Home owners hoping for an extension of the Lovell spring open-burning time period got their wish Monday night when the Lovell Town Council voted to extend the open-burning period for two more weekends -- from May 2 through May 11.


 Meeting in special session Monday, the council approved a resolution extending the open-burning period. Citizens may burn from 7 a.m. until 4 p.m. daily, with a burn-down period until 6 p.m., after which all fires must be completely extinguished.


Town Administrator Bart Grant said he has received 24 or 25 requests to extend the open-burning period, but Councilwoman Jodi Lindsay said she knows as many people who don’t like the open burning at all. Lindsay, herself, is very bothered by the smoke, she has said in the past. The resolution passed 3-2 with Lindsay and Mayor Bruce Morrison opposed.


Also Monday, the council discussed at length a proposed project to turn the old town water settling basins near the Shoshone River bridge west of town into kids’ fishing ponds, a project promoted by the Wyoming Game and Fish Dept.


Grant informed the council that the town had been approved for a $20,000 grant from the Game and Fish to begin development of the fishing ponds if the town would accept the grant. The grant must be matched on a 50-50 basis, but the match can be in the form of in-kind labor or services.


In the case of the current grant, Hal Price, who owns land adjacent to the town ponds, said he will donate a place to place excavated dirt and gravel from phase one of the project in exchange for being able to use water from the ponds at his residence. That agreement to accept the excavated material will more than make the $20,000 match based on what it would cost to haul the material to another location, Grant said.


Grant is working on an easement through Price’s land to reach the ponds, a process estimated to cost around $3,000, he said.


The project would have to be completed in multiple phases, Grant said. Phase I would involve reducing a 12-foot bank between two adjacent ponds to create a two-foot high walkway between the two ponds for people to fish off of. Future phases would reduce the banks on the outside of the ponds and a nearby pond, as well.


“Taking the middle down first is the safest approach,” Grant said, noting that the high banks currently make the ponds dangerous in case a child were to fall into the ponds. “Basically, we’ve got 20,000 to move some dirt.”


Grant said he has an estimate from Larry Anderson Construction to do most of the middle bank work for $20,000. He also said the Game and Fish is interested in putting a boat ramp in near the ponds for floating the river, as well as another ramp several miles to the east. In light of that, Councilman Scott Allred said, it would be worth asking the Game and Fish if the agency would be willing to fit the bill for the easement.


Councilman Bruce Wolsey worried that starting the project would commit the town to spending money it can’t afford to spend on future phases of the project. A motion to accept the Game and Fish grant passed 4-1 with Wolsey opposed.

Grant reported that the town has received two requests for funding from local special districts through the county consensus grant program, which funnels State Loan and Investment Board money through county commissioners. He said Big Horn County commissioners voted to set aside 10 percent of the county consensus money for local districts, which must apply through their closest municipality. Big Horn County has $283,000 for local special districts.


Lovell received two requests, which the town will take to the county: a request for $94,179 from the North Big Horn Hospital District for a nurse call system and a request for $62,237 from the Lovell Canal District for cement water distribution structures as part of a project to bury the canal.


“There’s no guarantee,” Mayor Morrison said. “We’ll take it to the county and fight like crazy for the money.”


The council also mulled a request from Del Weinhold, the leader of the local recycling effort, for the town to fund a special recycling trailer, estimated to cost $10,000 or more. Allred said it sounds like a great idea but said he wasn’t sure if the town could let a private citizen use equipment owned by the town.


What’s needed, the council said, is a community recycling effort, perhaps directed by a recycling board. Grant said he would check with Powell Valley Recycling to see how that organization became established and also visit with Christy Fleming of the National Park Service, who has expressed an interest in helping with recycling.


“I think we need to pursue it,” Councilman Brian Dickson said.


In other proceedings Monday:

• Frank Page of HKM Engineering told the council that the USDA Rural Utilities Service has approved the awarding of the bid for the Southeast water and sewer infrastructure project and that the paperwork for the project can be “turned around” in around two weeks, whereupon it would be sent to RUS for final approval.
Grant said the project could begin by the middle of May, perhaps the week of May 19.


• The council voted to send letters of request to RUS and the State Loan and Investment Board to release funds necessary to satisfy citizen claims against the North infrastructure project.


• The council voted to release final retainage for the North infrastructure project and engineering and design retainage for the Southeast project to HKM Engineering in the amount of $116,283.52.


• The council officially voted to approve the bid for the Southeast Project from Wilson Brothers Construction in the amount of $2,684,163.90.


• Mulling a request from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwest Wyoming for $3,000 in funding to expand services into Lovell and start a mentoring program in Lovell schools and in the community, Grant said he had hoped that Community Development Block Grant money could be used for such a purpose but discovered that CDBG money could only be used if the town has a recreation district tied directly to the municipality. Otherwise, according to counsel, the town can only appropriate money for area promotion and industrial development.


Allred said he would like to see the legislature pass a law giving municipalities a little more leeway to help local organizations.


• Grant reported that water is flowing in the Globe Canal and that the canal board recently installed a new plastic pipe through the culvert on Nevada Avenue in anticipation of a project to continue burying the canal west from Nevada.


• Grant reported that Lovell Inc. is off to a strong start under the leadership of new director Sue Taylor. He said he and Taylor are continuing to work with the IRS on the organization’s application for non-profit status.


• The council voted to approve a catering permit for the Four Corners Bar for Saturday night’s Evening With Friends North Big Horn Hospital Foundation event at the community center.


The council also approved several ordinances on first reading and several resolutions (see related story).
The council went into a closed session to discuss a possible real estate purchase.