South Third opens briefly

As quickly as South Third Street between Big Horn and Coburn was open it was closed, according to a report at the Worland City Council meeting Tuesday.

City Attorney Kent Richins reported that he received a call Tuesday morning from Earl Bower regarding the property that had been leased to Schlumberger. Bower left a message that the gate had been open that morning.

The street had been closed for the past several years due to an agreement with the property owners Earl Bower Farms.

“And so I quickly sent email to his attorneys and basically saying that this is not what we agreed to because we want the streets open, but we also want the premises secure, and there’s still obstructions,” Richins said.

Bower then called Public Works Director Nick Kruger. Kruger reported to the council that Bower said that there is a private building in the middle of the Schlumberger facilities and they wanted to have public access.

Kruger said, “Instead of the Bower family following the agreement where they’re actually removing the fence, they simply opened the gates. So at the moment, the gates are open. It is technically a public right of way, so you can go right through there if you choose to. The

problem that I have is the fence posts are still there. All of the obstructions are still there, other than the gates are open. So the travel lanes are more or less clear, but the shoulders are still a gigantic metal pole.

“So we discussed it at the department head meeting, and the general consensus was [Wednesday] we’re going to put up the construction road closed signs on both sides of the gate, and then put some barricades around where the posts are for right now, until we can get some type of correspondence back with a timeline, or basically what they’re trying to do.”

Richins said he does plan to send another email to Bower’s attorneys that the agreement the city has is with Bower Farms, although Bower Farms continues to say that Schlumberger is responsible for cleaning up the property.

Chief of Police Gabe Elliott said the speed bumps that were built into the pavement are torn up with chunks of pavement around.

Council member Wendy Fredricks said, “Ultimately we need to get it open and it’s gonna probably be us fitting the bill,” she said, adding that the city then may have to work to recoup those costs.

Richins declined to speculate on the future or legal options at this time.

OTHER BUSINESS

In other business at Tuesday night’s council meeting, the council:

•Approved the appointment of Robb Thiel to the Board of Adjustment and Planning Commission.

•Heard a report from Chief of Police Gabe Elliott that they have received all their new portable and mobile radios. Once programming is complete they will be able to have direct communication with the schools.

He said he met with administrators this week to discuss training on the radios.

Having the direct communication will allow faster response times as officers will hear the call to dispatch before they are actually dispatched out on a call to a school.

He also reported that the Law Enforcement Academy has made changes to their classes reducing online training and adding more in-person hands-on training.

•Heard from Kruger that due to the city giving employees both Thanksgiving and Friday off next week they will pick up commercial trash on Saturday, Nov. 30. He said the businesses are usually the biggest challenge during Thanksgiving with the long break. He added that the county landfill will be open on Saturday.

Newly elected council member Sheryl Ley, who will be sworn in, in January was in attendance along with former candidate Lawrence Meier.