On the 26th, got to go to the combined communication meeting over at the sheriff's office.

They did the election of officers.

The 27th, I got to go to the snowman stroll down at the Bunning Freight Yard.

They had, I believe, six or was it eight new snowmen.

It was very, I mean, a lot of people down there.

The art was wonderful.

On the 28th, I went to the box art committee meeting at the chamber.

And want to put out there that they're getting ready to work with Pacific Power on some uh new boxes.

So they'll be putting out the word to local artists for submissions to put on the uh some of the power boxes around town.

Uh the 29th, got to go to the job fair at the Holy Spirit Catholic School.

That was great.

They had two little groups, older, I think it was third to sixth graders, and then the first littles, they called them the kindergarten through second graders.

Uh going around talking.

We had the fire department, the police department, uh, I think veterinarians.

We were there.

The most popular uh job that these kids were looking at.

They all wanted to be firemen or veterinarians.

So we shouldn't have a shortage of any of those in the coming years.

Uh yesterday uh went to the agenda meeting, and this morning uh I went through here at City Hall with a program-based budget budgeting presentation in the mayor's office.

And it looks like uh it's something that looks really good for the city to work on uh the yearly budgets.

It's uh I think it's gonna make it more transparent and based on priorities.

And that's all I've got.

Thank you.

Thank you, Your Honor.

Yeah, I've had a pretty busy two weeks also.

I see we made statewide news.

Thank you all.

Good job.

Good job.

So uh the usual, I uh talk to my constituents, Zoom meetings, uh, old timers civic center, government meeting.

Uh, some new stuff I'm working on is economic development, tourism, and outdoor recreation.

I checked out our uh mountain bike trails, and there's about four miles worth at the college, which I was kind of surprised about.

And they tell me it's very casual, relaxing and fun.

Uh there it's right in town and with easy access.

And then there are about 21 miles of mountain bike trails over at Wilkins Peak.

And they tell me those are really awesome.

You know, I've rode motorcycles over there, but not mountain bikes.

So if you want some more information on that, contact the Sweetwater Mountain Bike Association.

You know, spring is coming, bikes, bikes are really hot, especially e-bikes.

Also, uh Commissioner Jones is involved with the Wyoming Trails program, so I'll be getting a hold of him and seeing what we can promote around here.

I'm always studying health and wellness, and my number one nutritional tip is controlling your blood sugar, your insulin, and your pancreas is where insulin comes from.

Too much sugar is toxic to the bottom bought body.

But the most interesting thing I ran across lately is the weight loss drug Ozimbic.

It works by signaling the pancreas to put out more insulin.

It works good until it doesn't.

It wears out your pancreas, then you're in big trouble.

So I say be very, very careful if you're using Ozambic.

You could die.

I also studied uh Nick Green Raynor.

Remember him?

He's the one that murdered his parents, sliced their throats, and uh Jordan Peterson.

He's a famous Canadian scholar.

Both were on psychiatric drugs with very bad bad endings.

So be careful getting on and getting off psychiatric drugs.

Please, please, please study nutrition.

Also, uh gut health is very important for mood and immune health.

Your gut is 30 feet long and starts in the mouth.

So oral hygiene is very important.

I was talking with my dentist about going to the schools and talking to students about taking care of their teeth.

He has some great ideas and said he would talk to his association that he belongs to and see what can be done.

Maybe we can even slip in some nutritional education while we're at it.

And finally, my 84-year-old friend who was a reliance prom queen back in the day.

Let me tell you, she hit it hard.

She smoked, she drank, she ate terrible, but she had a lot of fun.

Now she can't hear, she can't see, she can hardly walk.

Last week she tripped over a vacuum cord.

They say she broke her hip, but what really happened was her femur snapped.

Your body needs calcium, and it will pull it from bones to survive, making them weak and brittle.

When you're young, you can get away with abusing your body.

But it will catch up to you.

Your last 10 or 20 years might not be so golden.

Swing by your nursing home sometimes for a preview of coming attractions, especially at dinner.

It's heartbreaking and it's eye-opening.

Kind of like ghost of Christmas future.

If you don't change your ways, this is where you'll end up.

Okay, that's it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Maloneis.

Councilor Demas.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, I spoke to the Kwanas about questions dealing with being on city council.

I attended the Carry Access Award, which had a great turnout, lots of people.

Um I attended the meeting of the combined communication where I was elected secretary.

I attended the Holy Spirit Catholic school job fair, and those little kids are very intriguing.

I also attended the meeting today on program-based budgeting.

And that was my two weeks.

Thank you, Councillor Demas.

Councilor Akerson.

Um, over this last two weeks, did slow down a bit on off of most of the committees I was liaison to or boards I was a liaison to, but I uh did join the mayor on a job shadowing event for some of the high school kids in the area, and honestly, that was pretty impressive.

Most of them had good questions.

One was refused to say a word, but that's all right.

Um did come up that they were hoping maybe some of us council members and uh department heads maybe be willing to go up and discuss what we do with them so they could be a little more involved.

So that was pretty cool.

And then somewhat been working with Mary on trying to get a retreat planned right here in town.

No money to the taxpayer uh to see what the council's most important issues are for the coming up year.

That's about it.

Thank you, Councilor Higginson.

Councillor Zotti.

Well, last couple weeks I uh do attended the Carries Access Awards Banquet, which is a great organization and part of the school foundation.

Um it's always fun to be part of that.

Uh attended events complex meeting.

I am a board member, and I was uh elected this year for the secretary as Secretary Treasurer.

Last year I was co or uh vice president.

And then this uh just today, the project-based budgeting meeting, um, which I'm excited about.

It's something we've been talking about for a few years and trying to implement, but had to get other things in place and trying to get things it's a massive undertaking to try and get everything together, and it's exciting in that it will be much easier to communicate to the public what's spent, where, how, and why, and prioritize and what's our prioritizations and why, which we should see that probably, I think we were talking about a year or so as we start moving forward.

So uh something really to me, it's very exciting from a budgeting standpoint, and that's kind of all I have right now.

Thank you, Councillor Zotti.

Councilor Hansen.

Thank you, Mayor.

On January 21st, I attended the uh Castle Rock Ambulance Center.

Uh, did a groundbreaking up on uh Gateway Boulevard.

Uh it's it's good to see them moving forward and progressing.

On the 24th, I also went to the Carry Access Awards, and I can confirm that they did have a good turnout, and it is a great cause for uh uh foundation uh scholarships for the uh local students and stuff.

So that was a that was a good one.

On the 28th, uh I went to a URA meeting uh for and they're kicking off a new program called the Downtown Business of the Month meeting, uh Downtown Business Month, where they're going to uh uh try to promote the downtown businesses and make that uh uh uh uh program that they can use.

Uh I'm on the planning and committee, uh planning committee for for that.

Uh young at heart, I had a couple meetings.

Uh one is a co opi meeting, and uh I knew someone would ask me what that stands for, so I wrote it down.

Uh quality assurance uh performance and improvement.

It's for their home health care.

Uh it's part of their ongoing uh certifications that they have to do and go through.

Um also we had a regular uh regular monthly board meetings.

Uh I dealt with the local business concerns on a possible code uh violations and tried to help and work work that one through.

Uh lots of people with opinions on our city flag.

Of course, my phone and emails were very busy with those.

Um couple nuisance uh a couple nuisance uh properties were addressed up in uh Ward 4 area.

Uh as far as upcoming events, I want to put a shout out this Saturday.

Everybody, especially if the weather holds up as good as it has been.

Uh there's a lot going on.

They've got the Jack Little Jump out at Walt Witaha Park at 10 o'clock in the morning.

They've got the Red Tie Gala for the Hospital Foundation fundraiser.

That'll be out at the events complex.

That starts at five o'clock.

Um, the Broadway Theater uh has a uh mountain film on tour.

It starts at seven o'clock.

Uh tickets are ten dollars.

It's got several short documentaries on um outdoor adventures and human spirit.

Uh looks like that'll be a really good cool thing to do, also if you got that going on.

I'll be there to MCF.

Pardon me?

I volunteer to NC.

Oh.

So there's the AMC, good.

Uh and of course, Super Bowl Sunday.

I'm not saying who I'm cheering for.

That's it.

Thank you, Councillor Hansen.

Counselor Pedrie.

Yes, thank you, Mayor.

Uh well, the last couple of weeks, I started off by I was out of town and uh flew out of the Rock Springs Airport for the first time since the terminal is all put together and uh very impressed first class operation.

So um I was delighted to see how all that came together.

Uh and talking about downtown, uh took my kids to a small place called Brush Crazy.

It's a little pottery barn down on Broadway, and uh they gotta paint and get uh their pieces of art um blasted and now they're at our house.

So it's uh really nice uh business to take uh kids to or adults and experience that.

Uh the blood drive, um Rock Springs and Green River uh raised about uh 700 pints of blood, a little over that.

So that's uh fantastic.

And the uh Jay Foundation, they were able to hand out 173 pairs of boots to students and staffs.

And uh like to give Amber Lee Beardsley a shout out.

She's uh the lead admin on those projects, so she's really uh doing a lot.

Um the next event that's going to be kicked off is called Love Local, which is uh similar to Make a Wish Foundation, but it stays with people within our community.

So they're going to be starting that looking for donations and um families to give back to within our community.

Um Randy touched on the Red Tie Gala this weekend and all the other events that are coming up.

So uh look forward to the coming weekend and give it over to Eric.

Thank you, uh Councilman Pedri.

Councilman Bingham.

Thank you, Your Honor.

Uh good evening, everybody.

So whoops.

That's my entrance music right there.

So on Wednesday, January 21st, I had an out Sweetwater County um outdoor recreation collaborative committee meeting.

And one of the things that I brought up, uh Councilor Malone has brought up the mountain bike trail system.

Uh Randy Dale, for those who don't know, uh, was Dr.

Dale's husband.

They moved from the area, but he was he spearheaded that trail system up there.

And then I assisted from the county side of things with him on that.

One thing that kind of got left out that we discussed is parking is an issue up at the college with this trail system.

We put the trail head right there at the parking lot where they do that semi-commercial semi-truck training.

So there's a little bit of a conflict there.

So looking at some options, whether it would be coming in from Gateway, a potential option, or that other access road on the other side there to see if that's a possibility.

So there are grants available through that.

There's a trust uh with the state uh with Parks and Rec, that that's a possibility, but just throw that throw that out there.

Of course, it's up to the collaborative to decide what they want to do with that.

But uh great project and great opportunities for Rock Springs.

On the 27th, I attended a what was called a Sweetwater County Power Generation Co-op planning meeting.

And it's been brought up in discussions and council and such as the issues of power and electricity, and it's definitely an issue with mostly our larger industry.

And it's definitely an issue with mostly our larger industry.

I work in economic development, and so we've lost some leads due to data centers due to the lack of available power, and then also the price of power here.

So we're just looking at some options.

There are possibility of what we can do in the future.

Of course, it's a very long-term deal.

But then finally, just monitoring uh some of the legislative bills that are coming through that affect planning and zoning, because I am involved with that over at the county level.

And we'll plan accordingly.

Thank you, Your Honor.

Thank you, Councilman Bingham.

For my part, uh we continued our work of doing the videos on how Rock Springs works.

Uh, we went with the civic and recreational centers, the city museum, and the police department.

Uh, and so it has been uh a really wonderful opportunity for the public to understand not just sort of the depth and scope of services that are provided to our community by the city, but also to see the people who actually do the work.

Um course I continued my meetings uh with our department heads, uh, the legislative leadership committee meetings with the Wyoming Association of uh municipalities, those are weekly.

And uh at the conclusion of the one this morning, they indicated that they would be sending out what essentially is a white paper for us to distribute uh so that everyone can provide their feedback.

Uh Councilman Hickerson and I had a very good time with five young ladies from the high school's academy of public services uh who came to job shadow.

Um they were all of them concerned that all of the mayoral photos uh represent only guys.

Uh so I told them they certainly have an opportunity to change that in the future.

Um we've had several radio interviews uh and discussions in a way to hopefully help engage more of the community.

Uh Carrie's Access is probably one of my most favorite events that I get to attend uh not just as mayor, but as a citizen of Rock Springs.

Um, Larry Fusselman started this to help support kids who want to participate in extracurricular activities that are not traditional.

And so it is a way for them to access the money that it takes to participate in those and stay engaged in our community and in our schools.

Uh I've met with the UMWA and uh I attempted to meet with the IAFF, but I showed up super early.

Uh so I'll be going to meet with them tomorrow.

Um, and then I was able to attend about half of the Sweetwater County Power Generation co-op planning meeting.

Um, and uh it is certainly an opportunity for multiple levels of government and industry to come together to try to find a solution to a very challenging issue for our not just our city but our county um to try to come up with a way to find affordable power so that industry can expand.

Um I had a really wonderful time visiting with uh a class at Eastide Elementary.

Um it's always amazing to me how curious and open and insightful kids are in this particular group.

We're uh brought over, they were in third grade, and uh happily for the first time ever talking to an elementary class.

No one asked me when we can get a zoo.

Um, but there were requests for a trampoline park.

So if anybody watching would like to provide a trampoline park, I've been assured it will be busy dawn till dusk, seven days a week all year long.

Uh and then we met with uh AML to update the work that they're doing in our community in Bunning Park, uh, and things are progressing very nicely.

Uh and due to the weather, they're hopeful that they can get uh some things done ahead of schedule.

Uh and they are also wrapping up their assessment of the soil quality down at the Civic Center as had been requested.

Um I was able to meet with several new full-time employees, which is always a great opportunity for me to be able to interact with them in a relaxed environment uh and sort of just have that time where they can interact with me in a little less formal setting than here.

Um I did meet with representatives from the OTC as we continue our collaborative work with them uh and trying to give them the opportunity to find a path forward for the Civic Center.

Uh and as always, we had quite a few constituent meetings and phone calls.

Uh, it is really a very beautiful thing when you look out, even as a community of our size at how complex the system is and how well it works for people.

Um when we look at other countries and the challenges that people face in them compared to what we face here.

We are just exceptionally fortunate.

Um, as we move forward with project-based budgeting, I'm very excited, not only for our department heads and city council and myself, but also for the public.

This really becomes a solution to the challenge of how do we intelligibly communicate the budgeting process and tie the allocation that the council does of taxpayer dollars to outcomes.

So hopefully this tool will provide that clarity.

Um in a way that is helpful for everyone to understand why we do what we do.

Um and of course, we are moving into the legislative session.

This is a budget session, uh, and we are anticipating lots of interesting things happening during during it.

Uh so that is something that I hope everyone is tuned into and paying attention to uh and providing feedback to their legislators.

Uh and then finally, we continue to work on economic development.

Um, you know, there is certainly a role for government to play in that process, especially in a county that is not just rural, but is actually frontier due to our size and population density.

Uh so that is certainly good work.

And it has been uh a busy and and enjoyable two weeks.

So that concludes our council updates and brings us to the consent agenda.

Uh, first up, we have the city council meeting minutes of January 20th, 2026.

We have an attorney client legal memorandum from Richard W.

Beckwith, city attorney regarding the confidential procurement process.

We have a letter from the Archie uh American Legion Archie Hay Post 24.

Thank you, Mayor Mickelson for a personal donation to the Buckets for Veterans Christmas Fundraiser, and a thank you note from Blackbeat High School regarding a personal donation made by uh Mayor Mickelson, a memorandum from Merchant McIntyre Associates regarding a partnership review and 2026 planning and a memorandum from Matthew McBrennett regarding the discontinuation of the city's electric vehicle charging station.

I would like to hold item C under correspondence.

Uh and other than that, I would look for a motion to approve the consent agenda.

So moved, Your Honor.

Thank you, Councilor Thompson.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councilor Zotti.

All those in favor, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Any abstaining?

Uh the motion carries unanimously.

I would now look for a motion to approve item C of the correspondence on the consent agenda.

Your Honor.

Councilor Zani.

I'd like to approve.

Move to approve item C.

Thank you.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councillor Demas.

Um, I just wanted to highlight for everyone uh in the event that people watching are not as excited to open up our correspondence and read it.

Um Merchant McIntyre has been an incredibly fruitful partnership for the city.

And with their uh coordination and work with Representative Hageman's office, uh, she has been successful in allocating five million dollars to the city of Rock Springs to address the Better Crick mitigation.

Uh, that is a huge win for Rock Springs.

Uh, and we certainly are very appreciative, not only of Merchant McIntyre's work, but particularly of Representative Hageman's willingness to show up for our community and uh help us move forward with dealing with the floodplain issues that were caused by the Better Kerric relocation.

Uh is there any further discussion?

Your Honor.

Councilor Zani.

I just want to point out that um within that, as a result of our partnership together, Rock Springs has enjoyed what will likely be a 22 to 1 return on investment.

Well that just goes to show um how helpful they have been in helping us secure some of the funding that we have.

That is uh certainly an enviable number.

Uh I don't really know many situations where you get a 22 to 1 return.

Further discussion.

Hearing none, all those in favor, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, any abstaining.

Motion carries unanimously, which brings us to presentations and proclamations.

And first up, we have Senator John Colb with a legislative budget session update.

I can follow directions yet, Mayor.

And I hit the button.

Uh thank you, Mayor and Council, for uh having this opportunity to speak about the upcoming session.

As you know, it's a budget session, short, a short session, and it requires a two-thirds introduction for any bills to be discussed on as either Senate or House in introduction.

So I came here to, I guess, hear what my council has to say in the city that I live in.

And as a senator, the city that I as a major representative in the Senate, uh, that's part of my job.

So I'd like to hear from the council and the mayor about where you folks are at and what are your concerns about.

I I have a list of topics, but I'll I think I'll let you speak first, mayor, and uh uh ready when you would like to ask a question.

Uh thank you, Senator Colb.

And we certainly appreciate you taking your time to come visit with us.

Uh and not just for us, but also for the public.

Um I think my overall assessment of how I feel about this upcoming budget session is nervous.

Uh there's a lot that has been discussed, and there's a lot of things that are being proposed by the legislature in general, they could have some pretty tremendous impacts on the city.

Um but as you pointed out, it's a budget session.

So until we see what lives and to be heard and what sits in a drawer or doesn't make the uh two-thirds requirement, it's kind of hard to I would hate to waste anyone's time uh in asking for effort to be put into something that isn't gonna go anywhere.

So that's that's all I have.

Counsel?

Your Honor?

Councilor Demas.

Um House or Senate file 32, which deals with the 911 funding.

How much money do you think if that passes would come to Sweetwater County, roughly?

I couldn't tell you the percentage.

Uh Mayor, uh Councilman Demas.

I I couldn't tell you the percentage.

It's probably done by population served, and then they split it up in that manner.

Okay.

Counsel.

Your Honor, Cancelling.

Senator Cole.

Question for you.

Um concerns of direct distribution is always going to be our one of our concerns.

So what's your feeling where things are going to kind of go with that and going into session?

Mayor, uh Councilman Bingham.

Uh yeah, it's it's it's it's been a contentious issue from the beginning because of the food tax and what had happened in the in the shift.

I for one favor a permanent solution for this and to get out of this system we have, or all the the this people in the city come down and say, hey, you know, uh legislative body, we need money, you know, and point out that we took away the food tax.

And luckily it wasn't me, mayor, but it it got taken away.

I think uh I'd like to dovetail something into there there, if I could, and it has to do with this change of property tax to zero and increasing sales tax to two percent.

First, I just say publicly that it's it doesn't make any sense.

2% does not make up for the amount of property tax the state takes in, besides the multitude of problems that we may get because well we will get.

One of them is that is the how do we then get the money back, right?

What's the mechanism?

How's it really going to function?

It's not enough money.

I I think uh frankly, some of these folks probably didn't do well in school and math, and you know, the numbers don't add up.

So here we sit.

And we're we're trying to deal with things that are you know not true.

But uh the challenge is is how to how to how do we muster up enough people, number one, to kill it on introduction so we're not wasting time on it.

And uh if it does make it through somehow get rid of it because it's it's a bad solution.

Uh you know, anyone who understands the property tax and what it does and how it does it, let alone special districts that are affected, and you know, we can go on like there's a lot to talk about here.

But I I I fear that change would lead into what we're talking about now with direct distribution.

And how do we do it?

How do we like how to resolve that problem?

You know, do we just give you folks uh part of the permanent uh sales tax, right, and be done with it?

Frankly, I think a lot of people like to see people come down and say, oh, please, you know, can you give us some money this time?

I I don't think that's the right way to run government.

Uh I'm one voice in there, and I'll continue to say what I'm saying to you and the in the Senate.

But I think we have to look for a long-term permanent solution, I I guess is what I'm saying.

And whatever that goes to, then we'll discuss it.

As the mayor mentioned, you never know what's going to come up or not come up.

I I don't have the bandwidth to I'm not that smart of a guy, right?

I'm good with single topic, one at a time.

And uh so we're gonna see how it goes.

But I'll just ask another just uh the issue about uh back um backfunding, backfilling of property tax loss.

We have a big discussion about that and the pros and cons about why we're doing it, why we should do it or why we shouldn't do it.

So uh I'd like to start that off.

And I'll just say that I was not in favor of backfunding.

And and I can tell you it's because it's just gonna delay the inevitable.

If we cut our services to the point where you folks can't supply fire, police, road maintenance, right?

That that's the core of the issue.

Not not shifting the subject over.

It's the the thing is is how low can we go, right?

I mean I believe government unfortunately grows, right?

I think we all understand that.

But what do we do to be reasonable?

And I guess that's the conversation, mayor and counsel is what's reasonable.

What are we gonna do that will let us be able to continue and be fair to the taxpayers?

And that's my question.

But other people's questions are no, we're not gonna tax anything.

We're gonna go to zero.

And we're gonna come up with some ridiculous two percent that we're gonna increase sales tax, and somehow that's gonna cover the cost of uh the property tax change.

I would also add that charging people for sales tax while they're receiving you know services for their home, which is what we're talking about, uh, is basically unfair.

How can you increase sales tax and then those people those people don't own property?

So then why is that fair?

Why is that a good solution?

I I guess is my my position on this.

But uh just this is the the brink of the session starting.

So in totality, uh, you know, I I guess I I still would like any topic you want to bring up, mayor, counsel, I guess uh I'll probably regret saying that, but uh I'll try to do my best in fielding those questions.

And I won't bring up chemtrails.

So just uh just to be clear about that.

Very good, counsel.

Your honor.

Counselor Zotty.

I guess then backfilling.

What's frustrating to me about this whole thing is it seemed like when we're talking about property taxes, one of the arguments was we're charging too much for mills, too many mills and districts and cities are taking too much money and sucking it away and um we're not spending it wisely.

But then there's an acknowledgement of, oh yeah, you're gonna lose services, now we've got to backfill it.

I mean, they're trying to they're talking out of both sides of their mouths, which is just maddening to me.

I look at uh some of the bills that are proposed here.

One, it's a House bill, but um, you know, it it mirrors uh proposition 13 in California, which pretty much is wreak havoc on affordable housing in that state, and I just can't imagine it do any different here.

And you look at the um the wording of these bills, and they just make things so much more complicated.

It's just baffles me.

And the the pushback that we've seen on this from the public, it doesn't seem like anyone's listening at the state level.

Um and now they want to take away our voice with Wham or uh the county associations and things like that, and that uh I I just extremely frustrated.

So mayor, council, uh Councilman Zotti.

Uh acquisition-based property taxation, is that what we're talking about?

I think that's a crux of the California boondogger.

One percent limit, I can't remember, but it's well, it's it's what it does is just so people understand this concept, it basically freezes at the extreme, it freezes the price of the property acquisition.

And it sounds okay, I guess, when you first talk about it.

Sure, that seems like something.

Man, that doesn't sound like a bad idea.

But the reality is it causes people not to move.

Because when the price of your house escalates, you can't afford to move.

So basically it causes stagnation in the entire marketplace with housing.

And then when someone moves in, then they get whacked with a super high current value instead of the acquisition-based value when they purchased it.

So basically it stops the normal motion from you know a starter home to an intermediate home to a nice home or whatever home you want to end up with, it stagnates that because they can't afford to move.

That's why it doesn't work.

And frankly, I haven't seen much that works in California that I agree with.

So I'm happily against this, but because of the facts.

Um then for them taking away your ability to basically hire uh people to represent the municipalities or the Boyman County Commissioner Association, same same issue.

That's up to you folks.

You know, you're the the voters vote for you.

And if they don't want you doing it, guess what?

They won't vote for you.

Property taxation.

If they don't like the tax the mill levy you have, and they decide we want to do something different, then they can run and replace all of us and change that tax base if if if they so want to.

But people like take the easy way out, right?

Uh we're gonna the legislature and all our infinite wisdom, we are gonna make uh the decision for you, which I'm not gonna do that.

We are gonna make uh the decision for you, which I'm not gonna do that.

I'm gonna try to understand a lot of things when I make a decision, but I'm not gonna all of a sudden decide that I know so much more than any of you know.

We all got we gotta work together on this business, whether we agree on certain subjects or not.

The fact of the matter is is elected representation for the people, we have to talk to each other, right?

And convey it, and then we'll we go from there.

But if less if we don't talk, guess what?

I certainly don't know.

I I failed mind reading.

I know.

Ask my wife, I'm not very good at that either.

So uh that's that's kind of the reality, May.

Very good.

And we certainly appreciate the perspective.

Um, one of the the basic tenets of our approach to government is that they um most local government governs best.

And so I appreciate your commitment to that idea.

Um and sadly, uh I will be one of the people in Cheyenne begging for money.

Uh so you know, if if you've got a sack of it somewhere, uh we would like uh we'd like some money for Better Crick, among other things.

Just uh just throwing that out there.

Mayor Bitter Creek is something that you know I I had worked on with counselor stiff.

Uh we tried a couple different avenues.

I I'm very pleased to hear tonight that you've had some success on trying to mitigate that problem for for all the things that it means to the community.

I think that's that's a great win.

I I you know we we this is the first win we've had in a very, very, very long time for the from just from the history and where we're at today in the year 2026.

So I'm very pleased that that happened.

Um I I it that's a that's some good news I didn't expect, Mayor.

Uh and uh but if you'd wanna I don't know if there's any gaming issues you want to talk about local control.

Uh I'll just say uh as chairman of that task force on the Senate side that we got four bills out that went through management council.

And the most important one is local control for you to decide to agree or disagree with the issuance of a gaming license, and then have a a mechanism that's clear about how you work with the county, which everybody agreed to.

I think it it's been well thought out, it's it's gone through fairly fairly well, and I think it's it's certainly ready to be discussed.

Uh so that'll be my number one priority, not to say it's not my only priority, but I think it's important that we get that behind us so we can work on many other issues in say just in the gaming world besides personal legislation that that I won't that I'm gonna try to run.

And I if you let me take an opportunity, I'd just like to say that after the incident in the Clarion, when they when those federal people uh folks, the ICE officials were blocked or had issues.

I asked for a bill draft that would make it a felony for people to use their vehicles in a manner where they uh were basically impeding your travel, your ability to move.

And that would pretty well go for anybody, but particularly for law enforcement, is uh we can't we can't have this.

I mean, my opinion, we can't have this.

I was so motivated, I talked to you, mayor.

Thank you for your time about just what happened, how did it happen, what people knew, what they didn't know.

What I know is is people don't have the right to block your your travel with a vehicle.

You can't use it as a mobile blockade.

So I I look to stiffen those penalties up and make it a five to twenty-five year penalty, uh a felony for doing such a thing if convicted in a court of law.

I I just think we're not Minnesota, and I know we're not Minnesota, and I'm proud to support uh law enforcement peace officers, no matter who they are, because they're trying to do the right thing in their people.

So I I just wanted to add that.

It's kind of a new thing that popped up.

I wasn't expecting to do any of this.

I didn't think we'd had to do anything.

We weren't expecting it either.

No.

And I and I know you weren't, and I I think we we did what we were supposed to do.

You did what you're supposed to do.

The PD did what they're supposed to.

Only so far we can go without any more information.

I can tell you, Senator Nethercott is working on another bill that does something similar to enhance penalties for interference with law enforcement.

Uh only because of, you know, I guess the local top the local nationwide issue we're facing.

And you know, Rock Springs is a great community that I I love.

I live it here, I live here, and I want it to be a good place.

And I know you do too, and then the council does.

So if any input on that, uh it it I haven't got it introduced yet.

I it's still in bill draft form, but I I can tell you I've got an LSO draft uh that I am working on.

And any input from you folks, uh the council, uh I'd appreciate it, because this is to help us as a community.

So we remain a community that I that I like that I want to live in.

Certainly from my perspective, both as mayor and as a resident of Rock Springs.

I just want to say thank you.

Uh I don't know if the council has thoughts on this, but it might thought would be the most appropriate person to give you feedback on that would be Chief Erst Palmer.

Um, but thank you.

Counsel.

Um Counselor Hickerson.

I have one question, not involving the Clarion incident and all that, but um Centophile 64 it talks about bringing 30 million more into the Wyoming housing fund or evolving loan fund.

Um is that to help with the uh low-income housing issue we're seeing, or I I don't know much about it, so could you educate me a little bit if you could?

Mayor Mickelson's uh counselor Hirkinson.

I believe it's referring to the WCDA loans, low interest loans.

I I believe that's what it is.

I I bill numbers, there's hundreds of them, counselor.

I don't pretend like I can go, yeah, that's uh bill or whatever, it's doing whatever.

Um I believe it's that.

And if to that purpose, I I'm supportive of that.

I I think it's a good thing that we do that to help to help out that group of people.

And uh there's there's a limit to things, right?

There's a limit.

Uh we didn't talk about the business council yet, but uh, which is a whole other subject.

But in that regard of of pumping in more money to that fund to allow people to uh the ability to buy a buy a home for the first time, I'm in favor of that.

You gotta pay the loan back though.

I agree.

That's that's council?

Your Honor?

Oh, go ahead.

Uh Senator Colb.

Uh you briefly touched on skill-based games.

Um, I see not uh reiterate, but SF0046 looks like it's going to control as far as where they go.

Are there going to be any additional regulations of the existing machines that are in place?

If you have the bill draft in front of you, uh mayor, uh counselor Pidry, exactly.

There's many of these bills.

Is that they come out of is that sponsored by management council?

Yes.

Okay, that's one of the bills that one of my bills that came out of our committee.

Uh skill-based games, that was in response to the Smith's grocery store situation, which I think if the mayor and council doesn't know, they pulled them out permanently in Rock Springs.

Skill-based games, which are those games.

That gets them rid of, get them out of everywhere that doesn't serve alcohol.

So it is a bit of a change.

The the bills that bill could change, right?

And and where they go, where they don't go.

I think clearly we do we the majority of people that I speak to, they don't want them in a grocery store, number one.

At the very least, they're restricted to the uh liquor footprint of the slicker store, right?

To the actual place where the liquor is being housed and sold, limited to there.

They would have to give up floor space.

It would be their choice if they did that, you know, to put these machines in there.

Do I I don't personally think it's a good idea?

You know, I I'm not gonna die on that hill, as they say over this.

I think we need to be clear and restrict them from going into grocery stores that are basically the area that's licensed because we changed the law to allow um restaurants to serve in areas beyond where they had the liquor so that it was broadened up.

Well, smart attorneys figured this out and said, hey, you can say this whole place is a liquor store.

Hence the reason why they got put into the Smiths.

Because they figured I I'll I'll just call it a loophole.

We never no one ever intended for this to happen, but it did.

And as usual, when you don't have good legislation with holes in it, people figure it out.

So it's it at the very best, we're gonna get them out of there.

I don't know why I I would want these gaming activities, frankly, in truck stops.

I didn't vote for it.

It passed the Senate.

It wasn't with my vote, but you know, that's the way it goes.

You know how it is sitting on a council.

And uh, you know, is that the really the right thing to do right now?

So respectively, counselor, uh we've did a lot of things with gaming that wasn't that wasn't well thought out.

What happened was is we have multiple sets of rules for multiple gaming activities, be it skill-based games, historical horse racing or more known as slot machines, HHR.

There's different connections with different types of games.

But this this one particular case was skill-based games.

Um, you know, I don't know, mayor and council.

Do you folks you want these things everywhere?

I mean, that's really the question at hand.

Where do you want them?

I mean, I'm it's kind of good you're talking to me because you know it was something that I led, and uh one of the bills was that.

But the purpose was to get them out of the grocery store, and it kind of broadened up into getting out of the entire liquor store at that liquor establishment that doesn't sell liquor.

Um it may it may change though.

All it takes is one person to make an amendment in the House or Senate, and then we're dealing with it, and you know, it'll have an outcome.

I I can't tell you what that is, though, because of 60 uh 63 uh House members, or excuse me, 62 House members and 31 Senate members.

I'm not in the House, so forgive me if I don't know a lot about them from time to time.

But it could be, it could it could have an outcome.

At the very least, if it gets introduced and makes it that we clearly state they can't go inside our grocery store for lack of a better word.

You know, it has to go in the liquor store proper or you're out of there.

Unless mayor council, you think differently about this.

I mean, I'm I'm here to listen to what you have to say about this.

You know, gaming uh, from my understanding is a situation uh where someone left the barn door open and the horses all got out.

And so I appreciate that you guys have rounded them up and are trying to uh put some restrictions back on it because we were way behind in regulating them.

Um and certainly I don't think anyone wants to see uh a situation where every other business is a gaming establishment, like has happened in other states.

And I don't think that the public is generally aware, you know, that these establishments by and large are not Wyoming businesses, right?

They are funded out of Nevada.

Um, and it will just serve as a financial drain on the state.

I mean, that money is not while they do are required to give us some payment when you look at the impact on the community, when you look at the financial impact on the community.

Uh we certainly appreciate that you guys are putting some guardrails in place to prevent what otherwise could have become a real mess.

And to the end about skill-based games, we do have a local operator, Jenkins music here, and they they are good operators.

But they're in the state, right?

They're not they're not a Vegas run outfit.

They're but they're doing skill-based games.

The problem we have is we have no uniformity in how we develop the gaming in the state.

It started off being a situation trying to promote uh live horse racing, which is what the historical horse racing machines do.

Unfortunately, there's no fixed percentage that goes back to the purses for live horse racing.

Coming to find that out.

And the money that goes back to the government to be re redistribution back to you, uh one percent.

Um I don't know if that's fair.

How's that sound?

I don't know if that's fair.

Uh my word to the gaming folks was, you know, the intention is not to put you out of business.

The attention, the the intention is to be fair.

Make sure that you survive, we survive, and basically, you know, in my mind, we don't get taken advantage of.

But and to the gaming institutions or facilities being all over the place, the gaming industry is consolidating.

The it kind of it blew up and now it's consolidating.

And the direction that we've suggested is you know, make it a destination, make it like Evanston is and the multiple facilities in uh in Cheyenne, and not just uh a refurbished bar somewhere where it turns into some gaming place, right?

And and I think their response that actually I'll just say what I what I had asked them.

I said, we need you to do this.

You do not want the legislative body to make these rules.

Because I can assure you, the outcome is not going to be what you want.

So why don't you just figure it out for yourselves and and we'll be done with it, right?

The industry should try to solve the wrong problem.

And I'll give them credit, they're moving in that direction, uh, mayor, counsel.

How far they move, I don't know.

But but I think they understand that the legislative body has basically had it with this out-of-control growth.

And where we're at today, like what are we going to do to reel this back in again?

So uh that's that's that's the goal uh of what we're trying to accomplish here to make changes that work.

Very good.

Counsel?

Your Honor?

Counselor Malone.

Senator Colb, thanks for coming and talking with us tonight.

I'm a little uh offended that you said the people that don't like property taxes can't do math.

I might not be very good at spelling, but I'm really good at math.

And uh I'm not for property taxes.

67% of our property taxes go to schools.

They're already overfunded.

You guys are always talking about making more, make more, make more, but you never talk about spending less.

I don't know.

I see on this WAM advocacy hub.

Protect local government revenues.

So I guess you're for taxes in the southern one.

Support the right of municipalities to associate freely and collaboratively.

So I guess you're for county commissioner associations that we fund, then they come back and fight us for our tax money.

That's all.

Mayor?

Councilor Malonus?

Misrepresentation of what I said.

Number one.

Factually speaking, I talked about legislators not being able to do math with two percent on sales tax.

Okay.

So don't put words in my mouth.

Number two, I never said it was for taxes.

I'm for I'm for running government as clean as we can with the least amount of money as we can spend to do that.

That's what I'm for.

Schools.

Glad you brought that up.

The state of Wyoming, legislatively, in our ultimate wisdom, is costing the state a huge amount of money because the money that's funding schools, which frankly, after recalibration, is not going to be enough.

Whether I agree with that or not, it's irrelevant.

The courts are deciding it, and it'll go to court.

We're in the midst of calculating what is in the basket of goods for schools.

Not that I sit on education, but I've heard enough about the recalibration that I can probably talk a little bit about it.

It's gonna cost more money.

The money that funds schools will come from the state, not local government.

Your property taxes fund is school.

I think 70% of your property tax funded schools.

Yeah, I could agree.

I don't I think the school funding is an issue, a big issue, probably the biggest issue we have, because it's gonna cost us more money than we currently fund in the way we do it.

We're gonna have to cover a statutory constitutionally we have to pay for the schools.

There's no getting out of this.

Whether in in the it's gonna go through the court system, right?

It's gonna be figured out in court legally, and we're gonna have to live with that and figure out what we're gonna do.

My concern is that a simpleton solution of 2% property tax or sales tax increase does not cover the differential between what the property taxes bring in revenue to uh what what you currently receive.

It doesn't work.

The numbers don't work.

That's my math question.

And uh as per taxation, uh you know we gotta you need certain level of services in a civil society.

I'm as big a conservative as as they as they come.

Was that way when I was a county commissioner?

I still am that way.

But I'm a realist.

Whether I like it or not, the facts are we gotta we gotta do certain things.

Do we have to fund public health the level we have to fund it?

I don't know.

I think that's a there's a big thing to look at there.

To do it responsibly, though.

So the issue is is not to figure, not to say, ah, you know, it's we should just cut all this funding.

Well, that's not grown-ups don't do that, okay?

Don't do that.

That's I don't have that latitude, and nor will I ever exercise that latitude as an elected official.

You get in there, you learn the facts, you learn what the reality is, and you deal with it.

That is something more than saying I just don't like something.

That's work.

And I I think to that end, that's what my intent is.

Now, if anyone wants that know anything more in particulars, you can always ask me.

I'm always open to questions.

But you know, I I am uh a little beside myself to sit up here and talk about them pro-tax.

I can say a lot of things, but I won't.

I'll just say I'll I'll stand up here and defend what I say.

You want to have a one-on-one debate with something like this?

Here you have at it.

Have at it.

Because uh, you know, it's just not it's not fair because I never I never said uh any of those other things that you insinuated, nor do I agree with how you say them.

It's not right.

Come up here to have a discussion with mayor and council about what we can do forward in the session.

Not to talk about anything else.

Uh and it is largely appreciated.

Are there further comments from council?

Thank you.

Yeah, we very much appreciate you.

Thank you.

And thank you for your work on our behalf.

Thank you.

And contact me if you want anything.

Yes, sir.

Anyone up here, contact me, email, text me.

Text me is the easiest, but look forward to the dealing with the session and look forward to uh having a conversation with everyone.

Thank you.

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

Okay, next we have Devin Brewbaker with the Southwest Wyoming Regional Airport update.

Mayor Counselors, uh, I promised uh Council President Hickerson I keep this under 45 minutes.

I'm just kidding.

All right.

I will try to be quick.

I know we're already at 8 o'clock and you haven't even got to the fund petition section yet.

So uh we'll go ahead and get started here.

Uh every time I do a presentation in the community, one of the things I like to do is highlight our team.

Uh, I'm the one out here in front of you speaking about the airport, but it's really the team that uh I get to show up to work with every day uh and that I get to report to every month uh on this slide here.

One thing I want to call to your attention is the numbers that are behind everybody's name is their years of service to either the airport as an employee or as a board member.

So our average longevity of our employees is 16.1 years, which is pretty impressive.

So we're really grateful to have a great team working at the airport.

Our least senior employee you see at the bottom there is eight years.

Um, and uh our board members, uh, your very own Alex is our least senior board member uh who replaced Matt when uh when he stepped aside.

But even there, we have uh quite a bit of uh experience on the board.

So just shout out to the team, shout out to the board and thank you to all of them for their service.

Some quick highlights of 2025.

Uh obviously the commercial terminal project, small little moment in our history.

Uh, wrap that up in 2025.

Uh, we'll talk more about that here shortly.

We completed our 20-year master plan.

Thank you to all of you that participated in that process and the rest of the community that did as well.

Uh, every year we get a three-day colonoscopy from the FA.

Uh and uh this past year we uh passed that with zero discrepancies.

We have another one coming up in May.

Um, they don't have any advanced medication for it, though.

So it's uh it's not so fun.

Um we also had a clean audit, and I want to highlight that Shannon Lucera, who you saw on the previous slide, who's our opsin business manager.

Uh that's that's a testament to her and all the work that she does day in and day out to manage our finances.

Uh on top of that, this last year, if you can imagine, was very, very complicated financially for the airport.

Uh, and uh to walk through an audit uh and come out of it with uh zero discrepancies, no findings uh in a year that there was probably every reason to find something wrong with our processes um was really great.

Uh we had new rental car agreements, new fuel supply agreement, new cell phone tower.

Uh so our cell service at the airport's great, and we collect revenue off that, which is fantastic.

Uh, we conducted our triannual full-scale emergency exercise, closed out all of our litigation, uh, hosted our the 48th annual air race classic, which uh several of you volunteered for.

Thank you for that.

Fantastic uh experience, and we won the best stop in the country.

Uh the race, the racers voted us the best stop of all their places across the country, which is awesome.

Uh, we acquired a new to us uh fire truck from the Jackson Hole Airport, improving our fire uh and aircraft rescue response capabilities.

We acquired some new snow removal equipment.

Uh we introduced a revamped website and booking platform.

You can check that out on FlyRKS.com.

And we introduced paid parking in November.

Uh to some people's uh happiness and to others, not so much happiness, I guess.

Uh 2025 key statistics, second best year for passenger levels in the airport's history, second only to 2012 when we had two daily or two airlines, two destinations and 80% more seats.

Uh we don't like to advertise that we have less traffic uh now than what we had, but it's the realities of small community air service and the fact that we are four people per flight away from hitting 212 numbers uh with that much less service is fantastic.

So looking forward to hopefully have another healthy year here in 2026.

Uh best year for fuel sales in the airport's history, 518,000 gallons of jet fuel, 43,000 gallons of Avgas, and that is not a rounded number.

I had to double check.

I can never do that again over the course of the year.

Uh, and then the best year for transient hangar revenues in the airport's history.

So that single FBO hangar that we built back in 2018 last year generated, and this is calendar year numbers, generated 455,992 of revenue for the airport.

And if you remember back prior to that hangar, 2017, we were generating like $3,000 a year of revenue off of transient traffic.

Just shows our passenger levels all the way back to 2000.

You can point if you've paid attention to the news cycle in the last 26 years.

Every dip you can point to a specific thing that happened largely in a global uh economy.

Uh air service is impacted by it.

But one thing that uh is resilient about air service and aviation is it grows since 1946, I think it is.

It's grown at a 3% clip every year, uh, even with the downturns that happen when the economy tanks or COVID happens or anything like that.

Uh big event, obviously.

Many of you were there, or most of you were there for our grand opening uh ceremony in September.

It's been over five months since we moved into the facility, which is crazy to think.

Um opened in August, uh final project tally, 43.95 million dollars, which we'll talk a little bit more here shortly.

It doubled the facility in size, tripled its capacity by uh reallocating space in the old facility, uh, made the entire facility ADA accessible from parking lot to aircraft, which was not the case before.

Um, and I've heard a lot of favorable uh feedback from the community about that aspect alone.

Uh, I've heard some folks say I've never been able to fly my mom or dad into our local airport, and now now I can because we have that capability.

Uh new utilities.

We didn't just focus on the terminal proper.

Uh, this was also a uh mechanism that allowed us to fund an entirely new gas main to the airport, uh, which was about a $700,000 investment, and then an entirely new low-pressure sanitary sewer system that covers the entire airport property and is expandable so we can do future development at the airport.

So we were able to tackle both of those key airport-wide infrastructure components underneath this project and have the federal government cover most of the cost, which was fantastic.

Uh, so picture of the grand opening.

Uh that good looking guy there, the white shirt I'm talking about, of course.

Uh and then the project financials.

So I mentioned the total project costs, but I want to highlight the 23 different funding sources.

And what I mean by 23 different funding sources is there's 23 different grant agreements or loans on this project.

That means there's 23 unique parameters in terms of eligibility, in terms of uh what can be used, when it can be used, how it can be used, how it has to be closed out.

Uh so the project, while the physical side of it is done, we will be working on this for many more months as we close out all these funding sources.

You'll notice that the Federal Aviation Administration uh covered 26.76 million or six just under 61%.

The Wyoming Business Council covered 10 million with $5 million of grants, $5 million of loans for just over 22%.

Uh aeronautics, uh wide aeronautics, $3.4 million.

Uh Governor's matching funds, $2.54 million.

Sweetwater County, $850,000.

UAW for $425,000, uh, and the TSA for $243,000.

So all in for a $43.95 million dollar project, $1.275 million of local cash total.

And that was spread over the course of multiple fiscal years.

Uh some legislative items that we're watching as airports.

Uh the budget bill, uh, air service funding uh is currently in the budget bill uh for $18.4 million.

Uh that funding is absolutely critical for us to maintain our air service going forward.

Uh so far, it's made it through the joint appropriations process.

There's one more step on in that uh on the 5th when they meet to approve that bill uh to send to the full legislature.

Uh, and then obviously all of the uh the process that happens once it hits the full legislature.

So we'll be mod we'll be monitoring that situation.

It's been a long day, sorry.

Uh, we'll be monitoring that.

I will be leaving Monday to head to Cheyenne, taking up residence uh down in Cheyenne for two to three weeks, depending how long it takes to make sure that funding gets done.

Um, Wyoming Business Council, I just talked to you about how 10 million doll came to the airport for the terminal through the BRC program.

Uh, that brings a total of 14 million dollars 2013 that the airport has received from the Wyoming Business Council.

Uh, $8 million in grants and $5 million in loans.

Uh, and the economic impact of the airport has grown by over $20 million a year uh with that investment.

I do want to just take a moment if I can, mayor, of I'll say personal and professional privilege.

I sat in a room last Thursday with you, Mayor, and you, Counselor Bigham, and many others as we worked on that electrical co-op together.

And we were we were graced with the presence of four Wyoming Business Council employees that helped us take a problem, develop a problem statement, and then identify potential solutions and basically gut check every one of those problems or are those potential solutions and develop a roadmap to move forward.

So we can be real thrilled about all the money that we can maybe pursue as part of the BRC program.

But where the biggest value is in my mind is the fact that they will bring their staff with their expertise out into our communities and help us build local capacity to help grow our communities and help make our communities healthier.

So just a huge shout out to the business council.

Hope the legislature does not defund the business council.

We're watching public records act modifications, wide funding, local government funding.

There's a bill uh to quadruple the liability limits for local government, which would be devastating to our interest or insurance rates and multiple other issues there.

Um got Wyoming homestead program that has to do with selling state property for residential use.

Uh why are airports worried about that?

Well, there's some state parcels right next to our runways around the state.

And if we sell state land to build houses right next to runways, that's problematic for airports.

So uh something we're watching.

Data privacy government entities is another bill we're watching.

And as the senator shared, there's going to be hundreds and hundreds more that we will actively be working.

Some quick air service updates.

I'll try to breeze through this pretty quick, but as you uh have been around the state and maybe talked with some colleagues in Campbell County or seen in the news, there's been some good news out of Campbell County with their air service and how they have uh left the capacity purchase agreement program, meaning that there is no longer any risk mitigation in place, either from the local communities or from the state.

Uh and I wanted to address that because I've received a lot of questions.

Why can Gillette do that?

Why can't we be on that same train?

Well, the reality is it's our goal.

That's where we're trying to get to when this program was developed in 2018.

It was written into statute that that would be the goal that we would all get off of the risk mitigation program.

Uh however, the past's not linear.

It's it's very convoluted.

But some of the things that can happen in a community to make it happen are more butts and seats, um, higher revenue per passenger, which equates to higher revenue per flight segment, brand loyalty and premium seat buy.

Airlines are no longer airline or aircraft operators, they are credit card companies.

They are financial powerhouses.

Most of the airlines make more money on their co-branded credit cards than they do on their flying.

So I am not advocating for credit card debt.

I'm not advocating for that, but this is part of the reality.

When an airline looks at a market, they're going to look at how many credit card holders do they have in that market.

They're going to look at the credit card spend.

They're going to look at that premium loyalty to the airline because that's how they make money.

Flying an airplane is a very low margin game.

So they want to look where they can make money elsewhere.

Uh, on top of that, seat upgrades, buying that first class seat when you can, when it makes sense for you.

Uh, they look at that premium seat buy and then corporate accounts.

If you're a company, local company, and you do a lot of travel, strongly encourage you to reach out to United and talk to them about setting up a corporate account because those are things that the airline looks at when they make a decision on whether or not to take a market at risk.

When we do have a market go at risk, things like improved aircraft with dual class configuration, larger airplanes, and more flights happen.

And that's all happening in Gillette later this spring.

And how do we compare when we look at the numbers?

Well, our passenger numbers weren't that far off in the grand scheme of things.

We were about 8,000 total passengers inbound and outbound off last year.

But where we're really separated is our average fare.

So our average fare, uh, which is a prorated formula calculation of what we get credit for.

Uh, we saw an average fare of $98.99 in 2025, where Gillett's was $126.28.

So that $30 delta, and you think about $8,000 passengers times $30 Delta or plus the $30, $30 Delta on $52,000 passengers.

Uh, that's a big number.

And so those are the things we can do to get better service.

I get that question.

Why are why don't we have more service?

Why don't we have more flights?

It's a little bit more complicated than this, but this is the best I could do on a single slide to distill it down to that.

Uh, a couple quick uh performance metrics that I think are really cool to highlight.

And this is a testament to our TSA, our rental cars, our airlines, our airport staff, our facilities, just everything at the airport.

So the airline uh does surveys of their customers when you've flown, you probably got that email from United.

Please fill that out in the future, by the way.

It provides valuable feedback on our facilities.

Uh it present or uh it results in a MPS score, which is net promoter score.

I won't uh describe all that to you.

Go look it up because I know we're tight on time, but uh NPS scores on a negative 100 to a 100 scale.

And anything above a zero is good.

Anything above 40 is amazing.

Uh before the new terminal, we had the net promoter score of 45.

In the new terminal, we have a 54.3.

Uh, and in the fourth quarter last year, it was 61.5.

And that's really when all of construction activity largely wrapped up in the building.

Airport satisfaction scores pre-terminal, uh, 84.9.

In the new terminal, we're up to 92.9.

Uh also want to recognize our Sky West station.

Uh, they were recognized as the best station in 2025 for the lowest amount of mishangled mishandled baggage.

Um, and not just the best Skywest station, but the best regional station in the country.

So uh of all the different locations, which there's 300 something of them in the country, our Sky West team was the best in the country in that metric.

Uh, and then I hear often that our flights are not reliable.

I get, you know, late night messages from Max or sorry, mayor.

Uh, is my flight going in the morning?

Um like I have control over it.

Um, only when he's flying, do I, to be clear.

Um, but no, our completion percentage, 99.11%.

National average, 98.54%.

Our on-time performance, the amount of time or the percentage of aircraft arriving within 14 minutes of the scheduled arrival, which is how the industry measures that we were at 76.61%, and the national average 76.49%.

So we met or beat national averages.

So data, I know facts don't matter these days, but for those of you that do still respect facts, those are the facts.

Our flights are reliable.

Paid parking, uh, a couple quick things on why we went to paid parking.

Uh, number one, um, we needed to find new revenue sources for the airport.

We recognized uh money is tight for the city and the county, and we greatly appreciate the support the airport gets from the city and the county.

But we were looking at how do we make sure that the users of the airport are actually the ones paying for the airport.

And when we look at our parking lot, 39% of the vehicles using our parking lot or the passengers using our parking lot are out of county vehicles.

So, and they're oftentimes out of state vehicles on top of that.

It's surprising, even to me, how many out of state vehicles we have.

And so you have a situation where your constituents uh that are paying the taxes and you're allocating that money to the airport, but we have 39% of our customers coming from a part of the state or part of the country that don't help pay those taxes.

So it made sense for us to evaluate this.

So we did some research.

We understood that our grant obligations on the parking lot would expire either the summer of 2026 or when we reconstructed the parking lot, which we did in 2025.

Um, and we also recognize that parking is the single largest source of revenue for every airport in the country that charges for parking.

It is it's no secret.

That's that's what it is.

Uh I did some research uh for the airport board and found that airports that had 20 to 30,000 annual employments, which is where we fit in right now.

Uh 40% of those airports did charge for parking with an average daily rate of $8.75.

Uh the current daily rate that the airport board has decided to move forward with is $6 a day.

Uh, and the first four hours are free.

And over the next couple weeks, you'll be seeing some press releases coming out, announcing a new express pay system where you can create an account and using basically your license plate as your token to get in and get out.

It'll automatically charge your card on file.

Um, and then we'll also be rolling out an annual membership program for local industry and business and frequent flyers.

So they don't have to pay every usage.

They can just pay one fee for the whole year.

So we'll be doing that over the next couple weeks.

I'm almost done, I promise.

Uh looking forward to our projects, we're in procurement on a new wheel loader, a front front end loader for snow removal.

Uh, we're in procurement for a new liquid airfield de-ice sprayer uh to combat more icing that we're seeing lately.

We see a lot more icing than uh what we have in previous years.

And we we can't use uh the rock salt or any of the salt stuff that you see out on the roads.

So we have to use a liquid uh product called potassium acetate.

Very expensive product, but it allows us to stay in compliance with the FA.

Uh we'll also be doing uh design and construction of hangars and taxi lanes using our last uh remaining funds from IDA.

So we had some apportionment money or formula money that came to the airport for through IGA, and we'll be using the last 2.7 million dollars of that.

Uh we will be starting design in 20 calendar year 27 on the rehabilitation of our crosswind runway, runway 321, and in 2028, we'll do the construction.

And then we have a standing earmark request into Congresswoman Hegeman.

She's made it one of her 15 projects for three straight years.

It has not made it through the appropriations process, but we're going to keep working on that to expand our apron, our general aviation apron where aircraft park.

So the percentages you see behind each project, those are the grant coverage percentages.

So that's how much of that project will be covered by federal or state grants.

Uh the remaining portion would be the local match on those.

So future business that's coming your way, likely during calendar year 2026 is we have our last round of AIP apportionment transfers.

Uh, if you remember, we, if you will, borrowed money from Sheridan and Laramie for the terminal project.

We didn't really borrow any money from them.

It was just trading their funding from one year to for a year of ours and allocating money between airports.

And so we'll be transferring 1.05 million back to share, or I'm sorry, Laramie Regional Airport and 245,000 back to Sheridan County Airport this year, and that'll wrap up our financial obligations to that.

And then going forward, the money's ours until we do it again with another airport for another project.

Um Sky West Airlines agreement.

I'm hoping there won't be an amendment this year, but if there is, we'll bring that forward through the county and through you guys as well.

And then our airport budget request, we are well on our way to having a budget to propose to the airport board.

Uh, we're working to find a path of uh to to reduce it compared to the current year, uh, keeping up with the trend that we have for several years outside of our one bad year with legal fees.

Um, we're facing headwinds though, because we do have the new terminal debt service.

That's 194,000 a year.

And we do not have the big carryover that we have have had in prior years.

Um, and then a key component on how we get to self-sustainability here and how we get you a reduction is our ongoing airline lease and operating agreement negotiations.

That'll play a big role into uh what our financials look like.

In the last slide, why we do it.

$59.3 million a year in annual economic impact, supporting $336 jobs and $15.28 million in annual payroll.

Every dollar that's invested in air service in the state returns six seven dollars and sixty cents in direct ROI.

There is no multipliers there.

There's no induced impacts, no indirect impacts.

That is a direct return on investment.

Uh also at the airport in 2025, we supported 87 aerial firefighting missions on 27 fires, and we supported 474 air ambulance flights at the airport.

So I tried to find a couple key data points that might resonate with not just you all, but the community of what the airport does.

It's more than uh corporate jets and and uh, you know, I when I first got hired here 11 years ago, I heard the word that we are a country club for rich people.

I can assure you that is not the case.

So and with that, Mr.

or mayor and council, happy to answer any questions.

I was a minute and a half quicker to tonight than I was for the commission.

So we're welcome.

Um full disclosure, I I would like everyone to be aware that I am solely responsible for that 0.89% uh failure of completion any time.

I don't even know.

It is just you should publish on the city's Facebook when you're flying, so nobody else does those days.

I would not want to do that to your uh ticket sales.

Um, in Devin, uh I appreciate the amount of credit that you give to your staff, and they certainly do wonderful work, but it would be appropriate for us to take a moment to thank you for your leadership with the airport and for its growth and the contribution that it is to our county and our city.

Uh, you do absolutely outstanding work.

Uh and it's really not that bad when I fly, I promise.

It only happens every now and then.

I don't fly that much.

Um, but uh no, we very much appreciate and understand that you are a driver behind this growth and these changes, and thank you for your work.

Appreciate that.

Council.

Councilman Zotti.

Kind of wanted to echo that.

Um, I know we ran into some bumps with the terminal, uh, COVID and other things, but um, your hustle and dedication to get the funding and find the funding to complete this project is very admirable, and I appreciate the work that you did to get that done.

Appreciate that.

Council.

Your honor.

Counselor Higgerson.

Thank you for keeping it short-ish.

I'd like to see that ROI a little closer to 22 compared to 7.6 for future reference.

Thank you.

Uh very good, counsel.

Mayor, if I can, I appreciate the accolades.

Uh, but they are deserved to the board, the staff, and I I gotta put it put it back to you all as well.

The count, the council and the commission.

Uh, May of 2024 with about eight days notice.

I came before you all and asked to have you back basically 22 million dollars of risk on the terminal project.

And uh I still today do not know why in the hell you did it, but unanimously the commission and the council voted yes to back that while I went to find other funding.

And uh I can tell you every conversation I had with the business council, with the FA, with YDOT, with the governor's office, every one of those conversations, the response was we can get behind this because your local governments got behind it.

Had we not gotten that yes vote back in May of 2024, we would not be standing here today talking about a successful terminal project.

Uh so thank you to all of you that were serving back in May of 2024 for your support.

And those of you that weren't, I know you were so you were still supporting us, so thank you.

Very good.

Thank you, Devin.

Okay, that brings us to our public hearing this evening.

Uh we have a public hearing on three applications for transfer of retail liquor licenses by Maverick Group LLC doing business as Maverick number 5057, maverick number 5059, and Maverick number 5286, located at 1806 Elk Street, 1549th Street, and 3910 Foothill Boulevard in Rock Springs, Wyoming.

Is there anyone here who would like to speak to this?

Okay, seeing no one, we will close the public hearing and go to petitions and public comment.

First up, we have Doug Gresham.

Sir, if you'd please approach the podium.

I promise it would be a lot showing.

Uh last time I spoke before a governing body like this was right before I became a police officer.

So kind of bear with me if I seem a little nervous and a little jittery.

Uh my name is Doug Gresham.

Um, my wife and I reside here in Rock Springs for the past 30 years and have been married for going on 30 years in counting.

Uh unfortunately, she is not here to join me.

She's going through some considerable tooth pain.

And she said that she'd rather deal with childbirth than tooth pain.

So enhancing what uh counselor said over here, but uh I'm speaking to you this evening in the new ordinance put forth before you concerning the new setback requirements ordinance 2026-2.

I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak before you this evening.

Uh excuse my having to read what I've written down before you, but want to ensure my words were chosen well and well thought out with respect before I spoke.

Uh before I begin, I want to emphasize to you in no way am I attempting to sway you in either direction.

Uh this evening, considering new regulations that are being presented before this body on the new setback requirements, but rather it is a things that I hope you will give pause and consider uh before your ruling.

I am a military veteran and have served two different communities as a police officer, so I'm well aware and respectful that I was sworn in not to only abide by but to uphold laws and ordinances.

It is not lost upon me, though, that ignorance is no excuse for not knowing.

But most of our community simply does not know the setback regulations regarding structures and andor sheds.

By possibly passing this new uh regulation will allow homeowners not only to become aware that there are new guidelines pertaining to pre-built or built structures or sheds, but also keep them from having to either tear down or move the structure already in place and bear the cost for removal and to rebuild.

Uh I took the liberty of driving around town for a considerable amount of time with my wife, and I took note of nearly over 65% of people who are currently not in compliance with the current setback rules.

Uh just putting it simply don't have the room.

As you're well aware, the properties today on the houses are built bigger and the lots are much smaller.

Uh not having a needed space for even the small stuff of sheds.

It's been brought to my attention that possibly the planning and zoning office is is short staffed and does not have the budget in policing homeowners to ensure that they are in compliance and adhering to these setback rules.

But by passing these new regulations will allow our community to avoid such cost and re and relocating and or rebuilding up to and including the expense by the owner of having to hire a surveyor to confirm property lines at the average cost of $3,500.

These open hearings not only educated me and possibly our community, but also bringing awareness to concerns in our community.

Going forward with this proposal would possibly allow these homeowners who would otherwise not have the needed room to secure a shed, but being in a position to possess and enjoy the extra space for those items collected over the years, in my case, 30 years of marriage and home ownership with precious perishable items that possess sentimental meaning that have been passed down or in the event of a death in a family that has also been passed down for safekeeping.

Uh to preserve the memories of loved and lost.

Again, I want to thank this governing body and considering on this ordinance before you today, and allow me to speak at length.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Council, do you have any questions for Mr.

Gresham?

Thank you very much for being here this evening.

Thank you.

Um, our other public comment this evening is Laura McKee.

Mayor and Counselors.

Um, I wanted to chat about um we had talked, you know, previously about we were going to do some budget, we were gonna look at the budgets and go through each department and look into the budget.

Now you had mentioned tonight something about a tool, so I'm not sure if that's where you're going with that, because the only video I saw, unless I missed it somehow, was the one on the mayor and the council.

Yes, ma'am.

It turns out our budget is the simplest to re lay.

Uh, and as I met with department heads and tried to sort out how we could do this in a way that would convey the information in a meaningful way.

Uh it became very clear that as the budget is currently presented, that would just be me reading the budget.

And I'm not sure anybody, unless they're having trouble falling asleep, uh, would benefit from that.

And so we had been working on the program-based budgeting, and in meeting with them, that really is the tool that will allow us to do that in a way that is helpful to the community.

And so, do we know like a timeline, you know, with the upcoming legislation?

We have things coming up, you know, they're gonna be voted on, and taxes, and there's a lot of things.

So, do we know?

Because I and also we're gonna be working on another new budget, right?

Like coming up very soon here.

So we are working through that process.

Um, and it is kind of a it's a situation where we don't know what we don't know until we know.

And so uh I don't want to commit to a timeline that I won't be able to honor.

Um, but as soon as we can get her done, uh we'll certainly be announcing it and making sure that people are aware.

Okay, and I had one other question.

So this year, obviously we're not having a lot of snow removal expense.

So is that coming out of the streets department?

Is that where they do the snow removal or what budget item does it come out of?

And then is that money saved?

Because sometimes we have a year that's extremely bad, and we spend a lot of money on snow plow.

So, you know, knock on wood, uh, that we get snow where we need snow and not in town.

Uh, we had invested in the supplies and materials that we would need to mitigate snow on our roads, and we've not had to use it.

We would be able to use that next year, so there would be an adjustment in the next fiscal year to reflect that we have those things.

Um then, of course, it was last fiscal year we purchased a new plow.

Um, and I know that our mechanics have been keeping everything ship shape.

So, yes, the savings this year would then result in an adjustment to next year's budget, assuming that spring doesn't you know trick us all.

Right.

But basically saying that we still have the same amount for each year, and some years are really bad, which puts us in a deficit, right?

So if you recall the what three winters ago where we had all of that snow, we had to move funds to purchase more materials because we had more snow than we had predicted.

Um, and then obviously this year has been just wild.

Yeah, uh yeah.

So yeah, that that should be helpful.

And those are when we complete the budget, it's our best estimation, and then we have to adjust it based on what actually happens.

Okay.

Looking forward to the budget, because that'll help everybody, I think, to understand things a lot better.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Very good.

Okay, that concludes public comment, which brings us to bills and claims.

First, we have um the Rock Springs Housing Authority bills and claims for February 3rd, 2026.

Council, I would entertain a motion.

Your Honor.

Councilor Demas.

I make a motion to approve Rock Springs Housing Authority bills and claims for February 3rd, 2026.

Thank you.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councilor Hickerson.

Is there discussion?

Hearing none, all those in favor, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Any abstaining?

Abstaining.

Abstaining.

Okay.

The motion carries with counselors Pedry and Thompson abstaining, which brings us to our bills and claims for February 3rd, 2026.

Council, do we have a motion?

Your Honor.

Counselor Demas.

I make a motion to approve the bills and claims for February 3rd, 2026.

Thank you.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Councilor Thomas.

Thank you.

Is there discussion?

Hearing none, all those in favor, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Any abstaining?

Motion carries unanimously, bringing us to salaries for January 22nd, 2026.

Do we have a motion?

Your Honor.

Councilor Demas.

I make a motion to approve the salaries for January 22nd, 2026.

Thank you.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councillor Hansen.

Is there discussion?

Hearing none, all those in favor, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Any abstaining?

Abstaining.

Okay, the motion carries with Councillor Thompson abstaining.

That brings us to new business.

First up this evening, we have a request from the administrative services department for approval of three applications for transfer of retail liquor licenses by Maverick Group.

LLC doing business as Maverick number 5057, Maverick number 5059, and Maverick number 5286, located at 1806 Elk Street, 1549th Street, and 3910 Foothill Boulevard in Rock Springs, Wyoming.

Council, do we have a motion?

Move to approve this request, Your Honor.

Thank you, Councillor Hickerson.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councilor Demas.

Is there discussion?

Hearing none, all those in favor, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Any abstaining.

Motion carries unanimously, taking us to a request from the Parks and Recreation Department for permission to fill a vacant irrigation specialist one or two position in the parks division.

Do we have a motion?

Your Honor.

Counselor Thompson.

I move to approve this request.

Thank you.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councillor P.

G.

Is there any discussion?

Your Honor.

Counselor Malotis.

I just have one question.

Is this a uh your round job?

Your Honor, Council Malone.

Uh yes.

This is a been established full-time position for ever or as long as we've had a parks department.

What do they do in the winter when we're not irrigating?

So uh the this personnel is part of the uh 480 MOU that we have with our union.

Um so they build up hours over the summer and then slowly leak out over to the winter.

They they use those uh they use those hours and just time off.

But uh when they are scheduled in rotating fashion to cover snow events if that occurs.

Uh because of the light winter we've had, they've been working on projects here and there and uh everything from equipment maintenance to any any needed uh planning and preparation for the summer.

Okay, cool.

Further discussion.

Hearing none, all those in favor, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Any abstaining?

Motion carries unanimously, taking us to a request from the engineering operations and public services department for permission to bid the 2026 overlay, 2026 concrete replacement phase one, and the 2026 crack seal phase one projects.

Do we have a motion?

Your honor.

Councillor PG.

I move to approve this request.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Thank you.

Is there discussion?

Your Honor.

Counselor Malotis.

Do we have a list of all those uh projects that they want to do?

We want to do this overlay, replacement, crack seal, actual locations.

Your Honor, uh Councillor Malonis.

Uh we put those projects together and they haven't been put together yet.

Uh we do a street evaluation according to STM standards, uh, and then we determine which roadways need what type of maintenance, whether it be overlays, patching, crack sealing.

Um with concrete replacement.

Uh we go through either homeowner list or determine uh what roadway pavement, curtain gutter sidewalk needs to be replaced.

But no, those projects have not been put together yet.

So how can you bid them if they're not put together?

We're asking permission to bid them.

Um, but they have not been put together yet.

To go to bid.

Interesting.

Okay.

Further discussion.

Hearing none, all those in favor, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Any abstaining?

Motion carries unanimously, taking us to a request for three malt beverage permits from Birdie McJunkin for the 2026 Bud Cup Men's Hockey Tournament on March 27th from 4 p.m.

until midnight, March 28th from 10 a.m.

until midnight, and March 29th, 2026, from 9 a.m.

until 4 p.m.

at the Rock Springs Family Recreation Center, Ice Arena.

Do we have a motion?

Your Honor.

Counselor Hansen.

I move to approve this request.

Thank you.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councillor PG.

Is there discussion?

Hearing none, all those in favor, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Any abstaining?

The motion carries unanimously, bringing us to our final item of new business this evening.

A request from the Rock Springs Liquor Dealers Association for approval of the 2026 all-night dates.

Do we have a motion?

Move to approve the request, Your Honor.

Counselor Hickerson, do we have a second?

Second.

Councillor Zotti.

Is there any discussion?

Hearing none, all those in favor, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Any abstaining?

The motion carries unanimously.

That brings us to resolutions.

The first step we have resolution 2026-09.

A resolution accepting and approving a fireworks production contract with Fireworks West International and authorizing Max Mickelson as mayor of the City of Rock Springs, Wyoming, and Matthew L.

McBride, City Clerk of the City of Rock Springs, Wyoming to execute said contract on behalf of the city.

Thank you.

Council, do we have a motion?

Your Honor.

Counselor Hansen.

I move to approve resolution 2026-09.

And I look forward to it.

Thank you.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councillor Bingham.

Is there discussion?

Your Honor.

Counselor Hickerson.

Just as a reminder, how much was this contract for last year?

25 for the people.

Jesus.

I got excited.

JJ, if you would, sir.

This is the same as mine was last year.

Thank you.

Uh VR trying to do some fundraising uh through our see my legacy platform, which we'll try to expand a little bit to see um this uh contractor is willing to work with some level of late additions here.

So we're gonna try to see if we can get the community come out and see if we can expand it for the 250th anniversary.

So uh we'll hopefully have some success there.

Thank you.

Very good.

Further discussion.

Hearing none, all those in favor, please indicate by saying aye.

Uh aye.

Any opposed?

Any abstaining.

Motion carries unanimously, taking us to resolution 2026-10.

A resolution amending the official land use map of the Rock Springs Master Plan from HDR high density residential to LDR, low density residential, a piece, parcel, or tract of land located in the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 36, resurvey township 19 north, range 105 west of the sixth principal meridian, Rock Springs, Sweetwater County, and being more particularly described as follows.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Council, do we have a motion?

Your Honor.

Councilor Demas.

I make a motion to approve resolution 2026-10.

Thank you.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councillor Bingham.

Is there discussion?

I think he needs to read that whole thing.

No.

No, thank you.

Hearing no actual discussion, all those in favor, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Any abstaining?

Motion carries unanimously, bringing us to our final resolution of this evening, 2026-11.

A resolution accepting and approving an agreement to provide professional services with sunrise engineering for engineering design and construction serving for the Rock Springs Bitter Creek Restoration Segment 3, final design, and authorizing Max Mickelson as mayor of the city of Rock Springs and Matthew L.

McBurn as City Clerk of the City of Rock Springs to execute said agreement on behalf of said city.

Thank you.

Council, do we have a motion?

Your Honor.

Councilor P.G.

I'd like to move to approve resolution 2026-11.

Thank you.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councillor Hansen.

Is there discussion?

Your Honor.

Councillor Maloneus.

Do we have complete plans for phase two?

All ready.

Your Honor, Councilor Malone.

No, uh, we do not.

That is segment two is what the Hageman funding is going to go towards.

Uh this was a brick grant uh that would only design, not no construction for segment three.

So that if we do get available funding in the future, it would be as people say shovel ready.

Okay.

Do we have do we have a cost on uh I guess so then we don't even have a cost on uh segment two then do we?

Not at this time, no.

The design is part of that funding.

Do you have kind of a rough idea what that segment's gonna cost?

I do not uh but my assumption is is that the level of funding that we did get will not complete totally complete segment two.

Probably not even close, but already do the engineering work.

Uh okay, thank you.

Further discussion, your honor, Councillor Higgerson.

I'd just like to thank Mr.

Kowsage for uh providing us with the basic score sheets that we are legally able to see.

Thank you as well, Mr.

Beckwith, for chewing us butt to do so.

Very good.

Further discussion.

Hearing none, all those in favor, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye, aye.

Any opposed, any abstaining?

Motion carries unanimously.

And that brings us to our ordinances.

We have two this evening.

The first of which is on its third reading, so we will look to take action, and the second of which is on its second reading, so we'll take action at our next next council meeting.

Matt, if you'd please take us through ordinance 26 2026-01.

In ordinance amending the official zoning map of the city of Rock Springs from R5 to the zoning designation of R2 for a res uh parcel of land locating um land totaling point six zero nine acres and located in the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 36, resurvey township 19 north, range 105 west of the sixth principal meridian in the city of Rock Springs, County of Sweetwater, State of Wyoming.

Thank you.

Council, do we have a motion?

Your Honor.

Counselor Bingham.

Move to approve ordinance 2026-01.

Thank you.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councillor Thompson.

Is there discussion?

Hearing none, Matt, if you'll please take us through.

Counselor Hickerson.

Yes.

Zadi?

Yes.

Hansen?

Yes.

P.

Dre.

Yes.

Bingham?

Yes.

Thompson.

Yes.

Malonus?

Yes.

Demas.

Yes.

Mayor Mickelson.

Yes.

Okay.

The ordinance passes unanimously.

Matt, if you'll please read us 2026-02.

In ordinance amending chapter 157 of the ordinances of the city of Rock Springs entitled Zoning.

Section 157.132 entitled Setback and Height Encroachments Limitations and Exceptions.

Subparagraph C entitled Inside and Rear Yards.

Thank you.

Council, do we have any discussion of this ordinance as we will look to take action at our next meeting?