A group of citizens is proposing a special improvement district to construct sidewalk, curb and gutter along Seventh Street in southwest Lovell.


A group led by Dick Brinkerhoff came before the Lovell Town Council during a work and special meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 26, to see about proceeding with the formation of a district. Mayor Bruce Morrison said some citizens in northeast Lovell are also interested in an SID for the area of Big Horn Avenue and First Street.


Morrison said the work would be performed during the Southwest/Transmission Line phase of the water and sewer infrastructure project to be constructed in 2009-10 but noted that those interested in forming districts should make haste to do so since engineering for the project is under way now. He said the Seventh Street project would run from Jersey to Great Western.


Brinkerhoff said drainage along Seventh Street is terrible and asked if other parts of town also paid for their street improvements. Councilman Scott Allred said it is his understanding that subdivision developers paid for curb, gutter and sidewalks as they developed projects, and Councilman Brian Dickson said he can remember his parents saying their taxes were going up when their street was paved and curb and gutter installed in the 1960s.


Allred noted that those proposing an SID must present a petition signed by 50 percent of the property owners, and Brinkerhoff said he has been “up and down the street” and only received one negative comment from a business owner who worried about parking. May Brinkerhoff noted that a similar effort was proposed 10 or 15 years ago and rejected by residents, but she said most of those against the project at that time are no longer living in that part of town.


Morrison said he spoke with School District No. 2 Facilities Director Ron Massine, who told him the district is in favor of curb and gutter along the school property.


Brinkerhoff and Kevin Jones asked about possible grants, and Bart Grant noted that while a Safe Routes to School grant for the community is in the works now, it would be difficult to attract grants in general before construction begins next spring.


Two things are needed immediately, Morrison said: 1) Cost estimates for the work, at least ballpark figures, so residents know how much the project will cost; and 2) Whether more than 50 percent of property owners in the proposed district are in favor of the project. He said the district would cost less with the contractor already in town working on the Southwest/Transmission Line project.


Steve Gerber of HKM Engineering said HKM could work with the property owners to give them a cost estimate of how much the SID would cost.

Tuesday’s meeting began with a report from Don Richards, the town’s representative on the Shoshone Municipal Pipeline Joint Powers Board.


Richards said the pipeline has been in a period of transition, with longtime manager Lowell Anderson retiring on Aug. 1. But he said the board had plenty of warning and has been working on a transition to Craig Barsness as manager for about 18 months, so the transition has been seamless.


The pipeline board is installing a new sodium hypochloride system, which he said came in around $100,000 over estimates. The board can absorb that cost, he noted, but said the pipeline is also facing around $1 million in expenses as part of a $4.6 million project to move the pipeline along 1.6 miles of highway for the ongoing highway-widening project east of Cody.


“We’ve been frugal with our money, so we won’t have to raise rates,” Richards said, noting that the pipeline hasn’t passed along a raise in the wholesale cost of water to municipalities since 1993.


“Down the road we are going to have to have an increase, but you can assume for the next four years we will stay where we are unless something drastic happens,” Richards added.

Byron native Grant Sanders came before the council to offer his services as a traffic engineer, saying he had heard and read about issues in the town of Lovell such as a need to study whether the speed limit should be lowered in certain parts of town. Sanders works for Inberg-Miller Engineers and said he has an expertise in traffic studies.


Sanders gave a detailed presentation to the council, explaining a variety of studies that can be done in areas like safety, traffic flow, sight distances and the like. He said a speed study would need to be done in order to change a speed limit, and he also said a pedestrian gap study could be done to see if pedestrians have enough time to cross a street.


He warned against assumptions that all problems could be solved by changing the speed limit, erecting signs or installing crosswalks. Speed can just as easily be affected by street design and environment, he said, and noted that a “traffic-calming” study could be done.


Sanders said he is happy to help in any way but agreed with Grant that the current water and sewer project could interfere with a study.

The council then convened a special meeting, which began with a report from Frank Page of HKM on the Southeast phase of the water and sewer project. Page said the project was moving along well and that concrete work should begin mid-month, with paving following in October.


He also noted that Montana-Dakota Utilities would be doing a leak study in town beginning Sept. 8.


Next, the council voted to put out a request for proposals for engineering work on the future South and Main Street phases of the water and sewer project. Grant said he has been working with Councilwoman Jodi Lindsay on the process.


Lindsay said the RFP process is a matter of fiscal responsibility so the council can tell citizens that council members have looked at all options rather than going with the same engineer every time.


Gerber, of HKM, which has engineered the first two phases of the project and is currently working with final engineering on the third, said he is not intimidated by the RFP process, noting, “We will compete with anybody, and I believe we can.”


As for the current HKM agreement and contract for the Southwest/Transmission Line project, the documents are being reviewed by both HKM and town attorney Sandra Kitchen, with some indemnification language yet to be agreed upon, Grant and Gerber said. The USDA Rural Utilities Service must also review the agreement, they said.


In other action Aug. 26:

• Grant noted that the lone bid for a Peterbilt garbage truck with a Heil compactor, as specified by the town, came in around 20 minutes past deadline. Another bid did come in for a different system.


After discussion, Councilman Bruce Wolsey moved to reject the bid for the alternative system and seek bids for a specific Peterbilt truck with a Heil compactor, as the town crew prefers.


• The council voted to hire Lynn Hitz to install three new electric outlets at Constitution Park off of the softball field light poles. The softball field lights would have to be turned on to use the outlets at any time.


• Morrison noted that, even with the $3.1 million grant from the State Loan and Development awarded recently, funding for the $10.4 million Southwest/Transmission Line phase of the water and sewer project will come in around $500,000 short of current project estimates. He said the town is considering issuing revenue bonds and borrowing $500,000 from RUS for the project, guaranteeing the bonds with future revenue.


The mayor said the town must also find a way to fund the future South and Main Street phases, saying he would like to be able to put money away for the future phases.


Grant said a municipality cannot currently carry SLIB county consensus funding forward into the next biennium, but the Wyoming Association of Municipalities is supporting legislation to allow a town to “save” for the future as long as it is earmarked for a specific, ongoing project.


Grant said that if that legislation passes, the town could probably fund the two projects out of future direct distribution and county consensus money.


“We need to find a way to do this to show people in Lovell we can do this without a bond issue,” Morrison said.


The next regular meeting of the council is scheduled for Sept. 9.