Busy in MedBow

The Medicine Bow Town Council met on June 14 at the Medicine Bow Community Hall. All four council members were present, Mayor Sharon Biamon was absent.

Councilmember Lucy Schofield, President of the Council, ran the meeting.

The agenda and minutes from the May 10 regularly scheduled meeting were approved quickly.

The financials were ratified. The total for bills to be paid was $51,151.92

Town Clerk/Treasurer Karen Heath said she had been contacted by a group called 307 First and they requested putting up a huge wooden Cowboy Joe in front of the Museum on football Saturdays in the fall. Heath felt it would help advertise Medicine Bow and the group would do all the work bringing it, setting it up, and taking it down. The council approved the sign.

Medicine Bow Clinic board trustee Kay Embree requested the Town purchase the services of the clinic, as the town had done in the past. She said the clinic needed the money to pay the professionals that were helping the clinic get back in compliance.

Councilmember Cindy Chace said it seemed like every time the clinic employed a good medical staff, the clinic board fought with the medical staff which caused constant resignations. She said it wasn’t good for the clinic’s image to have a high turnover of staff, and she would like to see a better job of the clinic board getting along with the staff.

Embree said the clinic was incurring costs to get back into compliance. Chace asked if they were in compliance and Embree said not yet, because the process took time. Memorial Hospital of Carbon County has reached out to the clinic to help and the clinic board was accepting help. She said she felt they were moving in the right direction.

Councilmember Sharon Kahl said Biamon wanted to be present when this was discussed. A motion was made to table any financial support until the meeting on June 21 when the mayor could attend.

Schofield said a company had approached her regarding a solar farm and all the Town would have to do was provide the land for it. Residents would receive a 35 percent discount on their power bills.

Braden Hyde of Sunrise Engineering said some of these deals did not turn out well and Sunrise could send a representative to the meeting when the company came to discuss it.

Ordinace 1-2021B, an annual appropriations ordinance for the town of Medicine Bow Fiscal Year 2021-22 was approved after its third reading.

Schofield asked Public Works Director Charlie George for a time for a clean up weekend. George said the town had three roll-offs where people could drop off items, but if the Town wanted to have a clean up time it should be during the week and not a weekend. July 7-8, 2021 was approved.

George said the mosquitoes were out and the aerial sprayer would be here next week. Meanwhile, public works was fogging. Parks and Recreation were catching up with the mowing and weed-eating.

George reported 26 dead trees in the city park around the ball field which needed to be removed. New water meters had arrived and public works would change them out this summer. The bulk water station was up and running, but the measure was off as much as 300 gallons per load. George was working on the problem.

Town Marshal Dave Redding said there had been 70 traffic stops, resulting in 57 citations, 12 assists, 21 calls for service, $12,798 in fines written. He was called out twice for misdemeanor arrests, one felony, and two rollover accidents. The department had conducted 70 checks on business properties.

Acquiring feedback signs to stop speeding will cost $4,000 each for a total of $12,000 for three. He would have to buy one at a time to get the discounted price. They are solar-powered.

Redding said the State was mandating municipalities go to mobile processors to do digital tickets. This would eliminate the need for dispatch. The software cost $28,000 and the hardware $4,000. It would cut down the time spent on stops from 10 to 15 minutes to six minutes.

Assistant Fire Chief Robert Maddox requested a fireworks permit for July 4. The permit was approved. Maddox said Wind City Baptist Church was going to bring a bouncy house and do some activities at the city park on that day. Maddox said July 31 would be the Tough Truck Challenge.

Schofield read a letter from former resident, Ken Elordi, who praised the town and said how friendly everyone was.

The next regularly scheduled meeting is at 7 p.m. on July 12 at the Medicine Bow Community Hall.