CCCOG hosts WYDOT

The Carbon County Council of Governments (CCCOG) met at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday at the Valley Community Center in Baggs.

As might be expected, there was strong representation from the towns of Baggs and Dixon. Only the town of Medicine Bow did not have a representative.

The roll call took a few minutes with the large crowd. Next the agenda and minutes from the regular meeting on May 25 were quickly approved. Financials were reviewed and approved.

Irene Archibald, Encampment’s representative for the special purpose tax, and Joan Evans of George K. Baum and Company spoke on the status of the special purpose tax.

“I think the two big things right now are getting the joint powers board reformed with all the correct documents through the Wyoming Attorney General’s office, and it sounds like Barbara Bonds almost has that completed and ready to submit, which will include all municipalities whether you are or not,” Evans said. “You will be a part of the joint powers board so that it doesn’t have to be changed time to time as different projects are going on.”

Archibald said the only municipality needed to be added was Hanna.

“The other thing that we are requesting is, at your next town council meeting, you go ahead and appoint someone to be a representative to the specific purpose tax board,” Archibald said. “Because we are the ones that contract with bond underwriters. It is not CCCOG because you are not an official entity.”

Evans said all town clerks should have received a note from George K. Baum asking for details about the project and whether the town was bonding or not. She asked for a response by July 26 to make sure all were on the same page.

“We are really trying to weigh out when everybody is anticipating to start,” Evans said.”There are really three phases of this whole process. There is the document phase, which we are in right now, then we have the marketing phase and we have the closing phase.”

Next Tom DeHoff, District Engineer for Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) District No. 1, gave a presentation on projects that were projected to occur in the next six years..

“There are five districts in WYDOT and District No. 1 is in the southeast of the corner of the state,” DeHoff said. “This means we are in Carbon, Albany, Laramie, and a little in Sweetwater counties.”

He introduced the WYDOT staff who were in attendance at the CCCOG meeting. After the introductions, DeHoff said the funding for 2019 fiscal year for WYDOT was $631,587,880. Highway user fees contribute $212,108,767 (33.58 percent), Federal Revenue $314,330,951 (49.77 percent) and other State Revenue $105,145,162 (16.65 percent).

DeHoff said the legislature was looking at a three cent increase on fuel tax. If passed that would make the tax 27 cents.

“All the states around us are at 27 cents or higher,” DeHoff pointed out. “The only state that is lower is Colorado and they have a lot more people.”

DeHoff then explained the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) process overview. He said in March they take in STIP inputs, such as asset management, performance measures, economic development, long range transportation plan, mobility and budget. April through May, WYDOT goes over candidate projects. June through August is time for public input. In September, it is presented to the transportation commission. In October, the final STIP is published.

When Dehoff finished his STIP presentation, he turned over the presentation to Tim Morton, the District No 1 Construction Engineer, to go over future projects. He said some had started and others were to be started.

The 2019 projects put forth; slab replacement on I-80 in Rawlins, Savery Creek Road bridge replacement, WY 789 mill overlay near Creston Junction, six cattle guard replacements on WY 70, mill overlay on WY 70 near Dixon, dust suppression, chip seal work near Sinclair and U.S. 287 bypass in Rawlins and patching roads near Medicine Bow on WY 487.

Morton put forth projects up to the year 2025.

When projects mentioned in 2024 included mill ovelay seal coat for WY 230, Leroy Stephenson, mayor of Riverside, said the road was in terrible condition currently and waiting four years seemed too long.

“The road is getting hammered by the big trucks right now,” Stephenson said. “It is getting to the point where you can’t hardly drink coffee while driving.”

Morton said many roads are in that condition.

Stephenson asked about any plans about setting up check points or weigh stations since overloaded trucks were taking advantage of the road and making it worse with each passing day.

DeHoff said he understood Stephenson’s concern and it would be noted. He pointed out the STIP document was dynamic and that WY 230 could be fixed earlier.

After the WYDOT presentation was concluded, CCCOG had its annual election of officers. Morgan Irene, mayor of Elk Mountain, was voted in as Chair. John Zieger, mayor of Saratoga, was elected Vice Chair. Travis Moore, Carbon County Commissioner was elected Secretary/Treasurer.

Scott Hannum, Rawlins City Manager and John Rutherford, Carbon County Fire Department Director, asked CCCOG to consider consolidating 911 Dispatch. Both said they wanted to introduce the idea at the meeting and for the municipalities to weigh in on the pros and cons.

The next scheduled CCCOG meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 18 in Hanna.