Seats opening on Sierra Madre Joint Powers Board

Three out of five seats on the Sierra Madre Water & Sewer Joint Powers Board (SMWSJPB) are up for appointment at the beginning of 2016.

This year one appointment will be made by the town of Riverside, and two appointments will be made by the East Riverside Wyoming Water and Sewer District (ERWWSD). The ERWWSD represents the outlying communities of Cherokee Meadows and Blackhall Road. Because they are separate governmental entities a joint powers board was formed to manage the water infrastructure.

Two of the seats coming open have three-year terms and the third, which alternates appointment between Riverside and the ERWWSD is a one-year seat.

According to their mission statement, “The purpose of the Sierra Madre Water & Sewer Joint Powers Board is to provide a quality and reliable water supply, transmission and distribution for Riverside and the East Riverside Wyoming Water and Sewer District.”

“We administer the municipal water … we do not do the sewer, even though we’re called a water and sewer joint powers board,” Dan Jago, SMWSJPB President said. Jago noted that the word sewer was included in the formal name of the JPB in case the adjacent communities want to tap into Riverside’s sewer system at some point in the future.

SMWSJPB clerk Alyson Sneddon said the board was formed in 1994 for the purpose of developing the municipal water system in and around Riverside. The SMWSJPB administers three wells which provide potable water for the area and the distribution system for that water. According to Sneddon, the focus of the board at this point is primarily maintenance and upkeep as they recently completed nearly $2.1 million in upgrades using specific purpose tax funds. The upgrades should meet the systems needs for years to come.

Riverside representative Ed Golden speaks highly of the board saying, “I’ve learned quite a bit, really, about how the water systems work in Wyoming.” Golden, who said he spends from one to three hours a month to fulfill his obligations and that the board is filled with unique people that are easy to work with.

The SMWSJPB meets on the second Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m. in the Riverside Town Hall. Sneddon said the meetings are usually one-half to three hours long depending on the business that needs to be conducted.

Those interested in serving on the joint powers board are encouraged to contact Jan Cook at 307-327-5266 for the town of Riverside appointment and ERWWSD chair, Pat Lynch at 307-327-5722 for the other seats.