Town moves forward with lease for Moto Cross Park

An executive session was held at the end of the Basin Town Council’s regular meeting on April 10. The executive session was called to discuss personnel and contracts. 

After coming back into the regular session, the council voted to approve signing a lease of land for a Moto Cross Park. The land is located west of the raw water pond. 

Prior to the executive session, Councilman Chuck Hopkin shared what was discussed at the Rec District Board meeting regarding the Moto Cross Track. 

Hopkin said the board had asked Moto Cross organizer Josh Huggins to put a committee together. The district board voted to establish a five-member Moto Cross sub-committee formed under the district.  Members for that committee have not been voted on. 

Huggins told the council he wanted to move forward the discussion about a lease between the District and Town. He and Rec District manager Cash Duncan have been working on by-laws. 

Town Attorney Kent Richins had asked Huggins for a boilerplate type lease agreement for a Moto Cross lease. Huggins replied that he reached out to two Moto Cross groups in the state and neither was willing to provide a copy of their lease agreement.  Richins said the next step would be a site survey. 

DEPARTMENT REPORTS

Tony Harrison was appointed at this meeting as town clerk/public works manager.  

His report included two water line leaks, cleaning up weeds at the old electrical shop, scrap iron and brass picked up by a recycling business, raw water drains replaced at several locations, and surplus items to be listed on an auction site. 

Harrison also reported the radio reads for the water meters is almost complete, the settling pond has been cleaned out, and routine maintenance on sewer lines on B Street are done. Ray Huggins presented the electrical department report. They changed out six poles, installed a new service, and upgraded alley service with a new transformer. He also showed pictures of two of the poles they replaced. 

Another project they worked on was replacing split bolts and installing compression connectors. Pictures of some of the split bolts and two melted split bolts were passed around to the council. Huggins said they could have caused fires. 

“I think last winter, I was probably coming home every day with a five-gallon bucket full of them. We are getting pretty caught up now,” he said.  

He continued that a lot of the split bolts were on light circuits. They found that in a lot of cases the neutral would be hot and the hot would be neutral. Those were fire hazards.  

The underground primary under C Street needs work. He hopes to work on it this fall. 

OTHER BUSINESS

• Carmen Olson asked the status of the dog park. She was told that a fence should be going up shortly. The town is hoping to have a “volunteer day” to get the work done. The park is located south of North Street on the east side of U.S. Highway 16/20.  

• Building/Demolition permits were approved for Zierolf on South Fourth, Williams on Montana, Big Horn County at Fairgrounds & Murphy Street and Saam Vet on North Fourth. 

• Carl Olson, representing Big Horn Redi Mix told the council the paving of the parking lot at town hall would happen after April 15. He sought permission to park the equipment and to close the parking lot for a couple of weeks after the paving. He was granted both. 

• Town Clerk Deaun Tigner gave the administration report. 

• Chief of Police Kyle McClure gave his department report. 

•   Richins gave an update on litigation. A permanent injunction on flood irrigation was filed. The hearing is in June. 

• Hopkin gave a Rec District update which included discussion regarding a lease between the town, the school & the rec district.  (At the school board’s meeting on April 8, the board voted not to sign the agreement and to continue negotiations)  

• The town adopted a Child Abuse Prevention Month Proclamation. 

• An update regarding South Big Horn County Joint Powers board was given by Harrison. 

• The update for Big Horn Regional Joint Powers Board was given by Mayor CJ Duncan. 

• A budget workshop meeting was set. 

• Hopkin was designated as a voting member for the Wyoming Association of Municipalities conference in Cheyenne. 

• A change order for the Third Street Water Project was approved.