Ten Sleep to review lagoon project Tuesday

TEN SLEEP – The Town of Ten Sleep will review a project to fix the town’s sewage lagoon at the regular December council meeting on Tuesday, along with town department reports.

The town awarded a bid to fix the town’s lagoon, which has breached its original bentonite liner, at last month’s town council meeting.

Bornhoft Construction of Riverton won the bid, at a total of $675,225.

Two other bids were received, each in excess of $1 million.

The leak was discovered this summer, and town engineer Lidstone and Associates recommended replacement rather than repair to the facility.

After securing a State Loan and Investment Board (SLIB) emergency loan, the town started advertising the project to prospective contractors on Sept. 28.

“It was because we used our one cent sales tax money on previous projects that the SLIB was available to us,” said Mayor Jack Haggerty. “The state feels that towns that take care of themselves first [using their own funds] have an advantage, so they awarded us the loan.”

The lagoon will be emptied and re-lined with a synthetic liner, starting this winter. Depending on Bornhoft’s decision, the lagoon will either be emptied completely, or one side at a time as repairs are made. Details should be available at Tuesday’s meeting.

Going forward, Mayor Haggerty recommends that the town use further one-cent sales tax revenues to make the town’s sewage lagoon more efficient.

The town would ultimately like to implement a Green Energy Plan to transition to lagoon to some solar power, to offset costs and ultimately save money.