City enters into MOU with Town of Kirby

WORLAND — A bid, a street closure and a memorandum of understanding were approved by the Worland City Council at their regular meeting Tuesday night.

Engineering representative Mike Donnell reported on the bid opening for the double gutters, curb and gutter, sidewalks and miscellaneous street and concrete upgrades project that does include the double gutter by Big Horn Basin Tire on Sixth Street.

Donnell said they received two bids and recommended the low bidder, Schneider Construction at $309.605.86. The other bidder was McClellan and MacQueen.

The Schneider bid was approved unanimously with one abstention by Christy Schneider and one absent, Melissa Rivera.

PTO PARTY

The council then heard a proposal from Amy Reid, part of the Worland Elementary

Parent-Teacher Organization. The WE PTO is planning an end-of-school celebration for May 10 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Worland Community Center Complex. She said they would also like to use Sanders Park and was requesting street closures of Obie Sue from 10th Street to 12 Street and on 12th Street from Obie Sue to the canal road.

The request was approved unanimously. Council member Dennis Koch suggested the PTO contact the residents along Obie Sue where the road would be closed.

KIRBY MOU

The council then voted to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Town of Kirby to provide a backup water operator.

City Attorney Kent Richins, who disclosed he also represents Kirby, said the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality is requiring Kirby have a backup operator. With Worland having three certified water operators the city seemed a good choice to enter into an agreement. He said Kirby had agreed to reach out to Worland.

Public Works Superintendent Brian Burky said they tried hiring a backup but it is hard when there is not much work guaranteed. He said he has spoken to all three operators and all are willing to do the work with two of them being the primary backups for Kirby.

Compensation would be the overtime rate of $60 per hour, the Internal Revenue Service mileage rate, which is currently 57 cents, and regular rates for any equipment Worland has to provide.

“I think it’s the neighborly thing to do and I expect the time to be minimal,” Burky said.

The motion to approve the MOU was approved with Rivera absent, Mike Neufer abstaining and Koch voting against. Koch had questioned some of the verbiage in the agreement.

TREE BOARD

Mayor Jim Gill encouraged the council members to recruit members for the city’s tree board. He said the city had an active tree board at one time and it is important as a Tree City USA.

He said with Arbor Day on April 26, he wanted to raise public awareness for a tree board.

“Trees are important to our community. Certainly one of the more environmentally-friendly things we can do for our community is to plant trees. They help stabilize the soil, provide shade and cleanse the air. They are important and the tree board is important,” Gill said.

Anyone interested in being on the tree board should contact city hall at 347-2486.

In other business, Burky reported that work has begun on installing a pickleball court at Hillcrest Park in a partnership project with the Worland Recreation District.