Riverside talks cleanup and potential visitor's center

Council members discussed town cleanup and a potential new visitor’s center in Rawlins at Riverside’s town council meeting Thursday evening.

Early in the meeting, the council discussed four bids that were submitted to buy a shed located at Rick Martin Memorial Park. The council approved Ken Campbell’s bid for the shed, which was for $327, more three other lower bids of $300, $111 and $101.

The council also approved a bid for the electrical work in the new shop at Rick Martin Memorial Park, which was from Prairie Dog Electric in a dollar amount of $1,854.

Council member Fred Lorenz said he discovered that State Loan and Investment Board (SLIB) money could not be used for the Welton Street cleanup project, and that according to a rough estimate, the project could cost as much as $20,000. Other council members discussed investigating possible sources of funding for the project.

“Right off the top of my head, let me call the gentleman who is in charge of the state mosquito funds,” said clerk/treasurer Jan Cook. “We’ll see if see if there is a possibility that we can get funds to do some of the project, because we are getting rid of mosquito habitat.”

Cook also mentioned that the fifth-penny tax would be discussed at next month’s Carbon County Council of Governments (COG) meeting.

Cook told the council that an article in the newspaper said COG is considering not putting the fifth-penny tax on the ballot for approval by the voters, because the Carbon County commissioners have the ability to approve it. “They’re going to discuss it at November COG meeting, so we’ll have a better idea of what the county wishes to do after the COG meeting,” Cook said.

Near the meeting’s end, Ty Trevillyan, Riverside’s representative from the Carbon County Visitors Council, discussed the possibility of putting a new Carbon County Visitor’s Center in the guard’s quarters building at the Wyoming Frontier Prison. He said the current visitor’s office on Rawlins’ Spruce Street was widely unnoticed, and thought a site on the Wyoming Frontier Prison’s grounds could bring in more traffic.

“Currently we have an office in Rawlins between the Farm Bureau office and Rawlins Glass on Spruce Street,” he said. “We don’t have much tourism traffic as you can imagine going in there, and what we’re trying to do with this office is promote more stuff. We had this idea come up to put a tourism office there at the historic state penitentiary. There’s potential to make it a nice little tourist area or spot to have your lunch.”

Trevillyan said his council was hoping to submit an application for a Wyoming Business Council Business Ready Community Planning Grant, in order to do a study toward the potential new visitors center. The study, which would be done by a historical architect, would determine building suitability, possible costs, design and floor plan, public meeting spaces and potential community partners for the site.

“We’re looking into putting in for a grant from the Wyoming Business Council for $25,000, to perform a feasible study that would determine the suitability of the building to house a visitors center in Rawlins,” he said. “It would evaluate the cost, design and any potential partners or whatever, to see if this is even worth pursuing. This is trying to solidify our Carbon County visitors council here in Carbon County. We’re trying to be more of a presence here, because right now we don’t have hardly anyone who comes through the door.”

The council gave its approval for the Carbon County Visitors Council to submit application to the Wyoming Business Council for a $25,000 grant.

 

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