Council - Regular Meeting

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I now call the August 18th, 2026 Finance Committee meeting to order at 6.48 PM. Consideration of claims. Chair would entertain a motion for the approval of claims.

Your Honor, I'll move to, excuse me, for revised consideration of claims to be paid in the amount of $1,797,853.32, Elon credit card in the amount of $6,253.48, manual check in the amount of $150, payroll and liabilities for 8-7-2026 in the amount of $244,075.31, for a total of $2,048,332.11. Second.

Chair has a motion for recommendation of consideration of claims to be paid in the amount of $1,797,853.32, Elon credit card in the amount of $6,253.48, one manual check in the amount of $150, payroll and liabilities for August 7th, 2026 in the amount of $244,075.31 for a total of $2,048,332.11. Are there any questions, comments, or concerns? Just so the public's aware, the motion was for a revised. We did have one individual want to remove their claim, Turpin Media Group, for $3,382. That was the revision to the packet. So it was just a removal of one claim. All in favor of the motion, say aye.

Aye.

All opposed, same sign. Motion carries. Is there anything additional to come before the committee this evening, Director Harris?

No, Mr. Chair, I have nothing. Thank you.

Thank you. Without objection, we'll adjourn the meeting at 6.50 p.m.

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I now call the August 18th, 2026 regular meeting of the Riverton City Council order at 7 PM. Councilman Bailey just now agreed to do the pledge after which I will give the invocation. If everyone could please rise and remove hats. Heavenly Father, we're so grateful for the opportunity we have to meet here together as a city council. We thank thee for the opportunity we have to serve in this way. We ask that it please bless us as we serve that we will have guidance from thee so that we'll be able to decide the things that will benefit our city and the citizens of our city. We thank thee so very much for those who serve the city in many capacities. First responders those who also serve in the military those who serve with our fire departments as well as our Those who serve in the capacity of cleaning our parks as well as just keeping things organized and well run throughout the city. I ask you to please bless all those who serve the city as employees or just the many different roles that folks serve throughout our community that they can be blessed with safety, they can be blessed with a greater ability to be kind and patient and able to handle those things that are challenges that they may have come across their way. We thank thee so very much for those who are here and willing to speak to us and consider what we have to say tonight and ask that you bless all those citizens of our community with safety. And we say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Amen. Okay. Director Harris, if you could please conduct the roll call for us.

Yes, Your Honor, Council Member Eric Carr.

Here.

Council Member Jerica Preston. Here. Council Member Mike Bailey.

Here.

Council Member Carla Borders.

Absent.

Council Member Mike Larson.

Here.

Council Member Kyle Larson. I apologize.

Here.

Council Member Karen Johnson. Here. Mayor Tim Hancock.

I am here as well. If Mike Larson is up here.

He's here. Speak now.

Let us know. Please let us know. I'd entertain a motion to excuse Councilwoman Carla Borders from tonight's meeting. She is actually, has been serving as an election judge I think since she has been on the council and currently in Shoshone. So moved.

Second.

Motion by Councilman Larson, second by Councilwoman Johnson. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. I vote aye. Motion passes. I declare we have a quorum. I'd entertain a motion to approve the agenda as presented. So moved.

Seconded.

Councilman Carr with the motion, Councilwoman Preston with the second. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. I vote aye. Motion passes. Next up on the agenda, introduction and oath of office. for a youth council member. Mr. Butterfield, could you tell us about this item?

Yes, Your Honor, I'd be happy to. We're very pleased that we have another youth in our community that wants to serve and participate on the Riverton Youth Council. Kara House submitted a letter of interest or an application in other terms that has been included in your packet. We're very excited that she will have opportunity to be considered by you and any information that you may need about her interest is in your packet on her application form. Perfect.

Now, I have this down as an oath of office, but I do think we have to have a vote to be able to have her on. So do we have a motion? And tell me how to pronounce your first name again, because I know I'm going to screw it up. Kira. Kira. That's what I thought. Do I have a motion to appoint Kira House as a member of our Riverton City Youth Council? So moved.

Second.

Motion by Councilman Larson. Second by Councilwoman Johnson. Any other discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. It's an appointment, so I don't know if I get a vote on it. So I won't. But I approve. All right. Next up, we have an oath of office to do. So how about you come on up here, and actually before we do that, how about you bring with us your guest and introduce him real quick? No? They say no. I bet you you could convince your grandma to come up. I was gonna say, there's two. I have it on good authority that you have two grandmas here. Come on, you need to come up. I want to recognize this because what we have here are four generations. So could you introduce to us the four generations we have here, Kira?

This is my mother, Quaila.

At the mic, at the mic. You got to get a little closer.

This is my mother, Quaila. And then we have my grandma, Loretta. And then my great grandma, Bonnie.

Awesome. And now, are all of you from Riverton, or where are you from?

Riverton, all of us.

Born and raised?

Mm-hmm.

That is awesome. Well, good. That's great. I'm glad we got a picture of you here. All right, well, you can now sit down, and I'll come down there. I'm not trying to talk about your dad or, I'm assuming, grandfather. I just thought it was cool we had four generation of Riverton women that are here, so. What's that? Aha, well I'm sorry.

All right, you're gonna have to come over here. Now, you're gonna have to raise your right hand.

And if you get confused about which one's your right, right and right over there can help. I remember, Brayden. Now, you're going to repeat after me. I'm going to say, I. I'm not going to say your name. You're going to say your name. And then you're just going to repeat after me. Got it? All right.

I. I, Kira.

As a member of the Riverton Youth Council, As a member of the Riverton Youth Council, commit to serving our community, commit to serving our community, with respect, with respect, integrity, integrity, and enthusiasm, and enthusiasm. I pledge to listen to our peers, I pledge to listen to our peers, share ideas thoughtfully, share ideas thoughtfully, and work together to make Riverton a better place, and work together to make Riverton a better place, for all, for all. All right. Good job. so it's okay you don't know you'll be here at meetings and you'll know you have to shake hands with everybody or they get left out they cry it turns into a big thing congratulations congratulations thank you Now you can sit down.

So you're her aunt.

I have it also on good authority that there's other people in this room that you're related to. Who would that be? Ah.

So it's a long family line. We got a lot of family.

That's awesome.

And I'm very excited for and I'm glad to see her up here. She'll be amazing.

Well, serving in the community is definitely in your blood. As is Riverton, it's in your blood, right? Good to have you, we're proud to have you here. I'm really glad you have some youth council members here that came here to watch you get sworn in and everything. Always feel comfortable to reach out. Liaison is Councilman Carr until whoever the new mayor is decides whoever the liaison is gonna be going forward and might be Councilwoman Preston, might be Councilwoman Johnson, who you may know, might be Councilman Larson, could be me if I get elected to the council, we'll see. And it also, well, it couldn't be Councilwoman Borders. So, all right, well, excited to have you here. Did you want to give a speech or are you good? I'm good. Okay. All right, we'll go to the next item then. Council Committee Reports and Council Members Roundtable. Another thing you can know as well, sorry, Ms. House. We don't stand on a lot of formality here. If you guys want to get out of here, you can. If you want to stick around, you're welcome to too. Council Committee Reports Council Members Roundtable. Let's go ahead and start with Councilwoman Johnson.

Thank you. So, as most of you know, I went to D.C. last week. That was absolutely amazing. And I said it yesterday, but I want to say it publicly. Kyle Butterfield goes above and beyond. And he... He organized some special activities for us while we were in D.C., and I want to say thank you on behalf of my husband and I. We waited 30 years to go to D.C., and you made it extra special for us, so thank you. I appreciate that. With that being said, I got a special tour of the Capitol building thanks to him, and I got to meet Senator Barrasso, and visit the WIP office. I'm not gonna bore everybody with all the details, but it was absolutely amazing, and if you ever have an opportunity to take your family to Washington, D.C. to learn the rich history of our nation, please do it, specifically for days like today, where we the people get the say in what happens in our communities, and it gives you a very, very profound understanding I just don't have words for it, so thank you. And thank you for allowing me to be gone for that. Aside from that, I have attended a couple different PAWS meetings. We're working on some more solutions there. I think the biggest thing to share with the community With pause and the overcrowding there, if you have the chance to spay and neuter your pets, please do so. Also, microchipping them is a big help. If your animal gets out, they can just simply scan it and get it back to you without taking your dog down to the pound. So if you can, think about that. I did come back to a couple different correspondences from folks that want us to take a look at the scooter and electric bike issues around town. There's been complaints about kids not being safe, but equally I've received complaints from people saying that adults are not being adults with them either. and doing things to intentionally cause harm at times. And so maybe it's something we can look at and maybe do a safety course or something like that for kids to be able to ride safely. And then just following up on a couple other things I've been working on throughout the week. But that's all I have, so thank you. And one other thing, I just wanna say thank you to all the candidates that did put in today. It takes courage and no matter what the outcome is, I just wanna say thank you and good luck to everyone.

Good deal. Thank you. Councilman Larson.

Last week I was also absent. I did not spend my time in a congested part of the United States, like Washington. I spend it in the most congested part of Wyoming, which is Yellowstone. And I was there watching the buffalo and their plaited arm shirts showing the number of tourists they had tossed, which was quite interesting. I wished we could have a tax base cut from Yellowstone. It would perpetuate a lot of... money flowing into Riverton. On a more serious note, I also attended the solid waste meeting yesterday in Lander and we're still not having a fix on when Lander will be shut down or what we're going to do with the double haul or, see, The solid waste that Riverton produces goes down to the distribution point and then is backhauled to Lander. That amount of fuel and energy is more than Lander is going to be hauling for itself to Sandron. Riverton produces most of the solid waste. Most people think garbage, but it's solid waste for Landers pit. And they still haven't come up with a solid date of when it's going to close. So it's kind of a smoothing gradual. And so every time you ask them, well, what day are you going to shut down the pit? You get a lot of mumbling and slide roll motion back and forth and up and down and they don't know. But anyway, they're in financially good hands. We're working on a maintenance building there and the footprint of the maintenance building will be sufficient for it. They will move all of the people out of Lander and they will be stationed in that facility which we will build some time in the future. We had an executive meeting and that's about all I have to say.

Okay. Thank you. Councilman Bailey.

Good evening. Since we met last, we met for the PAWS Animal Shelter Committee yesterday and discussed a lot of that. And so again, we're working on different things and still work to be done. Other than that, we had a sort of debriefing meeting for the 250th quintentennial.

Semi-quintentennial.

Semi-quintentennial.

I don't know what we're going to call it in the future. No. Tricentennial?

Again, we went over all the things that we did, and I thought it was a good idea that we sort of put down all the things that we did for the parade and the celebration in the park and all that so that if in the future we decide we want to do that again, that we will have a record of all the things that we did and all that. And so we got a lot of really good compliments from people on the parade and the whole 250th party. And so... People that are interested in that should tell us and that will help us make a decision on what we do next year. So.

Might be something we want to specifically look at having a budget from the city for. Because I know that that was something that TAD funds had paid for. Right. But I mean, the committee was something that was kind of a joint effort between a lot of different organizations, but yeah. something for the next mayor to think about and council not that i'm talking to anyone here with appointment power from the dais when i just realized i set myself up for people getting revenge on a couple of different things ah okay write this down councilwoman preston

so the only meeting i had this week or since our last meeting is i met with mr butterfield and a couple of the city employees and kind of did my orientation got my feet wet and you know kind of went over everything that my role entails so thank you very much for taking the time for that he's been very very helpful and thank you all for allowing me to step in and kind of giving me some grace during this time oh yeah i think we've all been there so you'll get grace from us thank you

Thank you, appreciate it for your good first report, Councilwoman Preston. And you don't have to just stick to your meetings. I mean, it can be different community events you've done or whatever, but yeah, definitely. Councilman Carr.

Thank you, Your Honor. Just first wanted to welcome Jerrica.

Thank you.

Congratulations on your appointment and we all look forward to working with you. So that's very exciting. Thank you. Congratulations again. On August 5th, I attended the youth council meeting after our last regular council meeting. They're just coming off summer, and so they're excited to get going. They have lots of things on their agenda to talk about, and they'll be doing officer nominations here coming up in September, so that will be fun and interesting. And then on August 6th, also attended a Planning Commission meeting. We had a childcare permit go from a childcare home to a childcare center. And then the replat, in case you're wondering why it's not on the agenda, or the consent agenda, there wasn't necessarily anything obtuse about the replat. It was just there were certain conditions that the Planning Commission wanted to see that were met. And so I recommended to the Planning Commission that why don't we just put it on the agenda so that we can make sure that those are met and that Director Michaud could offer any questions. So that's why that's not on the consent agenda. Other than that, glad to be back in town. I was gone all last week. And I was very happy to see the cooler temperatures and a little bit of rain.

It's been nice, I agree. Sergeant Foose, are you here to step in for the chief?

I believe so.

All right, you can come up here and sit next to Mr. Michaud so he's not feeling so lonely if you'd like.

I'm not sure how this works, my apologies.

No, that's okay. I just know you have stripes and I know that the chief's not here and so I wanted to.

All right.

You're good. All right, Mr. Butterfield.

Thank you, Your Honor. That's a perfect segue because the first thing I wanted to do was thank Sergeant Foose for being here tonight. Chief Hurtado fell under the weather today, and it was better that he stay home. So Sergeant Foose is our sergeant on duty tonight, and we appreciate him being here. so thank you and understand that he is on duty as well so if he has to leave obviously that would be a higher priority to serve our community i want to say thank you to those that help facilitate a safe start to school today and encourage parents and folks to remember school zones are in place there are a lot of children and parents dropping people off before and after school. So as we get used to the routine, please just be sure to observe traffic rules and pay attention and ensure that we have a good safe environment for our children to go back to school. No planning commission this week. There will be airport board meeting this Friday at 8 a.m. and that will be here in the council chambers. I want to take a moment and just say thank you to Ms. Harris's team as today is the primary election. Her team was critical in ensuring that our citizens had opportunity to register to vote and exercise the rights that they have. That has been a process that they've been engaged with in supporting our community for several months and want to say thank you to her and her team for doing that. They're always very professional. By way of construction update, a few things to make note. Century Companies began yesterday on Taxiway Delta reconstruction and the lighting project at the airport. The waterline installation continues to be installed on the Riverview Road project. Where that's occurring is just east of Major. They should wrap up in a few weeks time and then they can transition to finalizing curb gutter and then paving. Also a reminder that there is a Safe Routes to School project that's gonna be right on the heels of the Riverview Road project and that will provide better access to the park and to Willow Creek School. We're excited that that's gonna be happening this fall. And I wanted to make note that the major avenue intersection will remain open at this time with only short daytime closures to install some minor utilities as they close up the underground work at that intersection. The 2026 concrete replacement project is underway and the slurry sill project has been underway and very successful. And of course, we don't get very much rain all summer. And then when we get a slurry sill project going, we get rain that week. But no one's gonna complain about getting rain in Wyoming. I did wanna note that Staff would propose a work session in September, the second Tuesday in September. We've discussed this as a team, but haven't had opportunity to circle back with you as a council. And it has to do with following up with what Councilwoman Johnson brought up as it relates to electric scooters, electric bikes. And then also we thought that it would be a good opportunity to talk about the other ordinance proposal as it relates to donations, drop-off centers, and health, safety, welfare of properties. So if it's okay with the council, if we have your concurrence, we'd like to propose that work session the second Tuesday in September. Anyone? That's the eighth? Yes, the eighth. Correct.

Oh, I was on the second.

normal times six seven thirty six seven o'clock seven seven o'clock or would we want to go a little earlier or it's always easier to keep it at the same time i know we sometimes move it but your honor what we'll defer to you six o'clock might be nice just so we don't have staff having to stick around that long but i'm good with six six six works for me six All right, I think everybody here is good with six o'clock on September 8th for the work session talking about e-bikes and yeah.

And the property concerns for drop-off locations. Thank you. I have two last things to say. I think it's appropriate to recognize that Mayor Mike Anderson recently passed away. I want to say thank you for his service to Fremont County. Mike Anderson was someone with a unique smile, a unique personality, and a clear dedication to his community and the county. This next one, I'm sorry, this one's really hard for me. I'm really sad to announce the passing of Millie Hoffman. And I am gonna be very brief because I just have such a deep care and respect for her and deeply miss her being at City Hall even though she wasn't here very often. In fact, I'd tease her when she'd make a rare presence at City Hall. But she was our chief operator at the water treatment plant and for many years took a lot of pride in making sure that the water we drink in town is the best water we have in the county and took very seriously her obligation to the health, safety, welfare of our community. Millie was very good to me when I started as public works director. and I will deeply miss her. And I'm sorry I couldn't do that without a motion, but I just love her and I'm gonna miss her. With that, Your Honor, I think it's time I should turn the microphone over to you. Thank you.

Well, and I want to definitely express my condolences to Millie's family as well as Mayor Anderson's family. Right when I was running for mayor, Mayor Anderson, I think, at that time was running against now Mayor Oller. And he was one of the best examples to me of how to be a good candidate. Because I said, well, what if you lose? I don't remember how the conversation went. And he just was so okay with it. He very much was like... You know, whatever the voters decide, that's gonna be what we'll do. And I just really appreciated that as an example. And I think for many people, Millie was the water treatment plant. I mean, that's just all there was to it. And if you asked anybody, a city of Riverton employee that they felt was just a high quality individual, if they knew Millie, they would probably say Millie. And I didn't get to know her as well as you did Mr. Butterfield, but from what I had seen of her, she was exactly the kind of person you want in that kind of position. It was some big shoes to fill and really appreciate that we had her for when we did. Okay, couple of other things here. First off, trivia question. Does anybody know what happened on August 15th, 1906? Everybody except for Councilwoman Johnson. I know she knows this, anybody? 1906, should be a clue. That's right, yep. And this was shared just, I think, just today from the Riverton Museum. So I would encourage you to come and look at some pictures of what Riverton looked like in 1907. It looked a little bit different than it does now. We had dirt roads. We still have some dirt roads. I'm not gonna say we don't, but this is downtown Riverton in 1906, or 1907, right after we had been made a town. Okay, and of course you know first class cities, towns, there's different rules in terms of Wyoming. But I'll just read what it says here. The town of Riverton was established on August 15th, 1906. Riverton has gone from being a tent city to becoming the most populous city in Fremont County. Over the past 120 years, Riverton has undergone many changes and adapted to a wide variety of circumstances. The town has seen the creation of community events, a college, numerous stores, and been home to a number of families for generations, which I thought was a great example with the House family today. One can only wonder what the next 120 years have in store. They have some photographs there from 1907, from the 1950s to 2026. Would definitely encourage you to get on there and look at those. Would also encourage you to get on there and donate to support the museum. they also have that on their facebook page so that's good anyway karen uh councilwoman johnson was the one that uh brought that to my attention and i certainly appreciate that so something good for us to remember today happy 120th yes don't look a day over a hundred probably still have some of the same water lines You know, Mr. Tolman's been working on that. Just saying. Okay, so next up today is Election Day. If you haven't voted yet, it's too late. I'm sorry. You should have done it earlier. But I would encourage you to vote in November when we actually have our general Election Day. I really appreciate how much work people put into different things that were on the ballot, including themselves as a candidate. There's a lot of candidates there. And I can tell you kind of like Councilwoman Johnson did, it's not easy to put your name out there. The first thing I ran for, I don't know if I'd say run for, but the first thing I put in for was to be in the Order of the Arrow as a Boy Scout. I lost. It was discouraging. Then I ran for president of my law school class. I lost. It was discouraging. It's not fun to put your name out there and lose. I lost for a council seat. it's hard so for all those candidates out there that have been willing to put your name on a ballot i appreciate it i know it's not that easy let alone to have to go through and figure out things like signs and what colors do we use in the signs what do we do where do we put them and it's so weird to walk up to people and say hey are you willing to put a sign in your yard or Give me money? Those things are crazy. So elections are a little bit difficult. And I really applaud everybody that was willing to put their name on a ballot here in Fremont County and certainly wish you well. Good luck. However it turns out, I'm glad you were willing to have the courage to do that. Riverview Road, a lot of work still continuing there. I think Mr. Butterfield had spoken about that. The slurry seal project is still going on. So if you're wondering why one day is my road gray and then the next it's black, well, that's a slurry seal. It's meant to increase the life of the pavement. If you understand anything about roads nowadays, the biggest enemy of our asphalt is water. So what do we do? We put a new seal on there so that we don't get water in there. So if you're wondering what the heck are they doing on the roads, that's what they're doing. I would encourage you to keep doing what everybody has been doing from what I've seen, which is pay attention to the signs. Please don't park where they're telling you not to park. because they want to fix the road. And make sure that you're being a little bit more careful out there with seeing where all the traffic's going, because it's not how you expect it to be sometimes where one side is closed. Luckily, just about everywhere they've been working, what they've been doing is putting a sign out a couple days in advance saying, don't park. And then they've been coming through and they've been getting it done quickly. And then they get all the signs taken down and it's done. and you have a nice sparkling new blacktop. So please continue to respect the construction signs and the closures, that sort of thing. The other thing I wanna talk about real quick is grant funding. Just so you're aware, the city of Riverton a good amount of our budget is from grant funding. It's not just from sales tax or property tax or that kind of thing. We have staff members who are constantly looking at different grants. And just wanted to express my appreciation for that. For example, just recently had a million dollars for the wastewater treatment plant, Main Street water line replacement project, all of that, so. Another thing I wanted to bring up is we have Mr. Michaud, who has some good staffing news, I guess. We have Community Development has some new people in it. Definitely welcome aboard Jennifer, Craig, and then Jim, who's, well, I guess Jim isn't Community Development. Jim is one of Mia's reports. Good job on getting some good people in there. Thank you both. And then the other thing we have going on is the CWC Law Enforcement Academy is going to be starting classes here next week, which is exciting. In other words, we have people who normally would have to go to Douglas to get all their Wyoming Law Enforcement Academy credits done, rather than having to go all the way to Douglas and stay there. I'm not saying Douglas isn't a nice place to stay. It's a great town, I'm sure, about the size of Riverton, but it's not Riverton. So rather than having to go all the way to Douglas and to stay there, people can actually go through the academy here and get it done starting next Monday. One of the reasons I know that is because I'm actually gonna be one of the instructors at it. So that's exciting and I'm looking forward to that. So good news there. The other thing, August 22nd, is that, are we doing the fly-in? Is that when that is? Okay, so make sure, come out to the airport for the fly-in. Gonna be from eight to two, is that correct?

I'm looking now, Mayor. That is correct.

And we're not going to have Santa Claus there in August. Just a regular fly-in. We could arrange that. I'm not going. Okay. Well, that's about all I have. FCAG has still been continuing to do a lot of work. A bit of good news. You may or may not be familiar with some of what we've been trying to get done and part of this ambulance effort has been figuring out being able to get grant money that's available through the Rural Health Care Transformation Act. And it's not all finalized, I think, but recently had been up for a vote from the legislature, and it sounds like we are going to get a good portion of the money that is going towards the Rural Healthcare Transformation Act that's going to Wyoming will be coming to Fremont County for ground ambulance service. So I don't remember the exact amount. I don't want to be quoted on that. Yeah, see Merritt's over there writing things down. But they did have a sizable amount of that grant that was funded. And my recollection is it's more than a million dollars. So that's great news.

Okay.

That's it for me, though. Citizens' comments now, anyone in the audience that wants to address the council regarding an item that's scheduled for a public hearing, we for sure give you an opportunity during that public hearing to address the council. If you want to address the council on something that's an item that's on the agenda, feel free to get my attention while that agenda item is called, and we'll allow you to speak during that agenda item. If you want to speak about something that's not scheduled for a public hearing, that's not an agenda item, this would be the best time to come up and speak. I'd ask you to keep your comments to five minutes if you're an individual, 10 minutes if you're a part of a group. I'd ask you to keep your comments to the topic at hand if you're going to be coming up and speaking when we have discussion on an agenda item. I'd ask you to refrain from name calling or anything that might disturb the orderly conduct of the meeting or to be directly commenting on the character of another individual. But other than that, I would ask you to come up, tell us your name, tell us the organization you're with, and feel free to take advantage of the mic. That might not have been the best way to say that. Anyone who wants to speak?

Thank you. My name is Andrea Martinez-Watson. I am the BCL and WBL coordinator for Wind River Job Corps. Coming to give you guys an update on our center.

Let me get these over here, and I'll hand them out to you real quick. Thank you.

My lovely assistant.

Who is your lovely assistant?

Lovely assistant is not here on behalf of WRJCC business tonight. We'll say that. Thank you.

So in your guys' little newsletter, I was a little behind on getting this out. August came in quick, fast, and in a hurry. And they've had me super, super busy. So I finally got this all finalized and sent out in emails today. For the month of July, we graduated five students. and they are all on to their next adventure in their adult life. Currently today we have 155 students on center. I was not able to get the number of how many students we have coming in possibly next week, but I did hear we have a student transferring from one of our Job Corps centers in Alaska that will be coming and joining our center next week. There's some pictures in there of the Fourth of July parade that we helped be the parade pacers for, and then our community service that we did for the Riverton Museum when they had the graffiti on the wall. One of my favorite parts that we had happen in the last couple of months, I had one Had two students come last month that were graduated students and they have joined an apprenticeship program. And so they came back on one of their days off and they came and talked to the current kids that are in their classes now and talked to them about their apprenticeship and all the great things that they're doing and how to go through the process and how to be patient through the process and how it all kind of works. As instructors, they can tell them all the things until they're blue in the face, but sometimes it doesn't really click. until they hear one of their own peers to be like, yeah, get this apprenticeship program, get your journeyman and all that. So we had one student that was an electrical, well, actually we had three students, but I only got pictures of the two students that came back. We had two of our electrical apprentices come back and talk to the students. And then we had one of our heavy equipment operating students come back and talk to the students. There'll be another student that will be seen on next month's newsletter. She was one of our carpentry students and she came back and talked to our carpentry welding and our petroleum students here. just like the very beginning of August. When she left, she joined the UBC Carpentry Union in their apprenticeship program, and after working down in Cheyenne in the Metta Center with all the other people there, the pipe fitters were keeping an eye on her on how her work ethic was, and they ended up stealing her. So now she's in the pipe fitters union. We also had our CRC meeting, and we had two of our students come and stand up and give their job core story. The young gentleman in the right-hand bottom corner, Raymond Williams, I just took him to Casper the week before, and he signed his papers for his apprenticeship program, and he started working on Monday. And then I'm going to start doing a success story in every newsletter. And so this newsletter was Aisha Tolilu. If you want to spend the time and read her story, she has an amazing story. And I love hearing from our students as they graduate. We will have an open house. It's going to be a student expo-led open house in September, September 17th. I will be sending out invitations. I'm just kind of waiting on my OK from DOL. But we hope to see you guys all there. The whole point of it is going to be that the students are going to be giving live demonstrations, a quick 10 minute demonstration of what they do in their trade. And I want to say I had the privilege of seeing the officers out there directing traffic this morning by the high school and the middle school, and I was very impressed. Although Officer Larson did not think it was funny when I told him that he needed to play some music and dance like Officer Ringer used to do when he would be out there directing traffic.

Does he answer to you, Sergeant? I think of all of them, Officer Larson might be the one that's the most reticent to do that. I could see Officer Christopherson doing it. You might even get him to sing. I don't know.

Yeah.

Thank you, Andrea. Appreciate it. Anyone else? I'm sorry I teased you, Braden. All right, next up we have the consent agenda. Ms. Harris, could you please read the consent agenda items by title only?

Yes, Your Honor. Minutes of the August 4th, 2026 regular council meeting. Minutes of the August 4th, 2026 executive session. Minutes of the August 18th, 2026 finance committee meeting. Finance committee recommendations for August 18th, 2026. A municipal court report for the month of July 2026.

And Councilman Carr, could you give us the report from the Finance Committee?

Thank you, Your Honor. The Finance Committee met at 6.48 p.m. tonight and recommend consideration of claims to be paid in the amount of $1,797,853.32, Elon credit card in the amount of $6,253.48, manual check in the amount of $150,000. Payroll and liabilities for August 7th, 2006 in the amount of $244,075.31 for a total of $2,048,332.11. All right.

Thank you. I'd entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. So moved.

Seconded.

Councilman Bailey with the motion. Councilwoman Preston with the second.

Any other discussion? Your Honor, I'll abstain from the Bailey Enterprises line item on the finance committee report. Thank you.

And I'll abstain from the minutes of the August 4th regular Council meeting and the minutes of the August 4th executive session as I was not present.

Thank you. All right, any other discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. I vote aye. Motion passes. City Council Committee appointments. City Administrators report please.

Thank you, Your Honor. As we welcome Councilwoman Preston to the City Council, there's opportunity for her to also serve on boards and committees. Recently, the boards and committee assignments that were previously held by Councilman Brothers were vacated and filled. At this time, it's the mayor's recommendation to change some of those temporary appointments and appoint Councilwoman Preston to the Finance Committee and also to the Fremont County Recreation, Fremont County School District 25 Recreation Board. Thank you, Your Honor. Thank you. I appreciate that.

I'd entertain a motion to approve appointment of Well, I don't know, what would you call it? De-appointment? De-appointment? Un-appointment? Un-appointment. We'll make up words today. To remove myself from the Fremont County School District 25 Recreation Board and Councilman Larson from the Finance Committee and to appoint Councilwoman Preston to fill the vacancies in the Fremont County School District 25 Rec Board as well as the Finance Committee. So moved. Second. Councilman Larson with the motion. Councilwoman Johnson with the second. Any other discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. Motion passes. Ryan Heights, subdivision lot 1B, block 1, Replat. Do you want to give us the report, Councilman Carr? I'm just giving you a hard time. Mr. Michaud, could you give us your report on this?

My pleasure, Your Honor. So yes, this is a proposal for Ryan Heights addition, lot 1B, block 1, Re Platt. And just for reference, this is located on the corner of West Park Avenue and North First Street, just right next to where the old high school used to be. I feel like a historian sometimes.

Where the old high school used to be?

But yes, the lots are zoned R2. And... What they'd like to do is split the current lot, which originally was three lots way back in 1916 and has been kind of replatted and resubdivided over the years. It's now just one lot and they'd like to subdivide that, replat it into two lots, 1D on the west side and lot 1C on the east side. and so i did want to note on lot 1c on the east side there's a building in the back that family colva family has used as a honey house for many many years something that i think that they really enjoyed for a long time so The lots do meet the 40% coverage and setbacks, but as Councilman Carr iterated earlier, there were three contingencies that the Planning Commission did ask as they recommended this to move forward to the City Council. The first one was that the lot line between Lot 1C and Lot 1D should be relocated four feet to the west to meet five foot setbacks, and since that time, The plat was updated to relocate that line and it is correct on the new, it has been updated on the new plat. The second request they had was to ensure that no city water or sewer lines cross lots, either one of the lots from one to the other that would necessitate easements. Since this time I met with Andrew Logan with our utilities department and we went and checked out the site and he showed me where the water and sewer lines and connections are and I feel confident that they do not cross the lines after that discussion. And then the third item was research electrical connections to ensure known easements are necessary and all service lines are set up properly for each property. I did want to note that the petitioner, Christina Kolva, is here today and also her representative, Olivia Prince. Olivia Prince did reach out to Rocky Mountain Power and she received an email from them that indicated they have no concerns and that all the electrical connections are set up properly. Also, just lastly, this process is required to go through City Code 16.12, and we have fulfilled all those, including contacting the utility providers. None of them had any concerns regarding this request.

Okay. So then in terms of a motion, can we just have it be approving the subdivision application, or do we need to have anything added to that?

Your Honor, I would recommend approving the subdivision application with the updated plat that was presented with the relocation of the lot line to four feet to the west. And that plat has been presented to the city and the city council packet.

Perfect, okay. Well, and I hope you don't mind that I was being a little bit in jest. I know that this is your... but appreciated that Councilman Carr was able to give us a good report from the Planning Commission, being our liaison, and so that's why I wasn't gonna actually make you do the report. All right, I'd entertain a motion to approve the minor subdivision application for Ryan Heights addition, lot one B, block one replat. So moved. 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. Ground lease agreement, fixed base operator terminal, fuel truck area, Five Rivers Jet Center, RIW. Thank you for being here. We didn't have any questions, but glad you were here. Thanks for your hard work on this. Yes, you don't even have to ask like I was saying only if you want the exciting part still to come. We're going to have a fist fight later. Public Works directors report please on this FBO.

Thank you, Your Honor. Tonight for consideration is a new ground lease agreement with Five Rivers Jet Center, RIW, as you stated. This is the new FBO operator, or the fixed-base operator at Central Wyoming Regional Airport. Five Rivers Jet Center has taken over the existing modular terminal building or the FBO building lease from Intermountain Medical Transport LLC. It also includes an area to park fuel trucks as well and equipment for the FBO operator. The terminal lease covers, that does cover 15,000 square feet of surveyed property. This lease agreement is for 21 cents per square foot and matches the rate charged for hangar owners and then also maintains consistency with other airport leases. It's been updated to identify Five Rivers Jet Center and more closely follow other FPL lease agreements used around the state or at other airports around the state. So this lease is for 15 years, has two additional five-year options for renewal. Then either party may terminate the agreement with a 60-day notice and then also a 90-day written notice. is required to prevent automatic renewal for the terms, the different terms. Also stated in the lease agreement are minimal FBO requirements, such as maintaining fueling services for Avgas and Jet A. These are per the fuel flow, fuel fee guidelines that were passed at a previous council meeting. Then need to keep on hand any necessary fuel for the aircraft. any necessary equipment to fuel the aircraft. Excuse me. And then they'll have aircraft ramp services, including towing, parking guidance for jets that may come in, airplanes as well. And then they'll have aircraft maintenance services also to keep on-hand sufficient aviation fuels and lubricating oils. This lease is expected to generate the same amount of revenue as the previous agreement with Intermountain Medical Transport, and this would formally transfer the existing FBO lease to the new airport operator, Five Rivers Jet Center, and update the lease terms and maintain the existing revenue levels. Thank you, Your Honor.

All right, thank you. I appreciate it. I'd entertain a motion to approve the ground lease agreement for the current FBO terminal building footprint and fuel truck area to Five Rivers Jet Center at the Central Wyoming Regional Airport.

So moved. Second.

Moved by Councilman Bailey, second by Councilman Carr. Discussion on this item. What else do we have left to get the FBO all settled? I just remember we had, we've been talking about it for a bit, and I was so glad that we got somebody, by the way, thank you for your hard work on that, and I'm probably gonna say that every time we talk about this, because I know it was touch and go for a little bit, which is funny to say for an FBO operator, right? Ooh, yeah, that's right. What else do we need to get? What else are we going to have to approve from the Council?

Thank you. This is the third or the second lease agreement since they did buy the larger hangar at the airport. Now they it was suspect whether they would buy the modular building that has served as the FBO terminal building. And when they did that, this then triggered the need to transfer over this lease agreement. We also then approved the fuel flow lease agreement as well. So possibly a larger FBO agreement maybe in order if one Mr. Ransom and I from the airport are looking at a full agreement that would have every item Detailed out this does have the minimum standards in it though for an FBO operator and then Beyond that, we may get their input as we look at our rates, charges for the airport, rates and fee charges. And that would get us going, I think. That would wrap us up for that, excuse me.

Well, this agreement is a little bit unique for us in terms of the way that it's working with the rental and the flow and all of that in terms of how that's working, isn't it?

Your Honor, it is. It does match the old agreement that we had with Intermountain, and they operated as an FBO. This has just a little bit more to outline the minimum services. Those were the minimum services that we advertised with the RFP process that was in May. So we can definitely then go beyond that as well with a larger agreement. Perfect.

Any other questions? Councilman Bailey?

So, Mr. Tolman, are they operating the FBO now at this point themselves, or is it still under?

Your Honor, yes, they are, and I can give you that date. Last week was the official switchover date. Okay.

Anything else? All right. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. Motion passes. Oh, aye vote aye. Memorandum of Understanding Spillman Hardware Upgrade. Are you going to give us this report here, Sergeant Foose?

I have zero information on that.

Okay. Well, I'm glad you're here to look pretty today. Thank you. Mr. Butterfield? That's all I got. I've known Sergeant Foose for a long time in case you're thinking this is like flirting or anything like that.

It's just a straight up honest answer.

It's okay. I appreciate your candor today.

I just wanna start by saying, Sergeant Foose, he's never referred to me as looking pretty, so.

Sorry, Mr. Butterfield.

It's okay, Your Honor, I'd be happy to handle this report.

Go ahead, please. Thank you.

uh before you tonight is a memorandum of understanding between the city of riverton and the fremont county sheriff's office as distributed to you today there's a slight change in the agreement or the mou that's in the pre-meeting packet the changes were non-substantive but we're at the recommendation of nathan maxson who is the county attorney that handles the more civil affairs the base the basis of this agreement centers on improving the computer-aided dispatch service that fremont county provides to several law enforcement and emergency response entities across the county there is a need to upgrade the software associated with the computer-aided dispatch system this is the motorola solutions flex program and we'll refer to that as spillman moving forward While the county hosts Spillman and there's a need to upgrade it, they cannot do so until there are necessary upgrades to the associated hardware that hosts the Spillman program and software. The City of Riverton received a 2025 State Homeland Security Program grant centered on purchasing hardware and or software to replace and upgrade the current computer-aided dispatch system utilized by Riverton Police Department and other entities. Riverton Police Department, the city's IT staff, have been working with the Sheriff's Office deputies as well as their IT team to find the best solution in making the improvements that have been referenced and also utilizing the funds that have been granted. It's been determined that the best use of funds would be to replace the hardware, specifically the servers, that support CAD, or the Computer Aided Dispatch, and then also provide sufficient backup. This MOU states that the funds that were received through the State Homeland Security Program would be used to upgrade the server at the county, provide an offsite backup, which would be at City Hall, and then enter into some agreement about how those pieces of equipment or assets would be managed moving forward. The MOU addresses that. To bring out a couple of the important points, I want to reference that while grant funds will be used for the purchase of these items or these hardware items, they will remain assets of the City of Riverton since we would be the entity procuring them. It also states that the county will grant to the city and maintain a super user account with administrative rights over the police department partition of the Spillman system. We are unique in the county in that we have our own dispatch center. However, we rely upon the county for the Spillman program. So as an appropriate consideration for the improvements that the city is willing to make for computer-aided dispatch, we want to ensure that our IT professional specifically has the ability to support the Spelman system as it relates to our use for the Riverton Police Department. It states that both entities will provide suitable physical space, environmental controls, and conditions consistent with manufacturer recommendations for these servers and associated pieces of hardware. It also states that each entity is responsible should something go wrong with these pieces of hardware, specifically something going wrong due to negligence of either party. Otherwise, many of the provisions are standard in our memoranda of understanding with entities and the city recommends, excuse me, city staff recommends that this be executed and that we move forward with this project. Thank you, Your Honor.

Thank you. I'd entertain a motion to approve the MOU with Fremont County Government for the purpose of using grant funds for the purchase of hardware to support the Spillman Computer Aided Dispatch System.

So moved.

Second. Motion by Councilwoman Preston, second by Councilman Bailey. Any discussion?

Your Honor.

Yes, ma'am.

I do have questions, if you're able to answer them. With the Spillman system, and I know it says in there that... It's been written in that the routine upgrades and stuff like that will go along with this. Does this funding also include training as it upgrades?

Your Honor, Councilwoman, I'm sorry, I cannot speak to whether or not training would be included. What I can speak to is that the county has applied for and been recipient of gap funds to improve their dispatch system and they, as I'm told, intend to use those funds to update the software side of the Spillman system, but I do not know if it comes with training.

So we're upgrading the servers but not the software?

Your Honor, Councilwoman, as it pertains to this agreement, we're only talking about the hardware because that's where our investment through our grant funds would be spent. The software improvements would be handled by the Sheriff's Department through the grants that they're receiving.

Okay.

We share the, because we share the Spillman license with the county, which is part of why we're all on the same system, we're going to be Hopefully, if they get the software upgraded, we'll all be on a new Spillman system. And the hope is, if I understand correctly, is this is going to allow us to move towards electronic citations better than right now the current system has, which I think has had its fair share of issues such that we haven't been able to do them at all.

They just haven't been real punctual with upgrading as they should through previous agreements. I'm questioning getting the upgrades paid for by us and then sitting with old systems again. Every one of those upgrades requires training. Right.

When you say that upgraded ability to give tickets, does that mean cameras on stop signs and some fours that you receive a good news in the mail, you owe me money?

No, but I will say what happens right now, so there's a lot going on with the courts right now. So right now, the circuit courts, which is what the citations are written into, are moving towards, and that's actually this week, file and serve. So rather than having everything be done by paper, soon we're going to be in this brave new era where everything with the circuit courts is going to be electronic. So what that means is if you're using a paper citation, for example, and this is getting way too much in the weeds, but I'll just give you a good understanding of why electronic citations have a lot of positives. If you're using a paper citation, you are limited to one charge per citation. With electronic filing, with an electronic citation, one that's approved through the state, which ours right now isn't and wouldn't be and it would take some extra steps, you can file and have one citation that has multiple charges on it. So there's a lot of positives to the electronic citation. Saves a lot of works for the officers in the field. For example, the highway patrol, the way they do it is they just scan the driver's license and then it fills out the citation based on the driver's license. Which is pretty cool. I'm not saying we're there yet in the Riverton Police Department, but it is something that there's a lot of things that we can do that make the job easier for the officers in the field involving electronic citations. And it's my understanding part of what's getting in the way of that is we're using Spillman from basically the 1970s. I'm exaggerating, but it's an older version of Spillman.

At least the early 2000s. Yeah. if not.

Any other comments? Councilman Bailey.

So basically the city of Riverton's going to own the hardware. The county is going to pay for the software. We're both going to be able to use both and be one big happy family that uses one database and hopefully saves the taxpayers a lot of money and not having to pay for two complete systems and software and all that.

That'd be the idea. Okay.

One last question. Sure. Is Lander gonna be included on that also, hopefully?

So Lander does all of their dispatching through the county right now.

Okay.

So yes, they're included on that. And one of the things that's really nice about the Spillman system, even though we're using an older version of it, is that everybody in the county uses the same system, which really works to the benefit of our county. If the Shoshone Police Department, the Sheriff's Office, the Riverton Police Department, the Lander Police Department stops someone, they have a lot of information that other officers have placed into the database that they can use to help them do their job. It can even go so far as someone giving them a name. Well, my name is Mike Bailey. You have a big tattoo across the side of your face that says Kyle Butterfield. We might think you're not Mike Bailey. You're actually Kyle Butterfield based on the tattoo. But I will say, you know, we live in an area where sometimes people give false names and stuff like that, for example, helps us to be able to identify them. Don't get a big Kyle Butterfield tattoo on your face.

I don't plan any major facial tattoos in the near future. Good call.

You just suck the fun out of everything.

Any other comments on this?

That's a great idea.

I think it's a good idea.

Does Dubois have their own police now, or are they still doing sheriff?

They do. They have their own police department, and Dubois is, I believe, on Spillman, I think. Everybody in the county shares one database that helps us be able to communicate better. When it works, it works well, which Councilwoman Johnson could probably talk about too.

All right. Your Honor. Yes, sir. Just remember that when you seek a motion, the MOU is not between Fremont County government but through Fremont County Sheriff's Office.

Oh, that's a good point. Thank you. Well, the one that I have, though, has a signature line for Larry Allen, or was that the original one that had the signature line for Larry Allen and the amended one is the Sheriff's Office?

Your Honor, yeah, if I may, because I had mentioned there were non-substantive changes that came through from Nathan Maxson. One was listing the Sheriff's Office as the entity and then the signatory for the entity is Sheriff Lee. Mr. Maxson said that there is no need for an attest to the sheriff's signature, whereas with the commissioner, the county clerk would. Okay. So that was one change, and then the second was simply catching something where, as it relates to governmental immunity and sovereignty, that it did not explicitly list the county it should have, and so it says city and county now.

Well, and I think we also had a typo in the word agreement that you cut, and so what we have there in the packet has that fixed as well.

Yes, Your Honor. I think, to be fair, that typo came from me and it was caught by me just too late. No worries.

Okay, so I would want to make clear that the motion, I think when I had read out what I thought the motion would be, it would be between Fremont County Government. Councilwoman Preston, Councilman Bailey, is that sufficient to be able to clarify that your motion and second was with regard to the MOU being between Fremont County Sheriff's Office and the City of Riverton?

Yes. Okay.

Good enough. All right. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay. I vote aye. Motion passes. Consideration of bid, C&D Service Truck. Mr. Tolman.

Thank you, Your Honor. Tonight, for your consideration, is the purchase of one new crew cab four-wheel drive work truck, which includes a utility box. This will be for the collection and distribution department. The vehicle will replace a 2010 Chevy half-ton truck, has just over 100,000 miles on it, and it is parked. I just verified earlier. It starts up, but does not move. The city allocated 84,000 for this vehicle, and this will be split between the water and sewer funds, and this was budgeted in this year's, the fiscal year 2027 budget. This vehicle did go out for a competitive bid. The advertisement for the bids began July 29th, and then bids were open August 13th. One responsive bid was received. It was received from Fremont Motor Companies. That was in the amount of $80,890.04. Since there was only one bid, we looked back in previous bid history. We did bid a truck last year. It was very similar to this one, but a dual-wheel truck. That truck came in, the low bid was from Freight Motors on that one. It was at $81,994. So again, this year, $80,890.04. So we did deem it as a responsive bid. And with that, and then also, Sorry, there's one other item I was gonna pull up, but staff does recommend that the council awards the bid to Fremont Motor Companies in the amount of $80,890.04. It's $3,109.96 under budget. 84,000 was budgeted this year for this truck, whereas the other truck, 90,000 was budgeted. And then it would help to replace the aging and very unreliable current truck that the C&D department does use now. Thank you.

Okay. I'd entertain a motion to approve the purchase of a 110 crew cab, four wheel drive work truck with a utility box from Fremont Motor Company in the amount of $80,890.04. So moved. Motion by Councilman, or sorry, Councilwoman Johnson. Second by Councilman Larson. Any other discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. I vote aye. Motion passes. Change order slurry seal project. Mr. Towman, I think we need to have less alliteration with your things. I mean, the fuel, everything. Slurry seal project, it's just, it's getting hard.

Your Honor, before we move forward on the agenda, can we take a quick- That's a good call.

We usually do that around 8.30, 8.15. This is a good time to do it. It'll give Ms. Harris some time to get ready for the fiscal health report. Let's go ahead and take recess. It's 8.16. Let's come back. Four minutes enough for everybody?

Four? Is that what you said?

Four? 8.25. We'll come back at 8.25. We're in recess. We are back in session. We're a minute late, despite the fact that Councilman Larson is usually the one who keeps me on time.

He made us late today.

So we are back at our regular August 18th, 2026 council meeting. Next up on the agenda is the change order for the slurry seal project. I think this is our last report from you, Mr. Tolman.

Thank you, your honor. And tonight the council is asked to approve initial change work order in the amount of $58,000 for the 2026 pavement preservation slurry seal project. The project was originally, low bidder was American Pavement Preservation. It was awarded in the amount of $256,629 to a slurry seal approximately 122,000 square yards of roadway. The relatively low cost of the project at $1.80 per square foot allowed the city to pay more streets than they originally thought was possible. If this change order is approved, it could slurry up to about 32,000 square yards of additional roadway. There are additional areas that were proposed. that are good candidates for the Slurry Seal. Those portions include Shandell Boulevard with a little bit of an airport road, North 8th Street West, West Jackson Avenue, and then also nearby streets, along with South Broadway Avenue and 11th Street West. The Forest Community did allocate $350,000 to this project. Of that $350,000, just over $32,000 was put onto the striping project. This left about $317,000 to be spent. And then with the bid of the project, it left about a $60,000 difference in there where this would still come within the budgeted amount of the project. So the force account has currently just over $4,245,000 in the account. After this change order, if it's approved and the other projects approved, that would make just over $3 million in projects, $3,051,000 in projects. it would leave a balance in the fund of 1.19 million if this is approved. So each year this fund does approve, does generate just over $2 million annually. And a change order would be used to help the Slurry Seal project to seal streets that are a great candidate for the Slurry Seal application. So thank you, Your Honor. Thank you.

I'd entertain a motion to approve an additional work change order to American pavement preservation and the amount of $58,000 for the 2026 pavement preservation slurry seal project.

So moved second.

Councilman Bailey with the motion Councilman Carr with the second. Any discussion? Your Honor.

Councilman Carr. Just to be clear, nothing really changed on the original project. We're being able to add more to the project for the budgeted amount, correct?

Your Honor, that is correct. It still is within the budgeted amount for the project. If the two items are put together, this change order, three items, excuse me, plus the pavement striping project, plus the original project, it would come to a total of $346,868. So just 35, $3,200 less than our budgeted amount for the project. Fantastic. Councilman Bailey? It really is pretty impressive when they go in and

They did the street in front of my house and they put a sign out a couple days ahead. They got the signs out the day ahead. The next morning I go to work, I come back, the street's totally done.

And it's dry and ready to be driven on. And the signs are down.

And the signs are down. And so they really are pretty impressive how well they moved through the city. And I was a little stressed about where I was gonna park or how I was gonna get out, but they had it figured out and it worked out just fine. Yeah, I was really impressed. They didn't drive over anybody's yard or anything to get out.

The way they closed it, for example, at the corner of Major and West Park and made it so it closed half of the lane, just the way they did it so that it really did not get in anyone's way, they had all that down a couple of days before so that they didn't have people parked there. I've been happy with them.

for a not Wyoming company that, I mean. Absolutely, Your Honor. And we had to knock on a couple doors for people to move their vehicles late. But after a couple, those are very minimal. And once the folks we made contact, they moved them or they helped. The neighbors helped to find the owners of the vehicles, and they were moved. So it was really a great project. The contractor did tell me today, he said he really appreciated working with the people in the town, and then he also thought it turned out to be a great project for them as well. They were really happy with the town. They would love to come back, they said. Oh, good. They could move here.

I mean, make it a lot easier for us.

I had a couple people stop in and they were very, very happy with the work that was being done and they liked the way it looked and how it went and so citizens were happy with it.

Councilman Larson, you were wanting to say something?

Well, I was just, you know, the amount of money and I realized publicly they didn't inconvenience anybody but the idea is to maintain the highways I know inconvenience I saw that tar pit that they had and now at Walmart swallow a car one time and we certainly don't want that in our roads, I mean it took the front axle right off of the vehicle and there was and You know if you if you spray and keep your roads with the water off them They last a lot longer, and roads are expensive.

Well, that's just exactly it. Much rather, it's a lot cheaper for us to do a slurry seal like this than it is to replace all the asphalt, and so it definitely extends the life of the road. I often have people complain, for example, about the Smith's parking lot, and I'm like, that is not a public street. If you have a problem with that, please talk to Kroger or whoever it is that's in charge of that, but it's not the city.

It's actually privately owned. Oh, that's right.

I knew that. That's why it's been... Eamon sold that property to the painter.

Samuelson. Samuelson.

Samuelson owns that whole area.

That's his responsibility. You know, maybe he should have talked to American Pavement Preservation and they could have.

Might take a little smidge more than a slurry seal.

I think it's going to take more than a slurry seal. Go over a couple layers. Yeah. All right. Well, good. Did we already vote on that? No. Okay. Well, all in favor of the change order as indicated, say aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay. Motion passes. I put a little check mark here usually when we've had a vote on it, and I did that before we voted. We didn't. I did get excited. I get excited about slurry seals, but I don't know. Not really. But I will say our next item is something I'm always excited for. Our year end fiscal health report, not our quarterly, year end. Ms. Harris, if you could give us the report. The riveting news of the evening. Yes.

First of all, I wanted to point out that I have included copies of the spreadsheets on the presentation, but they're also in your council packet. And for ease of your viewing, you probably are going to have better luck following along in your packet. But it's also up here for the general public to see. And it has also been posted out on our city website for the finance department. So it's available as well. So thank you for giving me some time tonight. I just wanted to provide a brief overview of the city's fiscal health report for the period ending June 30th, 2026, which was also the end of our fiscal year. Overall, the city closed the fiscal year in a stable financial position and departments stayed within their appropriations. Local revenues performed well and the enterprise funds continue to be strong. The variances you'll see across several of the funds are tied primarily to the timing of grant reimbursements and multi-year capital projects, not overspending of structural issues. Starting with the general fund, we ended the year with a positive margin of just under $600,000. Local revenues, licenses and permits, fines, and miscellaneous revenue all exceeded projections. On the expenditure side, departments closed at about 80% of the budgets. Capital spending in the general fund landed lower than expected at 42%, and that is due to delayed construction on three major projects, which include the Willow Creek QUICK WILLOW CREEK TAP PROJECT. THE SAFE STREETS FOR ALL INITIATIVE AND THE EPA BROWN'S FIELD PROJECT AND AS MR. TOMAN MENTIONED TONIGHT AS WELL, THOSE PROJECTS ARE STILL ONGOING. ALL THREE ARE ACTIVE AND FUNDED AND WE EXPECT EXPENDITURES TO INCREASE THIS FISCAL YEAR AS THE PROJECTS MOVE FORWARD. Next, I want to highlight the airport fund, which continues to be one of our most complex funds because the number of grants and capital projects involved. The fund closed the year with a negative variance of about $330,000. This variance is tied to project timing and outstanding grant reimbursements that we're still expecting from past work. Capital outlay at the airport reached 93%. reflecting significant progress on runway rehabilitation, terminal upgrades, and airfield safety improvements. To support airport operations and capital needs, staff did transfer $585,000 in direct distribution funding from the general fund, as was budgeted. And that transfer ensures stable cash flow while we wait for remaining grant revenue. And what we're finding with these is that we have to have final approval from the FAA to do closeout for the grants. And once we get that final approval, then we could submit those final reimbursement requests. So we're just waiting for final approval on closeouts on several of these. Capital outlay at the airport reached 93%. I already said that, moving on, sorry. Moving to the water fund, the fund ended the year with a positive balance of about $450,000. This is really important as we're moving into major capital projects in our water fund in the upcoming year. Operating revenue exceeded projections and expenses stayed within the budget. Capital spending closed at 44% driven by unspent funding for the water tank rehabilitation project, the backtrack purchase and plan distribution system improvements. The projects are underway and will continue into the next fiscal year. In the wastewater fund, the year-end numbers initially showed negative balances of about $929,000, and this variance was timing-based. Staff was waiting for a $1 million reimbursement from the WCDA CDBG grant. That reimbursement has now been received. Unfortunately, it was not received prior to the end of the fiscal year, so it left us with a really ugly number. But we have since received that and the funds financial position has been corrected. Capital spending closed at 56%, which is consistent with multi-year treatment and collection system improvements. Also, we have the sanitation fund. It's kind of our quiet fund. It ended this year with a positive balance of $83,000. So that speaks to our tight budgeting that we have with revenues and expenditures. Capital outlay closed at 100%, reflecting full completion of planned fleet and equipment purchases. And then finally, the airline service fund, the air service fund, the year-end variance was about $531,000, and that's consistent with prior years and reflects our ongoing commitment to maintaining commercial air service. As of today, the fund's cash position is strong, just over $1.2 million. This economic development tax could be very, it's going to be very crucial in determining how long our air service is going to continue unless we find some other funding. Citywide, total revenues were about $27.2 million and total expenses were about $27.8 million for a net change of roughly $660,000. Again, the variance was driven by grant timing and not overspending. Overall, the city remains in sound fiscal condition. Revenues are stable and departments are managing their budgets responsibly. will continue to make progress on major capital projects across all areas of the organization. And that concludes my report. And I would stand for any questions you may have.

Thank you, Ms. Harris. Any questions?

On the water fund, I remember several years ago that I think we made $2,500 on our water fund, and now we've made substantially more because of the raise. Are we using that money to upgrade our equipment and make that thing last better?

Your Honor.

Go ahead, Ms. Hayes.

We have several major water capital projects that we are preparing for in the next fiscal year, I believe starting next spring, actually. We budgeted for it this year. The West Main Water Line Replacement Project is a very large transmission line, and it's a multimillion-dollar project. So every penny that we have from our water and sewer revenues goes back into the system. and we're using some of that money to match grant and loan funding at this point.

Thank you. I would say one of the things that's really important with that is every year we come before the citizens and say, hey, this is a necessity, and I've said it before, it's something that I'm going to generally vote in favor of because unlike sales tax, where sales tax is going to increase as... you have an increase in general in the economy and the prices of things, that sort of thing. The water fund is never going to increase unless you have an increase in water usage. So it's kind of something that doesn't get tied to any sort of economic improvement in the community. So the only way to keep up with inflation or anything like that is to increase the amount for the water rates or the waste water rates, that sort of thing. But one of the important things is that we're getting in terms of service from our city staff is a lot of our big projects are not just using the water fund or the wastewater fund or the sanitation fund. We are actively using grants. If we did not have city staff that were going out and getting those grants, and actually getting awarded those grants, we would have to be looking at increasing rates by like 10%, 20%, because those funds do not have the money to be able to do those projects as it stands right now. And one of the interesting things about most of those grants is they require you to increase your rates before they will give you the grant. So it kind of works a little bit of hand in glove. We're not gonna get the grants unless we're doing the increases. The grants make it so the increases aren't as high as they could be. Just food for thought whenever we talk about wastewater or water fund rate increases.

Your Honor, and I would agree that people talk a lot about the water and sewer rates, but if, the rate payer was going to pay 100% of the cost of operating those systems, the rates would go up dramatically. And so really those increases, like you said, they just go to prove to the grant providers that we are charging fairly for our product and to get those additional millions of dollars that it's gonna take, which We had a study done here a while back and it said that we needed to spend $70 million in the next 10 years or something, which is significant.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to say everybody has to be okay with rate increases and trying to shut people down from coming and talking to us about it. For goodness sakes, please let us know how it affects you, how it affects your family. That's all important stuff. but I just want to give a little bit of a different perspective as to why that's something that we look at every year.

Your Honor. Yes, sir. Just since it's Director Harris's time to shine right now, we are exceptionally lucky to have her and her team. And so many thanks for your incredible attention to detail and the accuracy. It's why we have exemplary audits every single year. So I have literally sat through countless meetings with many entities. and they all pale in comparison. So thank you for your diligence.

It's team effort.

Truly. Well, you got a good team. And you can give them the credit all you like. All right, well, that was our last item. This is a red letter day. It looks like.

It's been a long time since we've been done before nine.

Yes, and it looks like they're starting to get precinct results in. All lander precincts are in. Lander, Arapahoe, Kinnear, Ethidy, Early, and Absentee are all in. We'll see how all of the elections go.

If you're like me, you're gonna be glued to your computer for the next couple hours.

All right, all in favor of adjourning this meeting say aye, or I'm sorry, do we have a motion to adjourn? Motion to adjourn.

Second.

Motion to adjourn from Councilman Carr, second by Councilwoman Preston. Now, any discussion on that motion? Because otherwise, Councilman Larson's going to...

Your Honor, don't we have an executive meeting here or something?

I was hoping so. We missed one last week. I mean, do we need one tonight?

All in favor of adjourning, say aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay.

We could move for Larson and Johnson to have a catch-up meeting as we leave.

We are adjourned. 846.

Johnson, Larson.

No way. John Larson. John Larson. That's funny.

I was Karen Larson a couple weeks ago.

I thought that was funny. I almost was like, she's got to be doing that.

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