discussion in terms of improvements and and what can be done to understand better ways that we can have a regional ambulance service um we have a committee that's been organized for that purpose called racic regional ambulance surface service Evaluating evaluation committee. Anyway, I'm looking at Tim Nichols for which word it is So far they've done an initial report and they continue to look at and try to figure out exactly what can be done to improve service for ambulance and and just where there's different areas that we can have ambulance be more available and what it can look like in terms of management. We look forward to their report going forward. But that's what took up most of our time at FCAAG. Other than that, of course, we're in the throes of political season. We mentioned that last time. I would encourage you that as you are looking at candidates, as you're looking at causes, as you're looking at different things that are on the ballot, that you do your research. One of the things that I think is amazing about where we're at right now with our world is just how much you can find. I sit there and think about when I was a kid and I went to the library and we had these things called cards that you had to look up to figure out where a book was. My kids don't understand that. I could say the Dewey Decimal System and they think I'm talking about probably DuckTales. But the point is we have a lot of information out there and I would encourage you that as you're looking at things that you can vote on to make sure that you're becoming aware of what it is. And feel free to reach out to people that are in the know. Because sometimes you might see things on Facebook and you're like, oh, that person knows what they're talking about. I can tell you from experience, not everybody on Facebook knows what they're talking about. And just feel free to get to the source. If you're wanting to talk about how were funds spent in the city of Riverton, for example, for this, that, or the other project, reach out to the city of Riverton. We can let you know. If you're wanting to know exactly how funds would be spent with a proposal, please feel free to reach out to us or whoever might be receiving those funds. So I just would encourage you that as you do that, Be aware, our staff can't sit there and say, hey, you should vote this way or this is what you should do, but they can certainly give you information and educate you on different things that you might need to be knowing about, for example, taxes or that sort of thing. So, thank you. That's it for my spiel. Next up, communication from the floor. I would invite anyone in the audience who wishes to address the council on something that is not currently set for a public hearing or that's not an agenda item, this would be the best time to come up and speak to us. You could also, if there's an agenda item that you want to speak about, different Different organizations do it different ways, but as far as I'm concerned, it makes a lot more sense when the agenda item is called, just get my attention and come up and speak to us when the agenda item is called. It's so difficult to have someone say something and then remember what they said when we actually discussed the agenda item. So if you want to talk about something that's not on the agenda, this would probably be the best time. If you want to talk about something that is on the agenda, when we call the agenda item, just get my attention and we'll give you an opportunity to speak at that time. In either event, I'd ask you to keep your comments to five minutes. I have a timer up here. Keep an eye on it. I can yell at you if you go past five minutes. I don't need to yell. I'll just politely ask you to please be done. But if you're a part of a group, I'd ask you to split up your time into 10 minutes between the different members of your group. In either event, I'd ask you to keep your topic, whatever you're speaking about, to the topic that's under discussion if it's during an agenda item. I would also ask you to refrain from using things like fighting words or directly commenting on other people in some way that might not be helpful to the discussion. So that's my long spiel again. If you'd like to come up and speak to us now, please come up, tell us your name, and if you're with a group, what group you're with.

Good evening, Mayor and Council Members. My name is Andrea Martinez-Watson, and I am the BCLWBL Coordinator for Wind River Job Corps. Just wanted to give you guys a quick update on how things are going up at our Job Corps. And I'd also like to give you guys a quick little note that we have some of our members from our Student Government Association here tonight as well.

Well, have them come up. Don't be shy. We're not going to.

Would you like to introduce yourselves?

We're not going to clap and give you a certificate unless you want us to do that.

I'm okay. Hello, everybody. My name is Caden Wendell, and I'm the president of the Student Government Association at Red River Job Corps. Great job.

Thanks.

I'm Leo, and I am the treasurer of Red River Job Corps.

All right. Thanks, Leo. Good to meet you both.

If you want to. You can hand these out for me in just a minute.

Sure. Okay.

As of today, our current student count, what we call our OBS, we are at 135 students. Since January 1st of this year to May 31st of this year, we have graduated 23 students. Ten of those students have full-time trade match jobs with an average wage of $20.82 an hour. Five of those have gone on to apprenticeships. Three of them have gone on to advanced training. I'm also going to give you guys the last two newsletters. So this one is April's and it highlights our graduation as well as our apprenticeship week and highlights some of our students that have graduated that went on to their apprenticeships. that one's for April if you want to just start with Max and then and then the newsletter for May you guys are the first ones to receive this because I haven't even sent this out to staff members yet this one we highlighted different things that we've done on Center the some of the students in May that graduated and completed from our Center some different activities that we've had on center the one thing that i would really like to highlight is that we've got some good on-center projects that are going on trying to give back to our community we are almost completed with the first shed that we're doing for woundover development fund getting ready to start on the second one and and you have to forgive me that the copier made some bad copies on here but We did recently lose one of our instructors. He passed away suddenly, unexpectedly for most of us. And we have a little memorial piece in here for him as well. Can I go hand that out?

It'll be OK, Leo. And was it Kendall or Wendell? Caden. Caden Wendell. Caden Wendell. OK.

Out of our 135 students, right now currently 37% of them are from Wyoming and 45.93% of them are from Colorado. We do have quite a few students that are from outside of our normal region. We've got kids from Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Nevada, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, and Arizona. 90% of our students are residential students. 37% are from Wyoming. Only 20% of our students are female. And 22% of our students are Native American. And that's all I've got for you guys today.

Thank you. Appreciate it, Andrea. And thank you for bringing in, I'm going to call him Wendell again. I don't know why. Caden. Caden. Kayden and Leo, thank you both for being here. Keep up the good work over there at Job Corps.

Honorable Mayor, members of the Riverton Council, I'll just provide a brief update on WRTA. And who are you again? And that is right. I'm Tim Nichols, Director of Wind River Transportation Authority. I get so used to you all knowing my name that there's a room full of people that might not know me, so... uh for sake of the record and those that haven't met me before tim nichols director of wind river transportation authority and i never miss an opportunity to talk a little bit of transit so try to limit me to five minutes give me the the red light and i'll get out of here but we've got some interesting things going on and i thought it merited uh Some discussion in some perhaps some input as well, but I want to preface all of that was saying that wrta after reporting its last month's ridership is on track to exceed 50,000 an annual ridership for the reporting here so incredible work there to the community and I'll shout out to the community of river to and I did so I don't know if it aired this morning, but you'll hear me on the radio basically saying riverton. tremendously embraced public transportation and is just continuing to find ways to utilize it. I brag about it wherever I go throughout Fremont County that in this integration effort with the Riverton Senior Center program we have effectively bridged mobility in Riverton. The gap is is beyond manageable at this point and and we can do um so many things uh just within the community of riverton so enough of that i do want to touch um on the fact that uh we just launched a bit of an impromptu but um upon returning from the community transportation association of america um annual conference in Omaha. It was the subject of many workshops and conversations that across the nation right now we're seeing elevated costs which are creating incredible strain on our middle class and lower class or poverty, impoverished populations. And for those agencies that have the ability to relieve that pressure should have the responsibility to take action. So when we got back, we evaluated our current fare box revenue. Come to find out, kind of bit of surprising, but we had actually surpassed our projections thanks to the increase in ridership. So our motivation to continue fare collection was relatively small, and we saw an opportunity to provide back to the community through a fare-free program. So we effectively launched WRTA's fare-free summer campaign, in which, starting June this month, demand response and fixed route operations, non-contractual arrangements, will have no associated fare. After launching that campaign and effectively removing the last barrier to transportation, we realized that there was some interest in maintaining a payment for service. Rightfully so, we went back to the drawing board and quickly found a number of sponsors who would be willing to sponsor the program through the summer to ensure that the citizens of Fremont County were able to maintain that fare-free summer. So my personal thank you to those that have already signed up and those that might be interested. But our goal is to offer fare-free transportation for the summer. You all have been through this multiple times, so I won't put you through yet again another explanation of how public transportation funding works. But suffice it to say that our fare box revenue doesn't pay for the cost of the service, right? It accounts for 2.87% of our revenue generated annually. 2.87%. Hence why, since 1963, public transportation has been subsidized by the federal government because it is not a profitable industry. taking into account we met our fair projection. We now have sponsors willing to pay to ensure that our writers have that service. Hopefully that provides a little bit of, and oh, the other point I forgot to mention. You can't use it as local match, so. If there are any questions, I'd love to clarify, but I thought it's worth, or it merits worth noting that WRTA is launching this campaign for the summer.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Nichols. Appreciate it. And you've stayed under five minutes, so I didn't have to get the cane out to anyone else.

Hey, I'm Paul Bailey. Um, You know, I'm not sure if this is the right time to mention this. I think it's probably already been hashed out. But the school zone that's proposed near the high school, I had a suggestion for that, if that would be possible. I don't know if that's... Sure. Yeah. So on Sunset, from Federal to Broadway, you've got the bus barn, you know, and that has a school zone kind of, but it's only turned on when it's blinking. So I would love if it would be possible to do that for that area by the high school instead of just from 7.30 to 4.30 p.m. seven days a week all year round. So a little suggestion.

I think that's the proposal right now is to have it only be when it's blinking. Is that right, Mr. Tillman? Your Honor, that's correct. It does say Monday through Friday.

Well, the signs aren't up yet. They're in. Excuse me. They say Monday through Friday. They will say 7.30 to 4.30. I think it's 3.30, and then wind blinking. So in the summer, they'll be turned off is the idea.

Oh, that's great. Okay.

We read your mind, Mr. Bates. We were already planning.

Just think of the cumulative time that everybody spends there, you know. Yeah. Anyways, thank you.

No, good feedback. We discussed that a little bit too, and I think part of the idea too with the wind blinking is if we have some things even maybe that are on the weekend or whatever, and we want to make sure people are slowing down and being aware if there's tournaments or whatever going on that they can take advantage of that. So we have the time frame and then the wind blinking. But I do think also the idea is that it's, I think the signage now is Monday through Friday. Our other ones are kind of like, just say, every day, 7.30 to 4.30. But these ones are specific, if I'm not mistaken, Mr. Hellman.

Yeah, that's correct. And we do have them in stock, and then they'll be going up pretty soon. So yeah, when flashing, and they give approximate times.

Okay. Thank you. Anyone else? OK, we'll move on. Consent agenda. I would note I wasn't able to get the minutes done for the May 19 executive session, Ms. Harris. So when you read that, if we could note, we're not going to be able to approve the minutes of the May 19 executive session yet. We should get those in our next meeting. Printer issues slash, there's a lot of things. If you could read the consent agenda items, please.

Yes, Your Honor. Minutes of the May 19th, 2026 regular council meeting, minutes of the June 2nd, 2026 finance committee meeting, finance committee recommendations from June 2nd, 2026, and Wind River Visitors Council budget.

Are there any items requiring further discussion?

Yes, Your Honor. Thank you. The Finance Committee met at 6.48 p.m. this evening and recommend consideration of claims to be paid in the amount of $224,092.16. Payroll on liabilities for May 15th, 2026 and May 29th, 2026 in the amount of $586,989.09 for a total of $811,081.25. Okay. Thank you.

I did have a question on the Winter Visitors Council budget on a line item that they had $20,000 for. I don't know if Helen's available.

We want to just pull that off of the consent agenda and discuss that then?

If you'd like to, yeah.

That's fine. I'm just saying, generally speaking, when we're doing a consent agenda item, if we want to discuss it, we'd want to pull it off. We can vote on the others en masse, and then we can vote on that one separately.

It'll be brief, but yeah.

Okay, so we'll pull the Wind River Visitors Council budget off of the consent agenda then. So for the other items, I'd entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. So moved. Second. Councilman Larson with the motion. Councilman Bailey with the second. Any other discussion on those items? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. Councilwoman Brothers, are you there? yes i sorry i couldn't unmute in time i i figured that's probably what it was i just wanted to make sure that your vote was noted one way or the other whether it was for approval or not so thank you thank you your honor I vote aye, and that motion passes. And then I would entertain a motion to approve the Wind River Visitors Council budget as presented in the packet. So moved. Second. Motion by Councilman Bailey, second by Councilman Carr. Discussion on that item?

Please.

Councilwoman Johnson.

Your Honor. Are you available? Of course.

Hello, my name is Helen Wilson, Wind River Visitors Council.

How are you, Helen? Good, how are you? Good, thanks. I just had a quick question. On the budget, there's a line item on there for $20,000 to the board for discretionary use. Do you have an idea of what that may be used for?

Absolutely. The current fiscal year, we had $50,000 as board discretionary fund. And what we spend it on is things like co-ops that come through and various marketing efforts. But what we did with this budget for transparency purposes is we moved some of that under accounting services, legal services, consulting, and our new opportunities fund. So it's $30,000 less. because we tried to be more clear with what that money is used for. But for both the new opportunities and the board discretionary funds, they're for projects that come up throughout the year. For example, we just got an opportunity to advertise on outside TV during the Alex Honnold series, and so we spent quite a bit of money at the Board Discretionary Fund doing those advertising campaigns. So it's things that come up that we're just not aware of, but that number is $30,000 less than it is in the current fiscal year's budget with the pieces more defined.

So together with the New Opportunities Fund and the Board Discretionary Fund, it's a total of $50,000 then?

No, the New Opportunities Fund is $55,117, and a lot of that is for the state co-ops that come through. We're offered opportunities with the Wyoming Office of Tourism to advertise they pay half, we pay half. And so that's what that goes toward, is opportunities that come up throughout the year. And they've got a webinar scheduled right now to go over the programs for the year, but we just don't know what they are yet.

Okay, thank you.

And while I'm up here, I do have our annual report, which is freshly printed, as well as some Your Day, Your Adventure cards that I would love to tell you what these are. So what we find is that people who come into visitor centers, they often have a question of, I'm only here for an hour, or I'm only here for three hours. What can I do? So we created three of these. They're pocket guides. They fold. They fit in your back pocket. I've tried them in numerous pairs of pants, and they all fit. But we did one for Dubois, one for Lander, and one for Riverton. And they've got if you have one hour, if you have three hours, and if you have a whole day. And we ran these by a bunch of people, had some suggestions, changed them around a little bit. It's also got a QR code to our website, so you can go on and see other things you can do, as well as a QR code to the community calendar. So we started with just a couple of hundred. We're going to print a lot more this week. So we have them for the summer, but I wanted to make sure nobody was going to say, oh, we should change things. So I'm going to hand these out, if that's okay, and then I will sit down.

Sounds great. Thank you, Helen. And I think Chamber gave us a copy of those two. Are they the same ones? I don't think so.

Okay. Does it look the same?

No, no, not the end. We'll report the one hour, three hour. Yeah. Not that I'm saying we can't use another one. Okay.

Well, I can give them to anybody that would like one.

Yes, I would.

Would you like a few? Yeah. I'll just leave all of them, and then you can share.

Thank you. Thank you.

Oh, thank you, sir. They're great. I like them. Thank you. Okay. Any other discussion on the budget?

I guess, Your Honor, it's nice to see that our tourism dollars are climbing, and we're making good headway, so lots more people coming to visit, and it's awesome. It brings a lot of people and dollars into the community to help us out, so...

And for people that aren't aware of what the Wind River Visitors Council is, every four years you'll have on the ballot the lodging tax. You probably may recall four years ago that it was billed as the tax that we don't pay, which is fairly accurate. When people come and they stay in Fremont County in one of our hotels, or I think it also applies to VRBOs as well, and not just Airbnb, whatever it might be. If they stay here, then there's a lodging tax that is assessed as a part of their daily amount that they're having to pay. So the Wind River Visitors Council, it's an interesting idea for a tax because what they're tasked with is doing things that will make it so that the tax increases. So they're trying to make sure that people come to Fremont County and stay here overnight so that the tax increases. So that's what the board is all about. They're about advertising, marketing, Fremont County, each of the different communities, things you can do here. So this is an example of it. And that's what they do. And we're going to talk about Mr. Heron here in just a few minutes, who's also here. And we might drag you up here. Anyway, that's what the Wind River Visitive Council is all about. Any other discussion on the budget? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay.

Aye.

noted that for approval i'm so sorry it's okay councilwoman brothers i've i've been there there's a delay and so i tried to give you a room and i i didn't i i want to say i'm here for the comic really thank you yeah because tim's not here anymore so All right. I vote aye, and that motion passes. Thank you for the discussion, and anytime we need to pull anything off the consent agenda, it's not a problem. So I appreciate that we were able to do that and discuss it.

Thank you. I appreciate it.

Wind River Visitors Council Board Appointment.

Mr. Butterfield.

Thank you, Your Honor. You have opportunity to reappoint Mr. Hal Heron to the Visitor Council. Mr. Heron has served on the council since 2021 and is eligible for one additional year of service pursuant to the joint powers agreement. The board members have a maximum limit of six years to serve. Mr. Heron has done a wonderful job representing the city of Riverton on this board and it's your opportunity to appoint him with the council's concurrence, your honor.

Thank you. I would entertain a motion to reappoint Hal Heron to serve his last eligible year on the Wind River Visitors Council. So moved. Second. Motion by Councilman Larson, second by Councilman Bailey. Any discussion?

Your Honor.

You willing to serve, Hal?

Yes, sir. Your Honor, you know, when you drive down West Main and you look up on the sides of buildings, you're scratching your head and you're saying, I wonder who in the heck is putting up those beautiful posters? They're on the range or they're down at Kusil's. They're all over. Well, the man that we just appointed has been doing that for the last eons. And some people were thinking that he was promoting, some other cities, and he really wasn't. He was promoting the beauty of Wyoming. And nobody paid him to do it. It was not advertising fees or et cetera. He is service-oriented. Thank you. Thank you.

We didn't get a letter from you. I mean, we got something from Helen saying she wanted to serve. I'm assuming you're willing to serve Hal. You willing to do one more year? Yes, Mr. Mayor, can I approach?

Sure, please.

My name is Hal Heron. I serve at the request and at behest of... the mayor and city council. And I appreciate your vote of confidence in me in representing Riverton on the Wind River Visitors Council. Councilman Larson, those are very kind words. I appreciate that. And to add a little clarity to your kind comments is, most recently, some of those images that you see up on the buildings, have been paid for, indeed, by the Wyoming Visitors Council, the Destination Development Funds, probably the last couple years. In addition to that, we ran some art contests, and we selected the two best paintings out of the art contests, and they made some money. Then we took their paintings and made them into banners. And I know you're familiar with it, but the library has two of those. But anyway, yeah, it's been a fun project, and I would be remiss to let the record go uncorrected, but it has been an initiative by myself and Mike Martin, who is also very civic-oriented, so. But I want to thank Helen and the support of the Visitor's Council most recently for helping us put up more. And it's been an eclectic mix. My idea was just art for art's sake. Some of them are Western-themed, and others obviously aren't. So anyway, I appreciate the kind comments about that. And yes, that was a long-winded way to say, yes, I will serve for another year. They already elected me treasurer. Yeah, what's that about?

Well, I think you've served on the budget committee for most of the time that you've been there. Yes. Indeed. Yeah. Well, thank you, Mr. Heron, for being willing to serve, and yeah, thank you. Thank you. Good work. Any other discussion? It's always weird to talk about people when we're voting on them for things. You could say mean things about Hal right now if you want, I suppose.

We don't want to be here all night.

All in favor, say aye.

Aye. Any opposed, say nay. I vote aye. Motion passes. And did note your vote for the record, Councilwoman Brothers.

Thank you. Okay.

Community Committee appointment. Pause for the cause. First off, I want to apologize. These have kind of been a little bit... coming in in a kind of a weird way that we didn't have all of them together. So just be aware of that. Second off, this is a situation where normally I would have, let's go ahead and take a break. Let's do that right now. We're at 8.15. Let's take a break until 8.25. Is that all right? Anybody have any problem with that? Let's do. Before I wax verbose.

Yeah.

We'll get started at 825 back in regular session for the Riverton City Council. Community committee report, pause, appointment, sorry, pause for the cause. Mr. Butterfield, tell us about this item and where we're at here.

Yes, your honor. Resolution 1552 established the pause for the cause committee. Its goal is to evaluate animal control and animal shelter needs within the community and provide recommendations to the city council. The committee is tasked with assessing current practices, identifying challenges, engaging relevant stakeholders, and exploring potential solutions to improve service delivery, facility utilization, and long-term sustainability of animal control and shelter operations. As established by the resolution, the committee consists of five members appointed by the mayor with the consent of the city council. Those include one representative from PAWS, one representative from the Riverton Police Department, one representative from a local veterinary clinic, and two at-large community members. Additionally, two council members can serve as liaisons to the committee as well as two members of the Riverton Youth Council. Myself or a designee will serve as a non-voting member to provide administrative and professional support. The city advertised for letters of interest for the two at-large community member positions, as well as the veterinary position. There were letters of interest received from Terry Mitchell, Kimberly Prelitz, Chancey Wazelski, Amanda Wood, and Mary Ellen Christensen. At this time, you have opportunity to consider those applicants and select them for the two at-large community members. There were no letters of interest received from a local veterinarian. However, one of the local veterinarians called me and said that they may have someone interested in serving on the committee, but they are out of the county. With that, Your Honor, I'll yield the floor and allow you to make your selections at the consent of the council.

Thank you, I appreciate it. So one of the things that's a little bit difficult about this, number one is we have a lot of really good people that are willing to serve. Frankly, I know that in terms of when it was sent to the council, it was pretty late and didn't make it into the packet, but had had conversations with Amanda Wood. She's a part of an organization that has actually been already working towards ensuring that animals that are in need are sheltered in Fremont County. She's taken him into her home, as a matter of fact. Well, anyway. So, at least of the ones that I had looked at, that was one that I felt would be a very appropriate appointment. I would note, I think, in terms of some of the different folks that were willing to serve, I don't know if there was just a little bit of communication error or what it was. The purpose of the committee is really to look at ensuring that animals that are at large in Riverton are going to be able to be seized and put somewhere such that we don't have animals at large in Riverton. That's the main goal. Some of the letters, for example, made reference to fundraising, that kind of thing. All of those things are good, But if that's something that someone's interested in, I would encourage you to get involved in PAWS. This committee is meant to be ensuring that if we have animals at large, they can be seized and we can have a place for them rather than just letting them run amok. Amok is anyway. So for that purpose, and I think in terms of what Amanda Wood could bring to the table, she would be one recommendation. The other one, I think, and I say this mainly because he's also put his name in in terms of wanting to serve on the council, so at least for now, serving in this capacity I think would be appropriate. I'm not very good at pronouncing Chancey's last name, and Mr. Butterfield, I think, said it right, did he? Dang it. I always try. But those would be my two recommendations. That being said, I'm not offended by anyone that has any others. I really want this to be something that can look at and solve some of the issues that we're dealing with with animals at large. And so those are my two recommendations. But if there's any other thoughts, I'd entertain them.

Your Honor, I would like to consider Kimberly Prelitz simply because in her letters she did indicate that she has strong communication skills as well as problem-solving skills, easily identifies challenges, and can contribute to creative solutions. And I think that's a good something to have on that committee. So I would like to have her considered, please.

I think that that's, and I appreciate that. I actually, in her letter too, since we didn't get anyone that was from one of the veterinary clinics, she did make reference to the ability to, for basic veterinary care, positive reinforcement training techniques. So where we don't have anyone else that hasn't expressed an interest from one of the veterinary clinics, I think it would be good to have someone with some sort of, Veterinary ability. So that was I was wanting to discuss that with the Council as well. Just what we do. We could. The discussion was we could open it up to people that are out of the county. And. then we might be having some people express interest. My response to that was, well, if they are interested, they could let us know and we could talk about it, but we never had a letter or anything that came through for them, regardless of whether they were in or out of the county. So I just don't know if there's that interest.

Question for Kyle. On the veterinary possible applicant, did they say they lived out of the county or that they were out of the county and didn't have time to respond?

Your Honor, Councilman, it is someone that lives and works in Cheyenne and is a peer with Dr. Stockton and specializes in animal shelter care. So Dr. Stockton felt that this person would be a good fit. She was going to work with this individual, but we did not receive a letter of interest.

Okay. Sorry. No, and that's a good question. It's like, are they out of, did it just mean that they didn't get the deadline?

Right. Right. Yeah, that's what I was looking for. So thank you.

Any other discussion? Do we have a motion for appointment? I was just saying, Mike, I mean, it's up to the council to decide who they'd like to appoint. I think for right now, it would make sense to appoint Ms. Prelitz, and we can, if this Cheyenne individual maybe wants to be involved, we could have them at least as an advisory member or go back and reconsider things.

Consultant? Yeah. Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Do we have a motion? So, Your Honor, I would move that we appoint Kimberly Prelitz as the veterinary representative and Chancey Lozeski. Better. As an at-large member and Amanda Wood as the other at-large member.

I'll second.

All right. I have a motion by Councilman Bailey, second by Councilwoman Johnson. Second. Any other discussion on those? All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye. Any opposed say nay. Motion passes. I think I can vote on that since it wasn't my appointment necessarily. So I will say I vote aye on that as well. I'm usually very careful not to vote on things where it's my appointment per our ordinance. OK. Next item on the agenda is community service contract award prioritization. Mr Butterfield, I don't know if you had anything to report on this. We kind of talked about it, but.

Your Honor, just real brief. You as a Council have solicited interest from community organizations for funding. The Council has made a decision to award community contracts in the amount of $240,000 in the upcoming budget year. However, you have opportunity now to specifically make those awards to the entities that made the requests. We can display those now and we'll leave it to you for your prioritization.

Ah, thank you.

What's that? It's a teaser.

This is why you don't run the IT department, Gary. Or I mean not Gary, Brendan. Gary either. Among any.

Yeah.

Somehow I've confused Gary and Brendan today. OK, so we had started discussion for this. Previously had not reached any conclusions. um one of the ways that we have discussed this in the past has been um averaging out we had already discussed at our last meeting an average would not work here because we're at 257 for the average as opposed to 240 which is what we had discussed was the amount we wanted to keep to so what i guess i would say is what we've done in the past has kind of been, council member might say, this is the amount that I think is appropriate. We plug it in, we discuss it, and then we reconsider that. So are there any amounts that anyone just wants to suggest we can put up there for right now and use as a baseline and then move forward with them one at a time?

Your Honor, I would say the $5,000 for the Riverton Volunteer Fire Department. I think that's unanimous every year that that's covered.

Okay, we have that up there. All right, and then I think Willow Creek Elementary, the consensus seemed to be that that was not going to be awarded, so maybe we would wanna put that in, okay? Not that it's not a worthy cause, for sure. I think that's great what they're wanting to do there.

There's other sources of funding.

Right, and might not be eligible for him this year. That was some discussion with Councilwoman Brothers in terms of being on the rec board. Councilwoman Johnson?

Yeah. I would say that we start with our recreation. It's the largest portion and the largest ask. I did have an opportunity to visit with them. I learned that $100,000 is the least amount that we've ever given them and that they've ever operated with. $115,000 would be ideal. But I think it's really important that we fund them as much as we possibly can simply because they provide services to more than 5,000 families in the city. And that is, I think that's important and that speaks volumes. And so my recommendation at a minimum for our recreation would be 100,000 and not a penny less.

Okay. Let's go ahead and plug that in and see where we end up. And I do want to be clear. talked a little bit about RREC. And I want to clarify this much as I did in an email to Mary Axtell. I support the mission of RREC. I think they're important. My point when I was discussing them last time was more so I want to have that be something that's more a permanent part of the budget eventually, whatever that could look like. Mr. Butterfield and I talked about that slightly this year. And really, we're getting a pretty good deal in terms of what we're getting for that. If this were to be something that were part of the city budget, I don't think we could do it for that much. And then my only other comment on it was trying to say, whatever else we do, they're a unique organization in that it's really, Mary Axthelm and our rec are synonymous, you could say. And they don't have a kind of typical situation where you might have a nonprofit where there's a governing board or that kind of thing. And so having that become more a part of what we have going on in the city is what I could see beneficial down the road. So I just wanted to clarify that because clarified that in an email as well and wanted to make sure that we were clear there. I fully believe that we need to have our REC a part of our budget. It's just where it is right now. I appreciate putting that in right there and we'll see where we end up. Okay, where else?

Your Honor, I think we should put in Mercy House for 35,000.

Okay, that's about where we averaged with the council.

Yeah, pretty close is the average.

Okay.

Yeah, and I'd really like to see them get more. The potential for them reducing costs to the city overall for incarceration fees is huge and getting their doors open, especially this winter. The numbers we're seeing currently, is outrageous. And I just think that it has a potential to relieve some of that stress.

Okay, let's put it in at 35 right now and then see where we come up. But it Especially where it's a one-time ask. I mean, of course, not saying that Mercy House couldn't come back and ask. We're not saying you're restricted from it, but where the point is they're asking more than they probably would be down the road because they're wanting to get their doors open right now is, I think, where we're at.

Your Honor, the next one I would suggest is Juvenile Justice Services. Again, I think this is the most, some of the best money we can spend for preventative future expenses in dealing with more incarceration or worse. I know they've asked for 35. Our average is 20. I would suggest 30. Again, they provide a lot of bang for the buck, in my opinion.

Okay. 30 for juvenile justice right now.

And again, this isn't anything final.

We're just wanting to start the conversation here and figure out where we end up from there. Let's see, where are we at? Chamber.

Average there is 17, just about 18.

I'm trying to remember what she had said a chamber membership was. 300. Well, I don't think it was that. At least at the highest level, I think she was saying it was 5,000.

5,000 was the gold membership level, which I think is reasonable to support them.

I would think, in my opinion at the least, doing that I think makes sense, at least for discussion. And then I would, as far as I'm concerned, I think Money going to the chamber is important. I'm not trying to discount that. I know the ask was 49,000. To me, I think 17,000 is reasonable, though. But my point is, is somewhere between five and 17 is where I'm at.

What did they get last year?

Five, I think. Your Honor. And then before that was 15.

But this year is different. We have been tasked to do some type of celebration around July 3rd or July 5th, specifically the 4th by yourself. I think we need to support that a little more for the 4th of July.

Well, and I think we do have some TAD funds that are going towards that.

I think they got the largest amount of TAD awards. Yep.

And so, not that I'm saying that your point isn't well taken, but yes, I agree.

Okay.

So I don't know where we want to put it. My point is just somewhere between 5 and 17 is my thought. I will say, looking at that, in the past had funded somewhere like 30,000. In recent years, it's been more like 5 or 15. But I feel like we've got a lot of good things that the chamber is doing. They're also running the visitor center. And to whatever extent we can ensure that they have funding, I think is important, whatever that looks like.

To get closer to the average, what about $15,000, $5,000 for a gold membership and $10,000 to assist with the additional duties that they have for the 250th? I think that's a good number.

Okay.

All right. Then, of course, we have

pause which is despite being about dogs and cats is the elephant in the room nobody's gonna laugh because it's uh your honor i i would suggest with the us having a committee that's going to study sort of the options that we have there i would like to see us maybe put a little money aside and after that committees come up with some recommendations uh use that to help implement their suggestions So I think until then, I think it'd be a little premature moving forward on that one.

I know normally our contracts for services tend to be for a year, but then it's paid in quarterly increments. And so it may be what we could do if we're wanting to keep our options open, so to speak, for what we want to do with that funding based on recommendations from the committee. Maybe what we would do is we would have it just be a quarterly contract. And so we would have the whole that we could talk about, but it wouldn't necessarily be something where that whole is being paid to them in quarterly increments. It's just saying, this is the whole and we're considered the contract every quarter. That could be a way, I mean, to kind of do what you're discussing could be a way to do that. What would you recommend as an amount for that for the year though, for the budget?

So we have Eagle's Hope left, PAWS left, and Wind River Transportation Authority. I would recommend that we do 30,000 for Wind River Transportation Authority, and 15 for Eagle's Hope. And that leaves 10 that we could use as a placeholder for the pause scenario. Because that would get us to our 240.

Okay. And then just kind of adjust from there is what you're saying? Okay.

Your Honor.

Councilwoman Johnson.

In light of recent documentation that was provided to me by PAWS and the amount of, so we give them the building for a dollar a year. Total adoption fees that they kept or that we relinquished to them was $33,987.50. We also relinquished a total amount of city license fees in the amount of $2,040 last year, which is about $35,000. In addition, We relinquished reclamation fees in the amount of $5,490 and an additional $480 in rabies deposit fees. So minimal is what I would, very minimal is what I would recommend to pause.

What is the total of everything that you just read off?

You got your calculator?

Well, I do.

$33,987.50.

I'm just gonna put 33,000 for right now.

Okay, that was adoption fees. 2,040 was total city license fees. They raised a total of 99,717.84. We relinquished $5,490 in reclamation fees and $480 in rabies deposit fees. All right, slow down for Mr. Butterfield. I'm sorry. Oh, that's okay. I gave up because he was doing it

All right, $33,000, that was for adoption fees, correct?

That was adoption fees.

And then $20,040 was?

No, $2,040 was total city license fees.

Okay, which we require any animal within the city of Riverton to be licensed.

And then our total reclamation fee is $5,490. $5,490. And total rabies deposit fees 480. And then whatever the cost of the building is for a year, along with all of their utilities paid.

Do we have any idea of that? What's the cost of the building for a year?

Your Honor, we haven't quantified the cost for the building a year as far as a rental fee, but I can pull up the utility fees. As reported, I think in a previous meeting, I've got that tracked, but not up through this current fiscal year, but I need to pull that up.

Okay.

No big deal.

I just want. My point is this is a significant amount and I'm sorry I didn't mean to interrupt you. Oh no, it's a significant amount that we already put forth towards the facility and towards. Their support. And I think that leaving the funds available to split between other entities at this point would be more beneficial where we can get more. Services for the city of Riverton.

Your Honor, the average utility fees per year, and you can kind of, well, you can't see that, but as it's shown on the screen, average is roughly, the sum here is, excuse me, I need to get another cell, 10,000, another 10,000. So I think it's safe to say that utilities are roughly 10,000.

10,000. So when you put all that together, that 10,000 plus the adoption fees, license fees, everything there over $50,000 there. I mean, even assuming a rent of 500 a month. I'm not saying it's the nicest building. I'm not saying it's worth just 500, but. Even if you were assuming that that'd be 6000 in a year. OK, so your point is city of Riverton in terms of. Providing animals adoption fees. I say providing animals. It's a little bit of a.

Not the best word for it necessarily, but so I believe their request was 75,000. Is that what they went with this year was 75,000.

Your honor, excuse me. I'm so sorry Councilwoman. I made an error. I added all of the columns instead of. It's an addition of the two columns. The total was the third. I haven't been in this sheet for a while. So we need to reduce that 10,000 to 5,000. OK.

I was wondering.

It seemed too high.

It did to me.

Dogs drink a lot of water.

I suppose. What is it, 52?

Okay, so your point, though, Councilwoman Johnson, is we're contributing to the tune of about $52,000, and that's at a lower amount in terms of rent and everything like that.

So $23,000 would reach the $75,000 that they're asking for.

Okay.

Total with everything that we give them, I guess is what I'm saying.

All right. Well, for right now, we have them at 10 as we're discussing it. But let's now just kind of go around and see where we would want to make some adjustments. So that means if someone thinks we should be paying more towards one, paying less towards another one, what that might look like. Any adjustments that anyone here today wants to suggest on any of those?

With WRTA, with the pending 3.25% tax, how will that work?

If the 3.25% tax is passed, and let's say we did fund them to the tune of $30,000, number one, they still, until they would start collecting that, is going to be until April. where they would start collecting the sales tax. So we still have a period of time where they would not be collecting the sales tax even if it was passed.

And what, two months behind to get the tax, so. Correct. After it goes in effects, two additional months.

Almost a full.

So we're talking a year away before that tax would, before they could cash that check. So I think this would be considered this year, and it would be next year if the tax passes, then they'd be starting getting funds next fiscal year.

We pay out quarterly, correct?

Yeah. We do. That's the tradition. We don't have to do it that way. There's no reason we have to. I know there was one year when we paid everything all together at once for, I think, Eagle's Hope, because they were struggling a little bit financially, and we just said, let's do it as a lump sum.

Your Honor. Just historically for juvenile justice, their average is $21,000. I would recommend... Going with the council average of 20, that frees up 10.

Oh, I keep on conflating eagle's hope and juvenile justice. I see what you're talking about. So what had been discussed was 30. You're suggesting we would go down to the average of 21?

go to 20 just to make it round numbers, but historically, the average that we've provided juvenile justice was 21,616. So last year was 30, 21,720, 17,25, 17,20.

Okay. I see what you're talking about, rather than doing the 30. I think part of the idea of the 30 is to make up a little bit of the difference with the fact that they were only paid seven that previous year, but okay. And then what would you want to do with that 10, Councilman Carr?

I think as we look at, you know, the costs that we incur for or provide for PAWS, those are funds that have already been incorporated into their budget, right? They're used to seeing those. And so to account for those, it's basically double dipping on what we're providing them or lack thereof, if that makes sense, because they've already incorporated those costs there. they're running costs, whether they're accounted for correctly or not, whatever, they're still costs that they see.

Okay.

And so I would say, I would recommend, you know, getting as close as we can. Uh, they were one of my, uh, one priorities. Uh, those pause are rec, uh, obviously the fire department and then the transportation authority. Um, Yeah, I would recommend putting it towards that. Although I do like the discussion of a quarterly look as we look ahead at what they're doing. I do believe that unfunding for now will create an issue in the future where we're really trying to scramble once we've established a budget.

Well, I think that's a really good point because right now as it stands, the contract that we've had with PAWS has been for them to provide shelter services and impoundment services, which you have to realize it's two different things. That they're providing shelter and impoundment services for the city of Riverton and in exchange for that, we pay them a certain amount of money. If we were to say we're not going to fund them at all, which I don't think anyone here is saying, But if we were to say we're not gonna fund them at all, you have no way to be able to have that be a contract. They would not be doing something for nothing. Okay, so is your recommendation then to put that 10,000 directly into pause and have it be 20,000 for the year then?

Well, I thought we were at, were we at 10? Yeah, yeah.

Okay. All right. We're just looking at this. None of this is set in stone. Any other discussion on that thought process?

Your Honor, I'll say this. I'm disappointed that we're even considering funding animals over humans, animals and cars over humans. And it's not that I don't care for animals, because I do, but when we have the ability to save people from freezing to death in the winter, and we have an organization that's willing to open their doors and do that, and it's an opportunity to reduce costs to the city of Riverton, ultimately, and no disrespect to Mr. Nichols, because he's worked incredibly hard to get funding for WRTA, and it is a great service, and it helps people get to and from I think we need to really consider are we looking at getting people a ride to work and a ride to Walmart, or are we looking at keeping people from freezing to death this winter?

Yeah, that's a good point. I think it's hard because one of the things that we have to keep in mind is the obligation that we have, and I've said this before, in terms of public health and safety towards the impoundment of animals. unless we have money going towards that, that doesn't just magically happen. And so to whatever extent that's a part of what we need to be doing and a part of the contract with pause until we have whatever's happening there sorted out and figured out if we're gonna make any modifications. But I hear you. You'd get along with a lot of people that I talk to because I always find it interesting if we ever put more towards something besides people.

Your Honor, I would definitely say that every organization on here, even the ones that didn't receive funding, revolve around human services. And it's a bit of a fallacy to think that they're not. Every one of these organizations helps the community and the humans within the community.

And it's very difficult to make these decisions. I agree. But when you say you're talking about an organization that's specifically going to be making sure people don't freeze to death, it's a powerful thing to say. I'm not disagreeing with you, Mr. Carr. I understand. And I know that we do have the warming hut that I think will continue to provide services, but the reality is that's not something that's a guarantee either. So it's hard to know. I've thought it's just a real shame that we lost the... homeless shelter at all. I mean, it just was too bad.

Been not operating for quite a while. Yeah. Your Honor. Mr. Bailey. And again, this is why in the past I've said it many, many times. This is the absolute worst meeting of the year that we have to go through because we always have extremely hard choices. You know, I wish money fell from heaven like people sometimes think government does, but it doesn't. And, you know, if we just had an unlimited budget, we could just do all these things and we'd have the most amazing services and everybody would be fully funded and all this, but we aren't. So, again, we've got to get to a realistic number. And I agree, they all have value and, you know, I don't want to be the one out taking a walk with my wife and a dog attacks me because of where they're running amok. And I don't want anybody to freeze to death in the wintertime because they don't have a place to sleep. So they're all important. And so I hope the public understands that we want all of these things to succeed and are important to us.

Any other numbers that we want to adjust? Not suggesting we need to. I'm just saying these are things that were kind of put up there for the most part as a temporary. I mean, right now it balances. Yeah. But any other discussion in terms of what we would want to modify?

I'd like to get the Mercy House at least to half of their request.

Okay. You have a proposal for where that $15,000 would come from then?

From WRTA. Okay.

OK, so your proposal would be to have WRTA at 15 and then Mercy House at 50. Is that where we're at?

Yes.

Let's go ahead and put it up there.

I mean, I just look at it.

What did we what did we pay to WRTA last year? Mr Butterfield? 42 42. I shouldn't mix metaphors, but that kept them afloat. I was going to say that's not probably the best metaphor for vehicles. Better for boats. We don't have any amphibious vans or.

Does Eagles Hope receive any federal funding?

I don't think they do. For the most part, they're locally funded. They used to have funding that they received through the CSBG grant, but that changed with the different way that the FCAG did the model. So really, it's just the local funding. I would say they do get some funding from the county. I know, at least in the past, they have.

Which one?

Eagles Hope, because they house a lot of CAST clients, the Court Assisted Supervised Treatment Program, and so the county does provide some funding to them, but they're, I sing their praises because they are a locally created, locally, local organization that, I mean, even the name itself came from an individual who had frozen to death as a result of homelessness. I mean, that was part of where their mission started was as a transition center. Not that I'm trying to say one way or the other, I'm just...

Your Honor, I like where it sits, and I think after we have our pause committee, if that $20,000 can be moved to WRTA to help further their We could do that too, but it's hard to tell until after the committee meets and see what we can do to improve and what our actual needs are.

So repeat that, I'm sorry.

I said after the committee meets, if a budget can be created with the funding that they receive, And all of the work that I put into this says that they have plenty of funding to operate off of. But after the committee meets, if that $20,000 is not needed, then perhaps we could transfer that to Wind River Transportation Authority and get them at 35.

Could you look just for the last couple of years, Mr. Butterfield, how 20,000 compares for PAWS for the last five years? 4545 I mean we've been pretty consistent around 45 and then 40. What about before 40? Where were we at there? 4040 34. OK. And I mean it's it's always a hard question because like I said, that's the one that we actually have an obligation as the city of Riverton to ensure that. We don't have dogs and cats running at large. OK. All right, well, we've kind of mulled over the numbers a little bit. Is anybody wanting to move for passage of this this way, or do we want to make any other adjustments? Where are we at?

Your Honor, I think where I'm having a hard burn is we've got our, when you look at the percentages of the breakdown, clearly our REC is at 41 or 42%. And with the addition, moving Riverton's Mercy House to 35,000, that puts them at 15% of the total budget versus, or no, I'm sorry, 50,000. You're saying 50% of the ask?

Is that what you're talking about?

They're at 20%. leaving Wind River Transportation Authority at 6.25%.

I was noticing that.

I'm sorry, what?

No, no, I was just. We were trying to find your numbers on the screen.

Oh, they're not on the screen, sorry. That's okay. They're in my own spreadsheet.

We're just coming up with your own thing, and we were like, I don't see the numbers he's talking about.

No, I'm sorry. Your Honor, Councilman, are you taking the percentage of the 240? Yes. I can add that in.

Yeah, add that in as a table, Mr. Butterfield, our resident Excel professional.

Pressure's on, isn't it?

Yeah, we're all watching in silence as we see, can he do this formula correctly?

Well, so far, it looks like he did. I don't know. That's not right.

The other way around. K4 divided by K15, I think, is where we're at. Got a little dyslexic there. There we go. So, that's 6% of the total. Is that math right?

Mm-hmm. 6.25. Okay.

nice look at that that guy we have the right guy in that position perfect okay so what were you saying about mr carr the the hard burn that i have is is and again these are my top priorities um

Starting at the bottom, Wind River Transportation Authority was a top priority, Riverton Volunteer Fire Department, RREC, and PAWS. Those are my four top, because those are the key essential services that the city, in my opinion, would be providing. And I think leaving Wind River Transportation Authority at 30,000, where they were, moving the emergency house back down to 35,000, That 15% shows an incredible interest in the success of the organization, but it also doesn't diminish the key services. And so, I guess at that point,

So your proposal is to put that back where we had it as Mercy House at 35 and Wind River Transportation Authority at 30? At 30, correct. Okay. That puts that at 15.5% of their ask.

Look at the percentages, yeah. It seems more in line with essential services.

Okay.

With a benefit to... Mercy House at 15% of the total budget.

All right. Well, we kind of need to reach a point where we vote. And right now, if I'm not mistaken, it seems like we're between those two things. In terms of saying putting Mercy House at 50,000 and Wind River Transportation at 15, is that correct? Or are there other changes that people would want? I guess I would move to accept it as is now. Okay, so your motion then would be for this to be approved with the priorities as indicated on the screen right now? Correct. Okay. Motion by Councilman Carr. Do we have a second? Second. Second by Councilman Bailey.

Okay. Your Honor.

Yes, sir.

I guess my point previously regarding the pause scenario Again, I think we should do maybe quarter at a time so that we have time to get our committee with some decisions in case that changes. Adjust. So I think that way we could look at it in the first quarter, okay, we have or haven't got a decision, second quarter, et cetera, et cetera. Absolutely. So I think that would give us the ability to pivot mid-year if we need to. to other alternative kinds of ideas that come up in our committee. Again, I agree with Eric that I think animal control is a vital part of what the city is supposed to be able to respond to. And so I think it's important. But again, I still prioritize human being care over animal care. but they're all important and I don't want any of them to suffer. But again, unfortunately we're in a position where we sort of have to split the baby a little bit in this decision, like we've talked about. And so I think this is a reasonable compromise from where we are and we should move forward.

I disagree completely. I cannot believe that we are going to prioritize Wind River Transportation Authority over Juvenile Justice Services, Eagles Hope or Riverton's Mercy House. All three of those provide human services that sustain life. All three of them. Your Honor, can I? Oh, sorry. It's a great service. I get it. But we're also asking the citizens to impose a tax to help pay for it. And that's all I have to say about it.

Okay. Thank you, Councilwoman Johnson. Councilwoman Brothers, I was going to definitely have you chime in. Can you see what we have on the screen, or should I just read off the numbers as we're discussing?

Yeah, I've been seeing it. Thank you. I just wanted to put my two cents in. I'd like to agree with Councilwoman Johnson on this. I'd like I know it might make a split and extend our debate a little bit longer, but I'd like to see the money go to Mercy House. I agree with the fact that I think that, you know, the one-time use of that money is going to go a little bit further this year. really go to some major benefits for Riverton and, uh, be exactly what we need to, um, help our population. And, uh, some of the socioeconomic situation that we have happening, uh, year round, and especially in the winter time and, and the people that are getting the mercy house, uh, up and running could really use that. So, uh, that's where I'm going to put my vote. Um, So yeah, thank you.

OK. So then I was correct then that we have two council members that are suggesting that I just want to be clear. I'm not trying to speak for anyone. I just want to be clear where we're at. $50,000 for the Mercy House, $15,000 for Wind River Transportation Authority. That seems to be where Councilwoman Johnson and Councilwoman Brothers are at. And then Councilman Carr and Councilman Bailey are saying 35,000 for the emergency house and 30,000 for Wind River Transportation Authority. Is that kind of accurate in terms of where the split is? Councilman Larson, where are you at on those?

I'm with Mike.

Okay. All right. So you're saying you would want to have transportation 30 000 wind river transit and then um and i need 35 mercy house thank you it's what's up on the screen right now okay all right any other discussion on that Okay, well then.

Call for the question.

We'll vote for the motion as it stands as currently as it is up on the board there. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay.

Nay.

No pressure.

Well, it's not the pressure that I usually get. Basically, if I were to vote nay right now, it would say that we have a split vote and we just have to keep negotiating and figure out where we're at. I'm gonna vote nay right now, which puts us at 3-3. And so that motion would not pass.

Can we split the difference and go five and five? Take Wind River Transportation Authority to 25 and Riverton Mercy House to 40? That seems to be the split.

So you're saying put that at 25 and then Mercy House at 40? Correct. Would put us at 40% there? Okay, is that your motion? All right. Just trying to move along here, move the needle. Is that what we're? Motion by Councilman Carr, second by Councilman Bailey. And all other things remaining the same on there, but it would be 40,000 towards Riverton's Mercy House, 25,000 towards Wind River Transportation Authority. So the motion is it stands, any more discussion on that?

Can I, Your Honor, ask one of the representatives from the Mercy House a question?

Sure.

Weber, Rowe, or... If $40,000 was agreed upon, would that allow you to find funding to be open before this winter?

provide services it definitely would help and we have an email going out after this meeting on what our gap is so hopefully people in the community will help more they've already been very generous but i mean i'm not going to lose sleep over 40. i mean that would be a blessing thank you it's not a hundred i know

Not enough to say for sure that it's going to happen, but you're saying that it would get you partway there, and hopefully the community could step up to fill the gap?

Right. Do you know about what the gap is? I'm sorry, Mayor.

Oh, it's okay.

So when I came last time, I said that we need about $200,000, and we were asking the city for $100,000 of that, and we were going to fundraise $100,000, and we were able to do that. So that was a blessing. So our gap will be about 60.

So you were already able before today, you were able to already fill that gap of?

So we needed 200. We asked the city for one. And assuming that we could fundraise the other 100, which we were able to do.

Impressive. Impressive.

Okay. As you said, very important for the community and will help us in so many ways.

You guys have put a lot of work into this. I appreciate you. Thank you.

Appreciate that.

All right. Any other discussion? All right. You've got that on your screen there, Councilwoman Brothers, so I won't go through item by item. Thank you, Your Honor.

Thank you, Your Honor.

All in favor of passage of the motion as it stands, which everything else is remaining the same as it was on the screen previously, but Riverton's Mercy House is at 40,000, Wind River Transportation Authority is at 25,000, total of 240,000. In favor of passage of that motion, say aye. Aye.

Any opposed say nay.

I'll be an aye.

Okay, aye vote aye. Motion passes unanimously there. Thank you everybody for being here and being willing to discuss and think and talk. Mr. Bailey said it, it's never fun. Because each of these programs are so important to what happens. I want to make sure that we emphasize that. Appreciate the work that everybody does in each of these programs, so keep up the good work. Okay, next up, public hearing and consideration of Ordinance 26004, second reading, animal control. Police Chiefs, report, please. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor. This is the second reading for Ordinance 26-004. City of Riverton is responsible for protecting the health, safety, and welfare of the community through the 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 the enforcement of several ordinances to help promote responsible pet ownership. This amendment will allow for a more efficient and effective way to hold pet owners accountable, not abandoning their pets, having them running at large, or for keeping an animal which constitutes a nuisance. The ultimate goal is to promote responsible pet ownership, which would, in turn, reduce the strain on the police department, reduce the strain on paws, and increase the overall health, safety, and welfare of the community. Staff's recommendation is to approve on second reading Ordinance 2604, animals, generally.

OK. Thank you, Miss Harris. Could you please read ordinance 26004 by title only?

Yes, Your Honor. Proposed Ordinance Number 26-004, an ordinance amending Title VI, 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 Riverton Municipal Code, repealing all ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict therewith, and providing for an effective date.

Thank you. I'd entertain a motion to open the public hearing.

So moved.

Motion by Councilman Larson, second by Councilwoman Johnson. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. Motion passes. Declare the public hearing open. Hearing will be conducted in accordance with state statutes and other applicable laws. If there's anyone in the audience wishing to address the council on this item, please come up to the podium, identify yourself for the record, and tell us what you want to say about it. Anyone in the audience who wishes to speak?

Your honor council fancy was asking, um, looking at the packet provided for the meeting this evening. Uh, there's a definition for aggressive animal. The first part of that aggressive animal definition, one dot, has a clarification that any animal not on the owner of the animal's property has a nice clarification there. The second half of that definition does not, and I think that is relevant to the behavior of an animal that is on its owner's property versus one that is not.

Okay, so this is the ordinance as it stands now. Mm-hmm. aggressive animal, any animal not on the owner's property that has attacked a domestic animal or livestock in such a manner that has resulted in physical contact between the animals, not necessarily requiring medical treatment. And then you're saying any animal that has chased, approached, or otherwise interacted with a human being domestic animal or livestock which is outside of a fenced enclosure or not restrained, these behaviors shall be prima facie evidence that an animal is aggressive. Okay, what are you talking about then, Mr. Wilczewski?

The first definition has a very clear line that says not on the owners of the animal's property. I believe the second part of that definition also needs that clarification. If an animal is on its owner's property and does not leave its owner's property, then I think that clarification is necessary.

Okay, I see what you're saying. You're saying already in the second definition, it says outside of a fenced enclosure are not restrained.

Uh, yeah. And to me that definition reads that the human being or domestic animal or livestock might be the entity being referred to as being outside of a enclosure.

Okay.

So, but I think that clarification that in animals behavior on its owner's property shouldn't constitute aggressive behavior, um, be that property physically barrier or not property is property.

Thank you, Mr. Wilczewski. If we were wanting to make a change to this, it would be a little bit difficult because this isn't a part of what we already have in the ordinance. If we wanted to modify that aggressive animal definition, we'd have to start all over again, wouldn't we? Am I mistaken there, Mr. Butterfield or Ms. Harris?

Your Honor, at this time, my opinion is if this is a change that's germane to the action you're taking, you could. For example, on first reading, it was the consensus to remove the reference to pause. We also added a reference to repealing all ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict. We have in the past allowed, it's not allowed, but have seen the council make changes in the second reading so long as it's germane to the ordinance that you're working on. It is within the same section and therefore I believe you could, but that may be something we explore further with our attorney just to ensure that we're not going beyond what we should be doing with this proposed ordinance.

Yes, sir. Not that past performance dictates appropriate behavior.

You're saying we may not have done it right in the past?

We certainly modified the liquor license, or the liquor... We made modifications to it at every public hearing. Oh, I agree with you. And again, not that past performance dictates appropriate behavior, but... I think we can safely assume that.

If it's something that's listed in the ordinance, it's up for discussion. I just wanted to get an opinion on that.

Exactly where are we talking here?

So if you look at the proposed ordinance, and it's just right near the top, it has a definition of aggressive animal. Mr. Wilczewski's proposal is that it would probably make sense if you're saying any animal not on the owner of the animal's property, for one would probably make sense to have that be as a change for two as well.

I will probably add, I appreciate the comment because it does indicate that, or at least to me as I read it, that you are requiring a fence on a private property versus whether there's a fence or not, if it is on the property of its owner...

If a person or domestic animal wanders onto my property, it is on my property, regardless of whether it came through a fence or not.

So I think it's an easy addition, uh, any animal not on the owner of the animal's property that has chased approached or otherwise interacted with a human being domestic animal or livestock, which is outside the fenced enclosure or not restrained. It's an easy addition, but I guess, and it's your honor.

Not trying to be obtrusive here, but it still could be an aggressive animal, even if it's your own dog on your property. You could discuss whether that is the same as an aggressive dog off of your property, but if we're purely defining an aggressive animal, it shouldn't matter where it's at.

Yes, I think the ordinance very clearly delineates between an aggressive animal and a vicious animal, which I think is an important distinction. But I would stand behind one of the functions of a dog is to be aggressive to entities that do not belong.

Well, and I think even vicious animal, for example, the only reason aggressive animal is necessarily important is because aggressive animal is part of the definition of vicious animal. So it's saying a vicious animal means an animal which has attacked a human being, regardless of where. It just says attacked a human being. And so that kind of gets to your point. Animal which has attacked a domestic animal or livestock in such a manner that it results or resulted in death or injury which substantially results or resulted in a visit to a licensed veterinarian. And the animal's conduct is that of an aggressive animal and or dangerous animal that has previously been declared as such. That's interesting.

Your Honor.

Yes, sir. Chief.

My recommendation would be to stay close to the theme of the change that's before you. There's been some discussions with the department on expansion of police tools and the potential of someday getting a police canine. And in that case, we would need to revisit this section to clarify the functions and the exemptions of a working police dog or service animal that would not be on leash, would not be on a property. My recommendation would be to maybe come back later as we look into this program in the future, and then clean up maybe some of the language at that point. Because as it sits, there may be a question of, we did get a police working dog tomorrow, would it be...

Impressive animal by definition.

With this ordinance. Right.

If the police department is willing to look at that, I think it makes sense to go back and look at that. Because as I look at this, frankly, it's a little bit confusing. Why not just put all the definitions under vicious animal? Why have us have to look at vicious animal and then aggressive animal? And then it seems like it would make much more sense if we just had that all in one. But I'm not looking at it holistically, so it might make sense.

Because you're really saying the police dog's acting under direct order of a law enforcement officer in the duty that he was trained to do when he attacked somebody, as opposed to a stray dog that attacks somebody for no reason, and or a person's dog on their own property attacks somebody because they've broken in, or you know, trespassed on the property that they weren't supposed to be on. The dog's action is the same.

Yeah, as an example, I had a few supposed thefts on my property before becoming a dog owner, and after becoming a dog owner, those have stopped happening. Slows them down.

Your Honor, I would move to table the suggested modification until we revisit both of them.

Okay. Well, we don't have actually a motion yet in terms of we're talking about it here, but I would say I agree. I think in terms of just discussing it later, I think that.

I think it's a good something to revisit as it stands for this. I guess, yeah.

Move the ordinance. We're actually discussing one. We should be just listening to the public as a public hearing, so I apologize.

Very true. It's all good. Well, I appreciate the discourse, and thank you for the consideration.

Thank you, Mr. Walczewski. All right. That's a fair point. Anybody else who wishes to speak about this in terms of the public hearing? Do I have a motion to close the public hearing? Motion to close the public hearing. Second. I have a motion to close the public hearing.

We have any other discussion on that? All in favor, say aye. Aye.

Opposed, say nay. Public hearing is closed. I would entertain a motion to adopt ordinance 26004 on second reading now. Second. Thank you for that, Mr. Bailey. Motion by Councilman Carr, second by Councilwoman Johnson, or did I switch? That was the other way around. Other way around. Any other discussion on that item? All in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. Thank you for jumping in, Councilwoman Brothers.

I vote aye. Motion passes.

Consideration of bid, 2026, Pavement Slurry Seal Project.

Public Works Director's Report, please.

Thank you, Your Honor.

The recommendation in front of you is to accept the bid for the 2026 pavement preservation slurry seal project in the amount of $256,629 and award it to American Pavement Preservation. This project, prioritized by the Fixer Road Citizen Committee or the Force Committee, is one of six projects that they have prioritized for this year. Those projects are in the amount of $3,475,747. Excuse me, $3,475,747. And I'll read those off a little bit later as well. This year's project does address about 122,500 square yards of roadway. That is about six miles of roadway this year. These areas to be sealed were taken from last year's project and then moved to the next area, the next adjacent area that needed attention. As those areas get moved around town, we address different parts of town. This was advertised for bid on May 2nd. A pre-bid meeting was held May 12th, and then a public bid opening was conducted May 21st at 2 p.m. Two bids were received for the project. The bids came in from American Asphalt Preservation LLC, who did this three seal project in 2025, and then also American Pavement Preservation, who did the project in 2024. So they came back in with the lower bid. Asphalt Preservation LLC was the high bidder. They came in at $309,300. American Pavement Preservation, their price was $256,629, or about $1.80 per square yard. Last year's price was about $2.35 a square yard. If approved, there's been allocated $350,000 to this project plus the pavement striping project. The striping project, though, it's ongoing and will continue after the slurry seal project is completed. It was at about $36,000. This leaves about $314,000 budgeted for this project. And then other items budgeted are the Riverview Road Reconstruction Project at just over 2.7 million, the Bicentennial Subdivision Request for Qualifications at 80,000, excuse me, and also the Concrete Drainage Replacement Project at 120,000, and the Reclamation of Chimney Rock Drive, 40,000, and then Homestead Avenue Roadway Section Replacement, 110,000, and then the project before you tonight. Thank you, and I'll take any questions if you have them.

All right. Can I obtain a motion to award the bid for the 2026 pavement preservation slurry sill project in the amount of $256,629 to American Pavement Preservation?

So moved. Second.

Motion by Councilman Larson, second by Councilman Bailey. Discussion on this? It's always nice when things come in under budget.

It was a good bid. It was nice to see.

It's nice when they're competing with each other and they kind of have been going back and forth and kind of like, oh, I can do it for this much. I can do it for this much.

Cheaper per square foot cost than we had by quite a bit. Right.

Councilman Carr?

Given the underage, do we have contingency to do additional slurry seal to get up to the $350,000 that was scheduled?

If this council so desires, I could add additional items into that and include a final change order to wrap up the project.

It seems like that makes sense. I mean, not that we're... necessarily not wanting to celebrate when things are under budget but if we can get it at the same rate and we can get more square footage it seems like it makes sense especially where we're at now and we have a lot of pavement left slurry so the more we can get done now yeah it's a really good idea yeah is that something that you could come with a change order later and see if they'd be amenable to that absolutely okay i'll prioritize a couple more areas Sounds great. Might as well. I mean, there's already an opportunity cost because they're here. They have all the machinery here.

Yeah, we're not paying additional MOB. Right. It's here.

Your Honor, we did cut this back just a little bit to emphasize the concrete replacement, drainage replacement project. But that being said, there are some items that we can definitely just bring right back in. It'll be really nice to create a succinct project. So absolutely, I can work in that direction.

Okay, any other comments or questions or discussion?

All in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, say nay.

Aye. I vote aye. Motion passes. Thank you, Councilwoman Brothers. I just always want to let you know when I've heard you, so I heard you. Thank you, Your Honor. Consideration of bid back truck. Public Works Director's report, please.

Thank you, Your Honor. The recommendation in front of you tonight is to approve the purchase of one new sewer industrial vacuum truck provided by Jack's Truck Center in the amount of $669,987. A little background on this project. On June 17th of last year, the council approved a resolution supporting the application for state revolving funds to purchase this new back truck. The $650,000 application was anticipated to have a 25% principal forgiveness at the time period and then up and then up to 10 years to pay that off later when the state revolving fund revisited this they actually brought in about a 50 loan forgiveness on the project so and then 10 years to pay off with zero percent interest This, after the funds were applied for through State Revolving Fund, a resolution was accompanied by a public meeting. The public meeting was held in July of last year, and then the application was submitted to the Wyoming Office of State Lands and Investments. And then they did administer this loan through the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, and it's also for emerging contaminant funds to help to identify any service lines in town. The funds became available to the city of Riverton in February of this year, and then staff worked through the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality to ensure all requirements were fulfilled. There's quite a few bid requirements on this project, so I did include the bid check form, one's Build America by America standards, among others. So on April 11th, the bidding period, the bids were open, and then, excuse me, on April 11th, the bid period began, and on May 12th, the bids were open at 11 a.m. So with that, four bids were submitted for them. Three bids were from one supplier, so two suppliers submitted four bids. The bids utilized different sewer industrial vacuum unit bodies, three different types of units on two different types of chassis, one Peterbilt chassis and one Freightliner chassis. The three bodies were a VATCON, a VACTOR, and then a Super Products body. VATCON is what the city currently has with three of their trucks. that are on the ground now, one very old one. One supplier was able to meet the full number of specifications. This was the VATCON unit supplied by Jack's Truck Center in Casper, Wyoming. Among some of the items that they did meet, the VATCON body did meet, was the debris storage body of a 12 cubic yard debris storage body, giving it additional capacity to handle debris. And then a centrifugal vacuum compressor. It's a three-stage compressor that has a lot less wear than the other bodies. This was specifically spec'd into the bids so that there's not a lot of maintenance, and then also that that actual type of compressor versus a displacement Oh, excuse me, the word escapes me right now. I will come, let's see. Andrew, I'm gonna have to ask your help on this one. Positive displacement, thank you, okay. Sorry about that. So our chief operator, yeah. Chief Operator Andrew Logan is here as well, so he can answer a lot of questions on this too. So the positive displacement compressor was not ideal. This three-stage centrifugal compressor was more ideal for a lot of the things that the city crews do. And then also, there's a couple other items, including a... Excuse me, I went through my notes. There's also, in this particular unit, there was specced in a dual engine. It doesn't use the main engine on the body, but uses a backup gasoline engine. With that and with this spec that was specifically put together, it saves approximately 42% of the fuel that would normally be used with just a single engine type of a unit. So it uses the gasoline and diesel. Then you have the additional savings of the gasoline engine, auxiliary engine, not the main diesel engine. So with all those specs put together, the one that did meet all the specs was from the Jack's Truck Center. It's the VATCON unit, and it is priced at $669,987. Other items are also included did not meet the full amount of specifications They Those if council wishes those items can be considered the recommendation does include about 19,000 over what was originally Put into the the request for this well that 19,000 would have to be pulled in from the sewer and water enterprise funds this transfer could be included before the official fiscal year 27 budget is adopted and then additionally we have an old unit backtrack unit that can be sold and and pulled in to take care of some of the sewage as well so with that i'll take any questions and then also ask andrew can answer a lot of this stuff far better than I can, and I'm more than willing to admit that. So if you have any questions, we're more than happy to take those.

OK. I guess to start off, I'd entertain a motion to approve the purchase of a new sewer industrial vacuum truck provided by Jack's Truck Center in the amount of $669,987. So moved. Motion by Councilman Larson, second by Councilman Carr. Discussion?

honor yes sir how critical would you say this piece of equipment is extremely your honor it's the number one piece of equipment used um it does um it does three main options it cleans all the sewers um first and first and foremost in town so it has a hose reel in the front and this particular one was specked with a um an actual uh real on the front that is the number one for operator safety. It can be moved in multiple locations, keeps the hands out of the way of traffic. Our old unit is a very good unit, but sometimes depending on how they pull up to a manhole and then access that, it can put the operator in the way of traffic. It does provide that. And then also it can vacuum remote anywhere. So it can hydro excavate, and then you also vacuum at the same time. So you can drill right down over top of a curb stop, for instance, and replace it right away. That's just one of the functions that that's used for other than digging, locating, locating gas lines, locating comm lines, all that stuff. So yeah, very vital piece of equipment.

locating without damaging. Correct, yes. Discussion. Versus the tooth of an excavator.

Other than you're gonna get a lot dirtier doing it. Well, I do, yeah. That's true.

Any other discussion? Are we all right with this just going into the next budget and have it on the, okay. Anybody have any issue with that?

What's our estimated delivery date?

2028. I'm just kidding. That's how it was with the street sweeper.

Yeah, do you mind? Come on up. Thank you.

As he said, I'm Andrew Logan. I'm the chief operator for a collection distribution.

Thank you for your hard work, Andrew.

Thank you. I appreciate it. It has some long nights sometimes. I know. I hear about it. I'm not there with you, but I hear about it. The word usually gets out when we're around. I don't know the exact build date. It should be within a year. They have a lot of the components already in stock. Usually it's the chassis that they're waiting on. And we have one reserved for us either way through if we pick a freightliner because there's some new EPA regulations coming.

Okay. So probably within about a year then. Yep. Any other questions for Mr. Logan?

Just a statement. In that our underground equipment is aging like we all are, it appears that it will have a good usage just because of failure of main lines and all the other stuff. And it is a slick way of cleaning out sewers. Yeah. I mean, I've seen it suck out carp fish.

I actually just sucked out a pipe wrench out of a line just this week. Yeah. We currently do have... We have three units currently. The one that we're specifying selling to cover the overages will no longer vacuum. It's a 1997 year model, so it's gotten its life out of it. Most of the time they say that a back truck should last about 10 years. It was fully operational until about 2020, but we still utilize it for irrigation maintenance because the jetter still works.

So you've been taking good care of what we have. You're not just kind of out there saying, hey, let's buy a new one right away.

No, we take good care of what we get. Good. I appreciate hearing that.

What are the age of the other two units?

There's a 2001. It's a single engine, very small truck. It was used with the streets and alleys department. And then our newest one is a 2013.

So 13 years older. Yeah.

Okay. Already over the expected life. Yep.

Okay.

Well, good. Get good use out of them and take good care of them. I appreciate that. They make a game changer for sure. Good. A lot of versatility. We need to bring in Mr. Logan more often.

He's great, isn't he?

I don't know about that.

I try, though.

Okay. Well, good. His job really sucks.

That was good. That was good. Do you guys say that? Do you want a shirt that says, my job sucks?

Oh, yeah. We have all sorts of crazy stuff.

I bet you do. I bet you do. Well, I will say, anytime it's a cold day and I hear about you guys out with a breakage or anything like that, I'm just like, And don't get me wrong. Police department needs prayers. Fire department needs prayers. But heck, when you guys are out there in the cold with water spraying everywhere, you deserve prayers. So I appreciate you. I do appreciate that. Good. Keep up the good work.

Thank you. I appreciate y'all's consideration on this.

Yes, thank you. Any other discussion? Good to put a face to everything.

All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. I vote aye.

Motion passes. Resolution 1555, BGAFY, Rule LE, Violent Crime Reduction Initiative. Chief's report, what are all these acronyms?

The Rule Law Enforcement Violent Crime Reduction Initiative currently funds our community service officer program. Police department is responsible for protecting the health, safety, and welfare of the community through the enforcement of city ordinances and state statutes. This predominantly falls upon the law enforcement officers. The ability to employ community service officers not only helps alleviate some of the call load of our full-time officers, but also aids in strengthening relationships within the community. The police department is also responsible for the safe storage of evidence and property in order to maintain integrity. the city request to, police department request to submit a grant to the Bureau of Justice Assistance for continuing the program, which would include two community service officers for the duration of three years. Our current program grant is due to expire of September of this year. and also to pay for a rolling storage system and installation in our evidence storage room. Lieutenant Smits has been working with me to complete this program, getting data for the needed storage unit. It does call for earmarked for violent crime reduction and we feel that the use of our community service officers plus the additional storage space to store the evidence that was related to violent crimes would be appropriate for this grant to submit. Our current evidence storage system is near capacity. Rolling over evidence system storage system will officially maximize the amount of storage space available while maintaining the integrity of evidence. Staffs Recommending approval for the police department to submit for this grant under Resolution 1555. The due date is this Friday. We are actively completing the application to submit on time. With that, do I understand for any questions?

All right. Before we get to anything else, Ms. Harris, could you please read Resolution 1555 by title only?

Yes, Your Honor, Resolution Number 1555, a resolution of the governing body of the City of Riverton supporting the application of BJA FY25, Rural Law Enforcement Violent Crime Reduction Initiative of U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance.

I'd entertain a motion to adopt Resolution 1555. So moved.

Second.

Motion by Councilman Carr, second by Councilman Bailey. Any discussion?

Real quick, the only question I have is upon hiring, do we notify potential candidates that this is a grant-funded position and may not be a long-term, full-time position?

So one of the funded employees is Jeff Manning and he knew that this existing grant was going to expire here in the next few months. He graciously submitted an application and he's promoted to Patrol officer which he's working all night tonight. So they did open a position so he him and Connor were aware that this was a grant temporary position and we would actively and aggressively seek continued funding for the for the program. Sure, perfect thank you.

Seems only fair. Any other discussion? All in favor say I I I any opposed say nay. I would I motion passes. Resolution 1556 cops hiring grant police chiefs report please.

Thank you, Your Honor. The police department requests to submit a grant to the US Department of Justice cops hiring program for the amount of $250,000. The grant covers up to 75% of an entry level salary and fringe benefits position if approved with $125,000 cap per position. The $125,000 supports an officer's salary and benefits for three years. The grant requires the city to cover 100% of the grant position for one additional year after the three years. Adequate staffing of sworn officers play a key role to effective enforcement. Upon the approval of the budget, there will be 26 sworn police officer positions for the police department. This would aid in hiring two additional officers and strengthen the department's abilities, provide timely and proactive policing, and return our police force back to previously funded positions. The additional officers would improve officer and community safety. A greater presence often acts as a deterrent to criminal activity and more officers create opportunities for proactive enforcement such as traffic enforcement and visibility in higher crime rate areas. Additional officers will also impact officer wellness and safety by distributing the heavy workload more evenly and ensuring backup availability. of funding from this grant allows the community to strengthen public safety without placing immediate and an entire financial burden on the city um we are Lieutenant Filer and I have been working on this grant. They have not done a, they haven't opened the grant yet. We anticipate it opening any day now because the funding would start approximately October 1st. So we're preparing a grant application for as soon as that grant opportunity opens. And one of the requirements is to have a resolution on behalf of the applying agency city to submit this grant. Staff's recommendation is to seek council approval for resolution 1556 for the submission of the USDOJ COPS hiring program by the Riverton Police Department. With that, Your Honor, myself and Lieutenant Filer stand for any questions.

Oh, we're going to throw her under the bus, huh? All right. I would ask Ms. Harris please read Resolution 1556 by title only.

Ms. Your Honor, Resolution Number 1556, a resolution of the governing body of the City of Riverton supporting the application of FY26 COPS hiring program of U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs.

I'd entertain a motion to adopt Resolution 1556. So moved. Second. Motion by Councilman Larson, second by Councilman Bailey. Discussion? Your Honor. Yes, sir.

Can we put a covenant in there that once we hire these, they cannot be moved to Lander or Shoshone?

We could try. I don't know how you'd enforce it. Chain law.

Oh, wait, I'm thinking of something else.

I guess that does pose a question, that if we hired somebody and they did leave, does that let us hire somebody else to fulfill the time of that grant?

Yeah, I think it's a position thing rather than a personal thing. Rather than a personal thing. Is that correct? Yes. Yes, Your Honor.

Okay. Your Honor.

Councilman Johnson?

Am I reading this correctly? This is a one-time funding opportunity?

So there is a percentage allotment depending on the size of full-time sworn officers. Our size would allow us to at one time have up to about five, five and a half positions paid for by this grant. So we're just desiring to get back to the the pre-25-26 budget.

I understand that. If this is a one-time funding and it's only good for three years, my question then becomes, you get these people hired, where is the money going to come from to continue paying them what that grant provides?

Sure.

Because the PD obviously is the largest budget. So I'm just concerned where the continued funding would be. And whereas we already have a problem, I don't want to say problem, we're having trouble... There's a lot of turnover and we're having a hard enough time as it is keeping the department full. And so I'm questioning why we're adding more if we have that kind of money, why not just get the guys raises, get everyone raises if we have that kind of funding available.

You can't use it for that.

That's what I'm saying. Over the next three years from now, if this grant runs out and we can come up with funding for three additional officers, why can't we find that funding for raises?

I see what you're saying. You're saying it seems like that 25% match would make sense to... DO THAT, IF ANYTHING, WE WOULD SAY PUT THAT TOWARDS WHO WE HAVE SO THAT WE WOULD BE KEEPING OFFICERS?

WORK ON RETENTION VERSUS NEW HIRE, NEW HIRE, NEW HIRE, NEW HIRE. DON'T GET ME WRONG, I'M ALL ABOUT LOADING THE POLICE DEPARTMENT, BUT PRACTICALLY SPEAKING,

Your Honor, and this just would bring us back to previous staffing levels. So it's not like we're jacking up the numbers just because we're getting a grant. This is numbers that we've had in the past. So I think necessary for the department.

Well, and what they're looking for with this grant, what they're wanting to do is say we're going to increase the amount of police officers in an area so that there's increased safety. So we want to have it be... you're going to have more officers, and then there's going to be more safety down the road. But the point from Councilwoman Johnson, and it's a good point, is what if we just kept at the numbers that we have and put that 25% match into the officers that we have? And I think part of the point is, for me, just in response to that, Councilwoman Johnson, and I think you make a good point, is Probably the biggest complaint that I have heard that has led to officers leaving Riverton lately has been how busy it is not to pay as much. That's just my observation. And so having more officers would suggest, you're talking about retention, there's different ways to do that. Pay could be a part of retention. Increased officers available to be taking calls and everything could be a part of it too, so.

Reducing workload equitably.

By having more officers, yeah. But I agree. I mean, it's definitely something that we would be making that choice. We're saying we're going to put in for more help rather than

I just don't want to get three years down the road and say, we don't have enough to fund these three positions, and now we're cutting three positions because the city runs tight anyway. That's my only concern. Not that I don't support it. I'm just concerned going down the road, looking ahead, are we going to have money to fund these positions that we add through a grant?

Right. And then three years down the road, we'd say, well, we don't have the funding anymore. Kind of like could happen theoretically with the CSOs. If this grant doesn't get paid for, then it's either, OK, the city's going to have to make a choice. Are we going to continue to fund the CSO program, or are we going to not?

Your Honor. I would say that gives us three years of opportunity to find additional funding.

True. And I mean, to a certain extent, we could say that. But we could also, you know, we could do kind of like, I heard this quote from Homer Simpson recently, which of course, as you know, is a great source. He said, that's a problem for future Homer. Yes. And that's not the best attitude, right?

I think it's a great idea. I think I appreciate the work you've put into it. And that's your next challenge. Find out where the rest of the money is coming from.

we got a thumbs up from got a thumbs up so from our over there your honor yes sir just to clarify so the the funding flow would be for three years the city would have to continue for an additional year so there'd be four years that we would have to maintain the staffing of 28 officers just to clarify that

That makes sense.

And I think that's an interesting part of this grant that gets really frustrating, is that they're looking for a commitment for you to continue to fund it in the future, even after the grant ends.

So we could pull a Shoshone, and we could just start pulling everybody over and fund the whole city from traffic tickets.

It's not a bad idea.

I'm not suggesting we do that. I'm just saying there are options. Okay. We could beat this more. Are we ready?

Call for the question. Yeah.

All right. All in favor of passage of Resolution 1556, say aye.

Aye. Aye.

Any opposed say nay. I vote aye. Motion passes. Thank you, Chief, and appreciate you being willing to answer to the Council on the different things we were wanting to visit with you about. Thank you, Council.

Verizon Tower Lease Ground.

Mr. Butterfield, I have been looking forward to this discussion for weeks.

Your Honor, thank you. And I appreciate that you've been looking forward to this, but I recognize it's 10.08 PM, so I'm going to be very brief. 12 days after we notified Verizon that they had to remove their assets from the previous ground lease, they expressed interest in releasing it. They have accepted the terms that was previously approved by the city council. That's an annual rent of $12,000 with a annual escalator thereafter of three percent the only thing they're asking for is a longer term they prefer 15 or 20 years but they are willing to accept what the council had previously moved to approve its staff recommendation that we um recommence these discussions and get this thing locked up i'll stand for questions but i think i can be brief thank you i'd entertain a motion to uh

Except the new offer sheet submitted by Verizon Wireless regarding the expired ground lease located adjacent to Airport Road.

Your Honor, before that, would he say the terms again, 10 or 15, or what was the length?

Just to be clear, yes, the terms.

What, 30 years?

To be clear, it's an annual rent of $12,000 commencing April 1st, not joking, 2026. annual rent escalator of 3%, one additional five-year renewal option following an initial five-year lease term for a maximum potential term of 10 years. That was our offer. And they've said they will take that. They would prefer, however, to have it be a 15-year or 20-year term. Is that correct?

No, that's correct. And from staff perspective, we are fine with the longer term if you are.

So they accepted the 10-year.

The five-year with the five-year renewal, which is 10, yes. That's what we want.

That's what we want. Yeah, that's what we want.

Okay. So now do we have a motion to accept the offer from Verizon Wireless for the five-year with the five-year renewal then? Is that the motion?

Yes.

Second. Second. Okay, we'll say the motion is from Councilman Larson and the second is from Councilman Carr, just because I think I've had Mr. Bailey's name written down more than Carson's. Any other discussion on that?

So it's just a 10-year term?

Yes, that's what we're talking about.

We're not concerned with inflation and how much they make off of us? No, no. No, we're just going to give it to them for $12,000. That's why 10 is better than 15.

Mm-hmm. Well, I think that's the point, is 10 would be better than the 15, because then we can come back and- So it's every five?

Three, yes. Okay. Yeah. Thank you.

And it's only for a maximum of 10. And then at the end of the 10, we could say, well, wait a minute, now the market is this.

Okay. Call for the question.

All in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye.

Any opposed, say nay. Motion passes. Sorry, anybody that's been paying attention to this Verizon thing, it's just made me laugh. It's been kind of ridiculous, but I'm glad that Mr. Butterfield did what we asked him to do, which was to hold his stick by his guns and say no.

He told them there was a new sheriff in town.

That's right. He said he was that sheriff. And they said, yes, sir. All right, next up, financial audit services selection. Ms. Harris, are you ready for this one?