DefineFest

The Riverside Town Council welcomed the return of Mayor Leroy Stephenson during their regularly scheduled meeting at 6 p.m. on April 12 at the Riverside Town Hall. The council also heard an update from the Music Festival Ordinance committee and signed a proclamation presented by John Farr officially designating Riverside as a Continental Divide Trail Gateway Community.

Farr explained to the council that the process of listing Riverside, as well as neighboring Encampment, as gateway communities had been in the works for a few years. Much of the trail is located on land managed by the United States Forest Service (USFS) and, according to Farr, the forest service had designated “Wyoming Gateway Communities” as one of their top ten projects.

“There will be a sign at each entrance of town that says ‘Continental Divide Gateway Community Riverside - Encampment.’ The one in Encampment will say ‘Encampment - Riverside,’” said Farr.

Stephenson asked Farr if there was any fiscal responsibility on the part of the town and Farr informed him there wasn’t. Farr added local businesses will be invited to be involved with the project as it continues to get off the ground. The council unanimously voted to adopt the proclamation.

Katie Cheesbrough, town council member, provided an update to the rest of the council in regards to the first meeting held by the music festival ordinance committee that had been designated by Stephenson. Cheesbrough told the council that the committee, composed of Cheesbrough, Margaret Weber and Dana Greenwood, discussed the proposed ordinance written by Stephenson.

According to Cheesbrough, while the committee was in agreement with some aspects of the ordinance in regards to sanitation, parking and noise they disagreed with other parts of the proposed ordinance.

“Some things that we discussed were that if we are going to make town ordinances they should apply to all town events and not just music festivals,” said Cheesbrough.

Cheesbrough added Weber had provided a definition for music festivals different from what had been provided by Stephenson. As reported by the Saratoga Sun on Jan. 17, the original definition Stephenson had used for a music festival was “any outdoor music exceeding four hours within a single day will be classified as a festival.”

In the definition provided by Weber, a music festival would include multiple acts of more than three scheduled to last longer than eight consecutive hours. This definition would ensure that events such as Woodchoppers’ Jamboree would not qualify as music festivals. The committee also proposed that, specifically in regards to a music festival, a resolution be written instead of an ordinance.

The resolution, tiered to the ordinance, would activate the formation of a music festival committee once an organizer approached the Town of Riverside about hosting a music festival in the municipality. Stephenson told Cheesbrough he was pleased to hear the committee was going in a direction and that he would write another proposed ordinance that included the suggestions provided.

In other business, the council approved the replacement of two “No Parking” signs near the Trading Post. The council also voted to accept the Town of Encampment’s mosquito fogging rate of $75 an hour with a minimum of one hour of fogging and discussed the possibility of increasing the sewer rate, which was last increased in October 2015. Finally, the council voted to go with “Scenario One” of the Specific Purpose Tax, also known as the Sixth Penny Tax. In this scenario, the remainder of the Sixth Penny Tax would be paid off by June 2018.

With no other business to conduct, the council adjourned. The next regularly scheduled Riverside Town Council meeting will be at 6 p.m. on May 10 at the Riverside Town Hall.