Ten Sleep approves additional funds to fix lagoon

TEN SLEEP – During a mid-month meeting of the Ten Sleep Town Council on Friday, the town voted to proceed with a project to drain and repair the town’s sewage lagoon, although unexpected engineering costs ballooned the budget for the task.

Earlier this year, the town awarded a bid to fix the town’s lagoon, which has breached its original bentonite liner, to Bornhoft Construction of Riverton, 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.

After realizing the overall cost of the project, Mayor Jack Haggerty approached SLIB a second time, requesting more funds, ultimately being granted a total of $570,000 for the project. A grant provided by the United State Department of Agriculture will pay for $121,000 of the overall.

On Friday, it was pointed out that the overall cost of the project has ballooned to $762,235, when considering added engineering costs and the possibility of replacing the original baffle system in the lagoon.

At that rate, the town will have to contribute 9.3 percent of the cost, roughly $71,000, in one-cent sales tax revenue.

Although the council expressed reservations in spending a large chunk of tax revenue on one project, and the unanticipated engineering costs, they voted to go ahead with the project.

The lagoon will be emptied and re-lined with a synthetic liner, next year. Depending on Bornhoft’s decision, the lagoon will either be emptied completely, or one side at a time as repairs are made.

In other business, the town appointed councilperson Amy Truman to the county Outdoor Recreation Board, and expressed interest in interviewing Worland attorney Marcy Argeris to replace town judge Edward Luhm, who is replacing Fifth Judicial Circuit Court Judge Tom Harrington in January.