Prevention coalition offers opportunities for involvement

Washakie Prevention Coalition (WPC) attended the Washakie County Commissioners meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 21 to share their updates.

Coalition members Sheri Gunderson, Katie Kirby and Lila Jolley spoke about how the coalition is working to expand its opportunities for involvement for teenagers and parents in the area.

According to the coalition members, the recently started Tuesday night meetings have been successful in gaining attendance from parents, kids and those who cannot normally attend the coalition meetings in the afternoon. They said they have had good discussions at these previous evening meetings.

The coalition additionally shared information about their upcoming trip to Washington, D.C. with four Worland High School students toward the end of January. The coalition and students will be attending the prevention leadership conference, and hope to share their learnings with the community and commissioners after the conference. To attend this trip, students had to go through an application process, write an essay and answer a series of questions.

“It’s always a good group of kids, but this group is an especially fun one,” said the coalition leaders.

Next year’s annual prevention night will be Jan. 25 in Worland and Jan. 20 in Ten Sleep. “[Prevention night] is when the community can come and support kids making good choices,” they said.

RED VISTA VILLAGE

Attorney David Clark and his client Cole Smith were present for the ongoing discussion surrounding Red Vista Village 2 subdivision. Clark said he had a discussion with Washakie County Attorney Tony Barton and was unsure on if the commissioners would be ready to make a decision at the meeting regarding funding held in escrow from a development agreement established for Red Vista Village 1 Subdivision.

The agreement between Cole and Carol Smith and the county was to provide financial security and authority which the county can use to finish constructing any public improvements (especially water). According to minutes from the Nov. 16, 2021, meeting when, the final plat and development agreement were approved, “discussion was held on the remaining improvements that are needed to be completed with the source of potable water and the need for a 40-foot easement around the wellhead. If the wellhead easement issue is not resolved, the developer has one year to put in an alternate well at another site. Easements have been secured for a new site for the wellhead, pipeline and access to the new wellhead.”

To clarify what steps Clark and Cole need to take, Washakie County Interim Planner Mike Robinson said, “The basic gist with the development agreement is you need to satisfy the water supply. So that’s either creating the easement, drilling a well, whatever it takes. The county’s position is that something has to happen to release the escrow. If you file the affidavit, the easement is created at that point, so the requirement of the development agreement has been satisfied […] Mainly the county needs to know that the water problem has been positively addressed in some manner.”

Clark said, “[The affidavit] hasn’t been recorded yet, but we’re ready to record that affidavit if that’s going to assist and move things in that direction.”

The commissioners concluded that after the affidavit is recorded and Barton has drafted a resolution, then the commissioners should be able to release the escrow money.

In earlier meetings, Smith said he needed the money, $90,000, released from escrow to begin construction of the 19 spaces in Red Vista Village 2.

OTHER BUSINESS

Building maintenance manager Ryan Casad brought forth a tentative contract for the archery club to the commissioners. This contract will ensure that the 4-H shooting sports club and Worland Archery Club will share the costs of new netting and targets as needed and will require the groups to report any damage that occurs to the fairground buildings. Casad will continue to work on the contract and ensure that the necessary steps are taken before collecting signatures.

Road and bridge superintendent Stuart Bower said that next spring, they plan to work on a culvert on County Rd 12 1/2. He said during the meeting, “It’s a huge safety concern, it’s very narrow.” Bower said he will work with Wyoming Gas to identify their gas lines and have them moved so they may extend the culvert by 10 to 12 feet, so the road may be the proper width. According to Robinson, the chip seal bid has been re-advertised with minimal changes. He said, “I changed the patch width to 7 feet so contractors with full size mills can do the grinding and patching.” Robinson said he expects to get a few bids for the seal, and that there was previously, “bad timing and apparently not a lot of good communication there.”

The commissioners meeting went into executive/closed session twice - once for advice from legal counsel and once for personnel.