Clinics, roads, sidewalks and airport hangers vex council

Cheyenne Regional Medical Center Foundation executive director Stephen Stone greeted the Pine Bluffs Town Council Tuesday evening at their bi-monthly meeting with plans for a new building to house Tri-County Medical Center.

Stone said the foundation recognized the existing facility as “boldly inadequate,” and was over 60 years old. He added when improvements are done, it tends to increase business. CRMC owns the land and the building, but the University of Wyoming residency program runs the daily operations of the facility.

John Gross, a member of the foundation’s board said he thought they would never reach this point.

“The reason I wanted on the board is to get a new facility for Pine Bluffs,” Gross said.

Stone told the council they would need a resolution from them to move forward with the plans. “We will provide temporary housing while the new facility is being built and we believe we can do that all on site,” Stone said. “The building process is expected to take between 90 and 120 days and if the grant goes through in September of this year, we should be able to start in early 2014. The foundation has committed to $250,000 for the project.”

Stone will present the project to the Laramie County Commissioners but wanted Pine Bluffs council to hear from him first.

Mayor Bill Shain said he would speak for the entire board and say how pleased they were with the project and would have a resolution by the next council meeting.

The council moved their discussion on to approve the ordinance to make improvements on Black Boulevard on its second reading. After the council approved the second reading, they heard from Black Boulevard residents about the cost of the road improvements and possible sidewalk to the home owners.

Shain explained town attorney Alex Davison had a spreadsheet showing each property owners amount with and without sidewalks, and breakdowns of pay-offs out five, 10 and 20 years. “The sheet doesn’t show interest and it is not an exact figure, but it will help you to plan for the payments,” Shain said. “I don’t think it is this councils intent to financially break anyone with the payments for the improvements. We aren’t even sure if we will charge interest on the loans.”

A property owner on Black Boulevard spoke about the “future potential to buy a street” when people purchased land on Black Boulevard, but “somehow the ball got dropped.”

“With the cost of water and sewer and everything else going up, somethings gotta give,” said the resident.

Shain explained Aug. 1, 2012, was the final deadline to submit any objection to this project moving forward. “The concerns you have should have been brought to the council when we were deciding to go forward with this project,” Shain said. “No one came to us with any concerns, so we thought everyone was good with the decisions. I do apologize and understand where you are coming from. But where you are now, you needed to be last August.”

Shain explained that with the new street and possible sidewalk, the property values will increase.

“It’s going to be about $37 per foot and most property owners run about 100 feet,” explained Shain. “So for about $3,700 you will have a new street and sidewalk and we can stretch those payments out as long as needed.”

Pine Bluffs Police Chief Robin Clark used the council meeting as an opportunity to introduce Michael Moore who will be serving as a reserve officer. Clark explained Moore would have all the same responsibilities as the other officers but he was volunteer, so he would not collect any pay.

In other business, the council approved three invoices including one for the airport hanger apron project.

After the council approved the invoice, Earl Evans asked why the amount was significantly less on the invoice than the work that was completed and invoiced.

Shain explained the federal government was paying for 90 percent of the project and made most of the decisions. “We have to go along with what they decide in order to get the project paid for,” Shain offered. “If you submit the documents to the FAA and tell them why you deviated from the specifications, they can decide to pay you the full amount. But it’s not up to us. We are only responsible for 4 percent and have to follow what the FAA says.”

The council adjourned and the next meeting will be Monday, March 4, at 7 p.m.