Sidewalk ordinance passes first reading

WORLAND – The Worland City Council approved on first reading an ordinance updating options for payment for streets and sidewalks improvements.

Ordinance No. 837 was approved unanimously on first reading Tuesday night. The ordinance reads, “The City of Worland may be responsible for paying the costs involved in replacing the double gutter, curb and gutter and sidewalk, including ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant wheelchair ramps, at the corners of corner lots located within the City of Worland. This responsibility applies only with respect to the replacement of established corners and not new corners.”

City Attorney Kent Richins presented the amended version of the ordinance to council at Tuesday night’s meeting. Previously the council tabled the issue to give themselves more time to look at the ordinance after making language amendments and adding a 72-hour advanced notice for responses from both parties (city and residents).

At Tuesday night’s meeting Richins said he changed the notification to five business days for a response when a resident requests sidewalk improvement. (Shorter notice can be given, but there is no guarantee of the city’s participation.) He also amended the ordinance and added any improvements to curb and gutter shall conform to the appropriate ADA requirements and city specifications.

The ordinance now states, “The city shall have the opportunity to approve of the contractor, time and price of the improvements for which the City will be responsible; otherwise, the property owner will be financially responsible for the improvements. Any improvements to curb, gutter and sidewalk shall conform to the appropriate ADA and City specifications. Every effort will be made by the property owner and city to make arrangements in advance of any work in order to ensure work is done appropriately and at the lowest available cost.”

Currently the only street improvement option the city has is the curb appeal loan which the city of Worland is able to loan money to homeowners at 2 percent to enhance curb appeal and provide safe sidewalks residents.

City Clerk Tracy A. Glanz said the loan option will still be available for interested residents, and the funding for the street improvements for this ordinance “will come out of the streets budget in the general fund and hopefully the city will have budgeted money for incidental projects (those started by property owners) as well as those planned by the city.”

A full copy of the Ordinance No. 837 can be found on BoardDocs® on the City of Worland website.

Tree trimming

In other business, the mayor discussed tree trimming issues. “We’ve been approached by some folks who would like to know if the city would participate in the cost of trimming trees in the downtown area,” Worland Mayor Dave Duffy said. “What we are proposing is that resolution we do a one-time authorization for the city to contact an entity to trim those trees and clean up trees in front of the businesses between Railway (Avenue) and 10th Street.”

He also said this is a one-time thing and the city has an estimated cost of $2,700 for the trimming. The motion was the tree trimming was approved unanimously.

– Council also approved Resolution 2016 – 7. The resolution is a Fair Housing Resolution for the Crisis Prevention and Response Center (CPRC) for their new shelter and partial office they are building. The council approved the resolution with Dennis Koch and Lisa Fernandez opposed.

– The city approved a lease agreement to rent a property for equipment storage on Robertson for $1,300 from November to May.