And to the Republic for which it stands.

Indivisible with liberty and justice.

Thank you.

Matt, if you take us through roll call, please.

Counselor Thompson.

Here.

Malonus.

Here.

Demas.

Here.

Hickerson.

Here.

Thadi.

Here.

Hanson.

Here.

Pedrie.

Here.

Bingham.

Here.

Mayor Mickelson.

With that, before we get going, I would like to uh take nominations for tonight's council president since the mayor's a jerk and not here.

Anybody want to nominate anybody?

I'll nominate Jeannie Demas.

Second.

Anyone else?

All right.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed, same sign.

All right.

Congrats, Jeannie.

With that, brings us to council updates.

Let's start with Rob.

Councilman Zotti.

Well, we start off.

Um last two weeks we had a building committee meeting.

Uh then the fire union.

We started negotiations with the fire union.

And I think that um started off pretty well, and we're moving forward with that.

I think our next meeting is next.

We're gonna do it next week.

Is that good?

And then the council retreat, which was on um last Wednesday.

That's kind of my update for tonight.

Okay.

Councilmember Hansen.

Uh thank you.

President.

Um I also did the uh negotiations with firefighters and the council retreat.

I think everybody up here has probably got those on the resume.

Also, I did the URA business of the month, uh committee meeting on March 9th.

Uh we should be seeing something coming out of that, hopefully this month, and and we'll be moving forward with that.

Uh the Chamber of Commerce uh luncheon was March 12th.

Uh, the state of the city was put on by the mayor, uh myself and uh a few of the other council members would were there also.

Um a fun one that I got to do was the on March 14th.

I did a Rock Springs Sweetwater trivia at the museum, was talking about the history of the Sweetwater County in Rock Springs, and uh it was a great turnout and it was certainly a lot of fun.

And I even learned a few things, so that was a good thing.

Um seems like they're animal centered.

Uh one is care for critters at the um at heart, they're having a senior pet care drive.

Uh it helps with food, vaccinations, and other things for seniors who have pets.

If anybody has any extra uh pet food or pet supplies or anything like that, they would be more than happy to take those.

Also, animal control on March 28th is doing a span neuter clinic uh with Castle Rock vets and contact them for that.

Uh the I believe it was March 28th.

Uh the big boy locomotive is coming through town also.

So if you get a chance, get down and see that when it comes by, it's always a big thing.

And of course, uh one of my favorite holidays, St.

Patrick's Day.

I want to wish everyone a happy St.

Patrick's Day.

All right, thank you.

Councilor Pedrie.

Thanks, President.

Uh for my community update.

I spent the last uh couple of weeks.

I started with a building committee meeting and uh went to the Oddfellows 151st birthday party and uh the chamber lunch along with the uh council retreat, uh the upcoming meetings.

We have the public health meeting tomorrow morning at 7.15, followed by the health insurance uh meeting at 1.30.

Uh the fun events that I attended over the last couple weeks.

We had a sweetwater county ranch sorting um event out at the complex.

That was a big turnout, and uh Muley Days last weekend, so always something going on out at the complex, getting people off of I-80 and people into the community.

I'd like to give a shout out to uh the fire department.

They responded to um our local office, uh the Half Moon office building uh a couple weeks ago and helped out down there, and uh they didn't hesitate, uh showed right up when they were called and needed.

And um the other shout out I'd like to give uh to the all-conference basketball players, they were named today.

Uh we had a few of them from the Rock Springs High School, so that's really cool to see the kids active in the community.

And last but not least, uh like to thank all the constituents for calling.

So that's nice to have that on the front end so we can make sure that their voices are heard.

So that's uh my community update for the last uh couple weeks.

Thank you.

Councilor Bingham.

Mr.

President, so on March 4th, uh also attended the building committee meeting.

And then on March 6th, I had a federal partners meeting, and Mayor Mickelson was also there.

We uh did get an update, and it looks like we're gonna start working on the RMP next week.

And then on March 9th, it looks like there was a URA meeting that I attended to.

One of the items that's on the agenda tonight is discussing the location.

Um, Mayor Mickelson was there along with Director Seavro was there, and just appreciate everybody working together, and we did find an alternative location for the farmers market.

So I'll explain a little bit more when we get to that agenda item.

March 10th, I also attended the negotiation meeting with the firefighters.

It was my first one ever.

Uh thought it went really well, and then again attended the March 11th, 2026 uh council retreat.

Enjoyed uh spending time with you guys and gals and and uh discussing this upcoming year, and then answered questions again from from constituents on goats.

That's all I got.

All right, thank you.

Counselor Thompson.

Mine was pretty slim these last two weeks.

On the 9th, uh the civil service commission took part in some uh testing for new applicants.

Uh from that, I had to go uh straight up to Billings, Montana for a family emergency and got caught in a blizzard up there with about a foot of snow.

So luckily I had my truck.

So missed out on a lot of the fun that you guys had with the state of the city and uh the other meetings.

So hopefully this next two weeks I'll get a little bit more busy.

Thank you.

Counselor Malonas.

Thanks, Your Honor.

So I've had a pretty busy couple of weeks.

Uh Saturday, I attended the county GOP.

And uh humans are amazing creatures, especially when it comes to power.

Counselor Malone.

Um, due to us being a nonpartisan elected.

Well, I'll just tell you what I did.

Okay, that's all I'm just excited about.

If you could go over to the next part, since we're nonpartisan, that would be well.

That's all I was just gonna say.

That's all I'm gonna say about that.

Okay, thank you.

I also attended the state of the city luncheon, and I was very happy to hear the mayor talk about paying down debt, deferred maintenance.

I think that's a great idea.

I also attended the negotiations with firefighters.

Uh public safety is a very interesting subject.

You know, what percentage of the budget do we dedicate to police and fire and ambulance?

You know, we have I-80, the railroad, the airport.

Do we budget for a major incident at all three at the same time?

You know, it wrecking the tunnels, a train derailment with toxic chemicals and a passenger plane at the airport all at the same time.

That's an interesting subject.

I never really thought about it before.

So public safety.

That's interesting.

But that was a good negotiations.

Also attended the retreat with the mayor and the fellow counselors.

It was a good meeting.

We listed five items that we would like to get accomplished this year.

My items were to create a special downtown district and to invest in parking around Bunning Park.

So we'll see what happens.

I talked to a couple downtown business owners about the farmers market.

They said it slowed traffic on market days, but they were okay with it.

I also spoke with two investors about the first security bank building, left a message for a third.

You know, it's very hard to get numbers to work out as far as what businesses would work there.

I'm impressed with how much thought and effort Cody Watts has put into this deal.

It's truly amazing.

Still interested, so keep your fingers crossed.

I'm still working on my oral hygiene program.

I talked to the Wyoming State Dental Association, and they don't have any programs.

So Blaine Saunders, the author that I've been promoting, and myself are looking to create our own program with animated how-to videos, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and floss to get started.

Slowly but surely we'll get it.

Finally, mental health.

It's always on my radar.

I work on mine daily.

Just remember, keep it simple and learn from the best.

Dr.

Daniel Aim is one of the best mental health doctors in the world.

Check him out.

It's free.

Make America healthy again.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Counselor Dimas.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Okay.

On March 6th, I did a ribbon cutting for Samuel Engineering, who has been in business for 15 years.

On March 6th, I attended Northern Titles Open House.

They have been in business for 20 years.

On March 10th, I attended the no negotiation with the firefighters, and that went very well.

On March 11th, I attended the council retreat, which we dealt with program-based budgeting.

On March 12th, I attended the chambers luncheon with Speaker Mayor Mickelson on the state of the city.

On March 14th, I attended the trivia night at the museum, which was sponsored by the Rock Springs Chamber, the Rock Springs Historic Museum and Sweetwater County Historic Museum.

And we had a turnout of about 35 people, and it was a good time.

And that was mine.

Thank you.

So just like everybody here, I did the retreat and all that kind of stuff.

Then again, calls on the farmers market and goes.

So with that, I will move to the consent agenda.

Tonight we have the approval of minutes from the March 3rd meeting of 2026.

We have our health insurance fund recap of February 2026.

Financial report summaries from January and February 2026.

Our fiscal year 2026 mid-year abstract statement.

The Parks and Recreation Monthly Report for February of 2026, the Urban Renewal Agency monthly reports for January and February of 2026.

The specific turf per wow, specific purpose tax joint powers board meeting minutes of February 9th, 2026, and the Urban Renewal Agency Board Meeting Minutes of February 9th, 2026.

Council, what's your pleasure?

Your Honor.

Councilman Zotti.

Move to approve the consent agenda.

Thank you.

Can I have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councilor Pedry.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, same sign.

Abstentions?

Thank you.

With that, we're moving to bid openings.

We have zero bid openings for the water vehicle.

So after that, we will move to commendations.

Um for Mark Pedrie to the Wyoming Arts Council appointment.

Um is Mark here.

Yeah, he is.

So I want to congratulate you on being appointed to the Arts Council.

And I will leave it open to the rest of the council if they have anything to say about it.

Your Honor.

Oh, and would you like to speak?

Yeah.

Don't worry about it.

Um, the honor to be able to serve in this.

Uh, from Sweetwater County, Rock Springs in in particular.

Um, that's what I'm looking forward to.

It's a three-year uh position appointed by the governor, and my first uh experience was it with it was this past governor's arts awards, and I was able to be there to support the community fine arts center being recognized.

And uh I just want to reiterate that that is a big deal for our community.

Um these awards are deliberated over.

There's nomination process, and we live in a big state.

Um, so to get that recognition just shows that we're doing something right here.

We're we're we're supporting the people that are on the ground working in the arts, uh, which is more than a hobby.

Um, it's a vital industry.

And that's part of what I want to do as my mission on the board for these next three years, uh, is to not only support it as a cultural resource, but an economic resource.

Uh I'd be happy to share some of the numbers of a study that uh the Wyoming uh University of Wyoming released a couple years ago just about how significant the creative economy is.

Um I will say though, I'm I'm a part of it, so I'm a bit biased.

Uh, but perhaps that will add to um my energy towards being on that board.

So I want to congratulate uh the people of Rock Springs.

Um also Barbara Smith, she opened up that award ceremony with some poetry.

She is the poet laureate.

Just to also put that into context.

I mean, the poet laureate of a state, these are the people that are capturing the essence of what was happening in that time, and it will be studied and looked upon for years to come.

And she's from Rock Springs.

So when I was asked to serve on this board, um, what I was most excited about was to be a part of this momentum that is happening in Rock Springs.

And that's a reason why they asked me to be on the board, is because so much is happening here in the arts, uh, whether it's the multiple theater companies, um, all the performing arts, the bands that are playing around town tonight.

Uh, and it's not just the uh the creative arts in the sense that you think, but it's the arts economy, it's graphic design, it's architectural firms, and there's a lot to be excited about, a lot to support.

So I just ask that uh you keep that in mind and use me as a resource to pass things along.

Um serving on that board gives Rock Springs representation, and I think that's a big opportunity and um also responsibility.

So uh I just want to extend my gratitude for for everyone who's supported me on this route.

I'm from here.

Um I'm I'm excited to be a name that flipped up when they thought who do we know in southwestern Wyoming.

There's exciting things happening there.

And the theme of what I want to take away tonight is when you invest in momentum, you get excellence.

And we have momentum right now.

There's room for improvement, there's always room for growth.

Um, but it doesn't happen on its own.

It happens conversations like tonight, it happens uh in the private sector, people looking at art as an economic force and not a hobby.

Um, and ways that it can really form our identity.

And that is crucial because if we don't do it, somebody else will.

So there's an economic opportunity here to keep going, but there's also a cultural responsibility of us as people living now, Sweetwater County, Wyoming.

One of the most valuable things we have is our identity and our community.

So the arts is a reflection of that.

And I just want to thank you guys for supporting me in that and recognizing that, and I hope to uphold that moving forward in these meetings.

So if there's any questions, I'm very new to the board.

Uh I'd be happy to tell you about any upcoming opportunities or anything like that.

But I think the the greatest partnership is us working together and seeing that there's significant work being done.

Uh, I just serve on a board of full-time staff that is working day in and day out to manage funds and resources.

Um, and that's what what this is.

It's a cultural resource that Wyoming has that you know, in the heart is is in my opinion the strongest, but by the numbers, stands up with with some of the other big contenders there.

So if anyone wants to discuss any of those numbers or the emotional and and social impact of it, that's my goal.

Okay, thank you.

All right, thank you.

Councilman Zodic.

I just want to say congratulations to your past work and contributions to the community.

It's well deserved, uh well-deserved recognition.

So thank you for all you do.

Yeah, thank you, counselor.

Your Honor uh wanted to point out that this is an appointment by the governor, as Mark touched on, and also like to bring into the picture his film Dear Sirs, and that the curriculum from that film is part of our education program at the high school.

Um, do you want to touch on that at all, Mark?

Yeah, thank you, Counselor Pedrie.

Uh that is um sort of this system working.

Uh that project was um an effort to preserve our cultural heritage.

Uh it was very personal to me.

Um, but it grew to something much bigger than me, and it became a reflection of who we are as people uh in Wyoming, a multiple multiple generational story.

Um, touched on the experiences my grandfather as a prisoner of war in World War II.

And through these different uh support systems within the state, um we were able to make that resource available for eternity for any educator in Wyoming to use, any student.

Um it will be a thing that will exist uh like a textbook would exist in a library forever in Wyoming.

And uh we're very excited about that.

We also have a lot of teachers who have adopted it uh as Counselor Pedrie mentioned into the curriculum.

So instead of learning about our history from maybe a national perspective, we're able to learn about it from a local perspective.

And that's really the mission.

It's bringing our own voice into how we form our identity and our education system all the way down to our civic duties.

So I don't I don't want to talk too much about that because it's a it was a personal project.

But I I do want to bring up also the follow-up to that led to a project about the uh Trona miners of Sweetwater County.

Uh that was a direct result of of the support from that pipeline.

Um and now that's a story that we have for our community uh to exist through Wyoming PBS.

And um an upcoming project I'm gonna share.

It wasn't planning on this, uh, but uh over the summer.

Last time I talked to you all was uh for a very special moment at the airport when we were celebrating the uh legacy of Amelia Earhart, and uh about I don't know, 36 hours ago at 2 a.m.

I locked the rough cut of that and uh it made me cry.

So you only get to watch something for the first time once.

And we had this incredible moment where several of the council members a ton of people from the community came together and we had this very special moment.

Um the Sweetwater Tourism Board helps support that, the airport helps support that, and as a result, we're going to have uh a beautiful piece to show in 2026 that adds to what my life is is dedicated toward.

And um to conclude here, if uh forever wondering about where money that is uh invested in the arts goes.

Um we have this saying that uh, you know, whether you're a painter or you're a filmmaker or you're a writer, the money ends up on the page, it ends up on the canvas, it ends up on the screen.

Um we're not good at investing in our own personal economies to say uh the least.

Uh we believe in what we're doing, and um ultimately that that money gets put put into the world in the form of whatever that project is.

So I know there's always hard decisions to make when it comes to budgets and that, but uh our fine arts center is is a great example of the impact that that's made and the artists that we have living in our community, the more we can support them, whether it's showing up to their events or public art.

Um that's that's what I'm here to support and help administer that system that distributes that.

So thanks.

All right, thank you.

Wouldn't anybody else like to speak?

Counselor Thompson.

I would just like to thank you for your representation of Wyoming and Sweetwater County.

It's brings pride to all of us, I think.

And I can't wait to see your next project.

All right.

I think you'll be in it.

So thank you, Counselor Thompson.

Only because I have the right hat.

That's show business.

I will uh ask that you meet us over there for a picture.

All right.

Thank you.

All right, with that, it moves us to presentations and proclamations.

First, we have women's history month.

I believe Stacey Jones is here to speak on that.

I was kind of voluntoled into this position tonight.

So I wasn't sure I was supposed to speak, but um we have some pretty amazing um women historical figure figures in Wyoming.

We have Louisa Swain, who was the first woman to vote in a general election in the U.S.

That was in 1870, and we have Nellie Taylor Ross, um, who was the first woman governor in the US 1925.

Estelle Real was the first woman elected to a statewide office, and um we also have Athie Ellis, who is a friend of mine who was the first Native American to serve in the Wyoming legislature.

That's just a few of the people that I pulled up, but um pretty amazing to um to honor all these women.

Thank you.

Would any of the counselors like to add anything?

Well, with that.

In March, we celebrate Women's History Month and honor the contributions of women in American history, despite hardship, discrimination, and exclusion.

Women play a critical economic, cultural, and social role in every sphere of life in Rock Springs.

Women have been leaders in securing their own rights of suffrage and equal opportunity.

And then the abolitionist emancipation, industrial labor, civil rights, and peace movements, creating a more fair and just society for all.

And despite their contributions, the role of women in history has been consistently overlooked and undervalued in literature, teaching, and the study of American history.

This month we celebrate countless pioneering women and their victories, and we continue our work to build a society where our daughters have the same possibilities as their sons.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that Max Mickelson, mayor of Rock Springs, does hereby declare March 2026 to be women's history month in the city of Rock Springs, and I call upon Rock the Rock Springs community to observe this month and celebrate with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.

I also invite citizens to visit www.women's history month.gov to learn more about the generations of women who have left enduring imprints on our history.

If you would please take a picture with us over there, it'd be great.

All right.

Acting chairman or mayor, whatever.

Doug Yurig from the American Legion.

We have some more legionnaires here.

We got Josh Lester, he's our uh first vice commander down there, a young guy, and his wife Mikaela.

Marquee.

Of course, we got Leonard and uh Barry Bradley.

He's a Vietnam uh Marine veteran.

Of course, Leonard and I are both Vietnam era veterans, and I'm sure there's other, I know there's several other veterans around here.

I see a couple of the Thompson boys.

I think there may have been a few other payment.

Yeah.

Anyway, uh, we just uh really appreciate the the proclamation and all that stuff that that you guys are uh recognize the Vietnam era veterans and and all veterans for that matter.

Uh post-24 is uh chartering a bus, as many of you know.

If you look at our website or our uh Facebook page, we're chartering bus to take it up to Dubois to the military uh vehicle museum, and we're gonna try to get as many Vietnam veterans as we can on that bus to go up there for Governor Gordon's welcome home ceremony, which is really unique.

It's nice.

Uh I remember uh I was on the Veterans Commission when Governor Mead started that.

He started out with that big celebration in Casper, where he had the welcome home uh where you know there was over a thousand uh veterans showed up for that.

And then every year since he goes out or he went out to three at least three cities.

One year he tried four, and he figured that was too much.

But uh now Governor Gordon's continuing that tradition, and is any of you know have seen that museum up there.

That's a must see.

I was up there a few years ago when they just opened up the Vietnam and Korea War section, and it was just incredible.

They were actually the director, that guy that has that museum was hosting the Mayague's incident reunion.

And he does that, he does stuff like that all the time.

He really uh is a good guy and likes veterans.

So uh anybody else has anything to say, but other than that, just wanted to thank you guys for what you do.

Thank you.

Your Honor Counselor Bingham.

Thank you for uh your service and all the veterans there for their service.

I did get an opportunity a couple years ago to go to that museum in Du Bois, and I was I didn't know what to expect.

You know, you hear it's for vehicles, and then you go in there, and it's it's very impressive.

My dad fought in World War II, so it was neat to be able to go through and see all those vehicles and then how everything transitions through Korean and then and then you end in the Vietnam War.

So again, thank you again for everything.

I know when we went on that tour, they were scared they were just getting ready to open up the Vietnam and Korea, but uh the curator gave us a tour through there because we had the leading candidate for the national office for the American Legion.

And he was telling us about all these little things to look for.

And we went through the Korean section, they had the little Tootsie rolls stashed everywhere.

And I don't know if they have that story up there about the supply ordered Tootsie rolls.

They used it was uh it was a bomb they could hook together and blow up Constantine wire and stuff like that.

Well, it got lost in the interpretation.

They actually airdropped a bunch of Tootsie rolls on them, the kind you eat, which actually probably worked better than if they'd give them explosives because they all that a lot of those guys were they were cold and starving, and that was something that they could actually eat and it worked out so well, but it's that was quite a story, just one of the little things.

But uh he really there's really a lot of little tells in there that people can check out.

All right, your honor.

I want to I want to thank all the veterans here.

I know Jerry's back there, he's a veteran, veteran.

You know, Merrill, all you guys, I really appreciate your service, war as hell.

I'm glad you guys fought for us and made it back alive.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you.

All right, with that.

Come on back to us.

On March 29th, 1973, the last United States combat troops departed Vietnam, and the final prisoners of war were returned to American soil.

More than 2.7 million men and women served honorably in the Vietnam War, demonstrating courage, resilience, and devotion to duty in defense of the principles of freedom and democracy.

Vietnam Veterans Day provides an opportunity for all citizens of the United States to reflect upon the valor of these veterans and honor to honor their enduring contributions to our nation.

We recognize the sacrifice made not only by those who served in uniform, but also their families, caregivers, and loved ones, and the loved ones of those who were killed or remained missing in action.

An organizations such as the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and numerous veteran service groups continue to provide critical support, health care, and advocacy for Vietnam veterans.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that Max Mickelson, mayor of Rock Springs, does hereby declare March 29th, 2026 to be Vietnam Veterans Day in the city of Rock Springs, and I call upon all the citizens to join in honoring and the bave bravery, service, and sacrifice of our veteran Vietnam veterans to thank them for their unwavering commitment and to ensure they receive the respect they and care they deserve.

Um also welcome home.

Would you guys please meet us over here for a picture?

I'll look at it.

Thank you for your service.

All right.

With that, we have our presentation of the evening, which is a presentation from Jeanessa Meredith on the from the Sweetwater County Travel and Tourism gives us our 2025 report.

Good evening, counselors.

I'm Janissa Meredith.

I'm the CEO of Sweetwater County Travel and Tourism.

Thank you for allowing me some time tonight to share with you our 2025 annual report.

You have this in your yellow bag.

It looks like this, and we'll just go through it briefly.

I'll try and go quickly.

I know you have a big agenda.

On page one, there you can see that the lodging tax board is made up of 11 volunteer board members.

This body appoints six of those board members.

Green River appoints two.

Superior one WOMP Setter One and the County Commissioners appoint one as well.

The entire purpose of that lodging tax board is to enhance the economy of Sweetwater County by attracting and retaining visitors.

So bringing visitors to our area through marketing efforts.

Mark Lyon from the City of Rock Springs has been our board chair for a number of years, and he does a really great job for us.

We have a lot of great board members and staff, and I really am honored to be a part of it.

As most of you know, the lodging tax has been an imposed since 1991 in Sweetwater County, and every four years, local residents are asked to continue to impose that tax.

The last election passed at over 81% with local residents supporting the lodging tax, and it will be on the ballot this November as well.

Just a reminder: this is a tax that you don't pay unless you stay in a hotel or campground in Sweetwater County.

Uh, we've been in that property since 2020.

It's a great opportunity for us to slow down folks who are headed to and from the national parks of Wyoming and encourage them to stay longer in Sweetwater County.

The lodging tax collection, you can see there on page three, how it's been coming in year over year.

Um, in fiscal year 24-25, it collected just over 1.5 million.

And by state statute, that lodging tax has to be spent on marketing.

We can't build an attraction.

We can't build a zip lining park or something that would bring people to the area.

It has to be spent on marketing.

So you can see the pie chart there on page three, the breakdown of how the lodging tax was spent.

79% an out-of-county uh marketing plan, six percent the event grants, two percent the chamber block grants, three percent the sweetwater events complex block grants, and then one percent the downtown Rock Springs block grant, followed by administration.

Uh we administer block grants to both chambers of commerce for to help pay for their visitor services, uh the events complex for out-of-county marketing and event recruitment.

And then also what this is new, we developed a block grant for downtown Rock Springs.

We were funding a bunch of different projects and wanted to make sure that we allocated proper funding for those projects and and help them with some product development as well.

Uh the event grants, any event that's hosted in Sweetwater County that's hosted by a nonprofit that will generate hotel occupancy or campground occupancy qualifies for lodging tax dollars.

So literally every youth sporting event, baseball, basketball, wrestling, soccer, hockey, every sporting event that you can think of in this county.

The lodging tax supports those events in addition to uh the river festival, blues and brews, things like that as well.

We also work to recruit other events to our area.

Um most recently we hosted state uh soccer 3A, 4A boys and girls in 23 and 24.

We were successful at bidding that again for 27 and 28, which is a really big deal.

And we also just got cross-country again as well for 29 and 30.

Um, each of those events bring 800 competitors specific to soccer, 800 competitors and their families, and that's a three million dollar economic impact per year for each of those state events.

Um I serve on a number of committees and boards locally at the state level, regional level, and nationally.

I was appointed by Governor Gordon to the state tourism board last year, and I'm currently the vice chair of the state tourism board.

I also serve, like I said, a number of regional and local boards as well.

We have a master plan, a tourism master plan that we work off of.

It was created in 2021.

What we were able to complete from that master plan were some big projects.

One of them being phase one and phase two of the wayfinding project for the city of Rock Springs.

We were able to use some destination development funding from the Wyoming Office of Tourism for those signs.

We are going to have to do phase three to get into the smaller signs into the off streets.

So you'll be seeing that happen, probably not until next summer.

We'll get that funding this summer.

We'll be able to administer that the following year.

So hope to finish that project up in phase three and move on and be able to use that money for other projects as well.

Just an image of that.

The Flaming Gorge bus tours, we started those in 2021 as well.

Wanted to be able to offer a ticketed attraction for folks when they come to the area.

We work with LaBus.

We hire a step-on-tour guide and we give full-day guided tours of Flaming Gorge.

We have hosted thousands of passengers in the past five years and have primarily five-star reviews.

We just hired a new tour guide.

His name is Tyler Fox, who will be leading the tours this summer, and we're excited to get those launched.

We also promote the Kilpecker Sand Dunes.

We encourage people to obviously get out there on an ATV if they have one, but also sell sandboards in our office.

It's a way to get out there and experience it if you don't have an ATV.

We sell them, and then a local vendor also rents those boards for the day as well.

Every year we send out a resident mailer encouraging our residents to get out and explore in our backyard.

This one that will go out next month, you'll see in your mailbox.

It will focus more on the lodging tax, the importance of the lodging tax, and the facts, the fact that it will be on the next election ballot.

The Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area is a primary focus of mine with our bus tours.

I was able to submit an application in 2020 to the National Scenic Byways office to get the designation of an all-American road for that byway.

It's the highest designation you can get.

It unlocks funding for us.

We have some funding from the state and have applied for funding at the federal level.

We're waiting for that funding to be unlocked.

As I mentioned, we just started with a block grant for downtown Rock Springs.

We've always funded projects individually, but never done a block grant for them.

So some of those projects include some of the lights for the Christmas display and then those bronzed art buses that have just newly been installed downtown.

We help pay for those as well.

Last year, we encouraged viewers to explore Rock Springs in Green River.

We actually had them take the bus onto the Sweetwater Speedway, which was kind of fun.

Featured downtown Rock Springs and another a number of other attractions in our area.

We also fund projects, film projects like Mark was mentioning earlier.

Anything that will enhance the tourism product for Sweetwater County and showcase what we have to offer in our area, we consider for funding.

This is a way to do a self-guided driving tour around the Flaming Gorge National Area Recreation Area with interpretive audio, uh video, photography.

There's a Spotify playlist.

It's a great way to immerse yourself in that area on your own in a self-guided way.

As I mentioned earlier, that pie chart, 79% of our funding goes to an out-of-county marketing campaign.

So those are some of the ads that you can see there on page nine.

Most residents don't see them outside of our billboards, but it's intended to target potential visitors to bring them to our area.

We also work in a public relations capacity, and we were able to, through our public relations efforts, host travel writers in our area and do enough pitching of news releases to generate 229 articles, reaching over 462 million people with an economic media value of over $6 million.

We did win an award for a video that I think is teed up next.

We'll see.

Travel saver and stay in the while responsibly getting blocked screens in here.

Um we spend a great deal of money on marketing, and we want to make sure when folks come to the area, they have a good experience and receive good customer service.

So I've been doing this customer service award uh program called the Reach Awards since 2008, stands for Rare and Exceptional Achievement for Customer Service and Hospitality.

Uh, we've awarded uh this recognition to hundreds of hospitality employees in our county over the past almost 20 years and continue to do so.

It makes it makes a really big difference.

And we also teach a customer service training uh called a certified tourism ambassador program.

Allison Balsick does this for us.

We currently have over 200 certified tourism ambassadors, which is a really, really big deal.

It's a great program.

Half of the program teaches you about the history of our area, half of it teaches you traditional customer service skills.

And every year we measure the effectiveness of our marketing to make sure that we're actually putting heads in beds that we're not just throwing money at the wind.

And we do what's called a conversion and advertising effectiveness study.

And we know that our advertising influenced over almost 70, 77 million dollars in spending.

People come to our area, they bring 2.9 people with them, spend four days, engage in 4.8 activities.

And for every $1 we spend, there's a return on investment of $798 to the local economy.

We are also creating um a app for the America 250 celebration.

It's a history app of Sweetwater County.

We'll be launching that in the next 30 days.

It offers people the opportunity to learn about the history of our area to check in at different sites and learn about it a little bit and then come back to our office and get a free t-shirt if they complete the tour.

And thank you.

That's all that I have, unless there are any questions.

I moved through that really quickly.

I know you have an agenda, so I'm like, we'll move.

I appreciate it.

Um counsel, any comments, questions.

I'd just like to say thank you for uh coming in today and updating us.

Seems things are still going in the right direction.

So thanks for everything you guys do over there.

Thank you.

I appreciate your time.

That brings us to petitions and public comment.

We will start with Kathy Phelps.

I'm Kathy Peltz, but I see that the mayor is not here, and I was hoping to talk to him too.

So uh it's about the goats.

Can we do this in two weeks?

He'll be back.

I'm assuming.

He will be back.

Okay.

Um we will be taking action on the resolution tonight.

That I know.

Okay.

All right.

Thank you.

Thank you.

With that, we have John Colb here, I'd assume with a legislative update.

Thank you for coming, Senator.

Thank you, Council President, members of the council.

Uh I was emailed the uh your mayor, our mayor is out of town, which I didn't know until I came in here.

So a little bit of a surprise.

But yeah, I uh came in just to give uh a chance to have a conversation about what happened during the legislative session.

I can kind of give through some highlights from I guess my side of it.

Obviously, I think the council probably has their you know own priorities about local distribution money and such.

Uh but if should I go on, uh, Mr.

Council President?

Please.

All right.

Well, we worked on four uh gambling bills, uh gaming bills, I shouldn't say gambling.

Uh we got local control bill passed.

Uh I can tell you uh as a matter of fact that there's never been these many bills that have gone through the legislative sessions, got signed into law.

So I'd like to say my committee that I chair on the Senate side.

We had really great success.

I was very pleased that we made efforts to tighten up the regulations in the state of Wyoming, frankly, to stop some of these illegal activities.

But more importantly, for the city's sake to give you the ability to deny permits for simulcasting permits.

So you have a voice in this process because you hadn't had one up until now.

I will tell you it's a it's a it's a work in progress, being that no one's challenged this in court yet on just how the denial of a permit would actually function.

However, we have something that we never had had in the past.

So we did a that was a large bill, a big lift, did a lot of different things, but most importantly, it gave you a voice, the cities, towns, and counties in uh simulcasting choices, uh, which the gaming commission has to listen to.

Yeah, you if you with your denial, I well, the way it's written with your denial, they can't issue a license.

So I would say the ball's in your court now.

You know, you know, it's kind of like one of those things, you you got it, it's yours.

But the controls locally where it needs to be, not with you know, the gaming commission or some other people somewhere else, you have a voice.

So I uh it's a great opportunity that you hadn't had before.

I guess uh good luck.

Uh I'm I'm willing to work with you if we find out there's issues with some of these things in detail, we can work on them further and refine them.

But uh you you do have a voice through Wham was your mechanism, and we had agreement between WCCA, Wham, which is the Wyoming County Commissioner Association, and the Wyoming uh uh municipalities.

Uh and with that with the uh industry, we developed a set of rules that everybody could live with, or a refinement on the rules.

The 100-mile rule is still in existence, uh, which is probably antiquated, but the fight wasn't worth it to change the hundred mile.

I don't I'm probably saying something that maybe doesn't anyone doesn't really understand what it is, but um there's an issue in Cheyenne, not here about the hundred-mile rule and how it would affect uh tracks and then the the uh historical horse racing uh betting uh venues that would then be affected by them not being able to run when the track runs.

It's a we don't have that issue here.

So I I'm glad glad to say we don't have all the issues here in Rock Springs.

But those were some of the large ones.

I could say the the issue is gonna continue.

Uh I'll go probably something more near and dear to your hearts is the local distribution money, which is the thing that uh Senator Kolb had nothing to do with when they stripped the uh sales tax away from food.

It's a long going, ongoing battle about just how do we make the cities whole uh with losing that sales tax.

So we increased it and made it a more stable situation.

Uh just for everyone's edification.

There was a debate about the 2% slider, plus or minus, uh, for the state to adjust that distribution money.

And I will say I was a uh proponent of that.

I thought it gave the cities more surety you would get that revenue stream.

Because I I think what we all know is is that when times get tough, I'm afraid there's no telling what the legislature's gonna do.

I mean, they what thou give it, thou can take it.

And uh I think I was I was trying to get a more stable stream for for you folks that would it would give us some adjustability without going back into statutes and changing it.

But you got the whole thing, so I guess good luck.

I hope the stream continues.

Uh it'll it'll certainly be more stable than we had uh in the past, which I think is a good thing.

There was a stormwater uh uh uh district, stormwater taxing districts that came up with the city of Rock Springs got involved with that.

This emanated from Laramie and Cheyenne, not from Rock Springs.

I think to be clear about the statutes and if you read them, and I think if you go through what they actually do say, they say when you expand said district way uh uh wastewater district, that you're supposed to go to the voters for a vote in an expansion.

It mentions nothing about maintenance.

So in my mind, the maintenance that you have to expend money on is part of running a district, right?

When you have to replace eventually pipes and infrastructure, that's wrapped into that existing district.

But when you go beyond that and expand said district, statutes clearly state it's supposed to go out for a vote by the people.

And that was the conjecture.

You know, the municipalities didn't want to lose the ability to uh do maintenance, frankly.

And it was certainly uh I didn't see it that way, but they they held it off on a what's called a vote for immediate reconsideration in the Senate, which is basically a way of killing a bill or making a bill, a bill bulletproof.

Well, they resurrected the dead because the it died, or it passed, and then they brought it back and it died.

So uh you have time.

And they promised us and promised us it wasn't the city of Rock Springs, it was Laramie and Cheyenne that they were going to work on this fee situation that they're charging people for that, you know, uh a lot of people thought it was inappropriate because it went up went beyond their original boundaries of said district that the people voted for tax.

So we've got time.

Wham is gonna is working on this.

I think nobody wants to take away your ability to to maintain a to maintain what we have that we all voted for.

So just uh that was just one thing.

There's there's a lot of different things, and um I'll just go through some of these and uh Mr.

President, you can ask me follow-up questions if you like.

Um there was the one for removal of city councilman, which uh went through from the House and I I spoke and frankly killed it in the Senate side.

And I can tell you why.

It was a poorly contemplated bill.

Now, you know, we we live in a democratic republic, which means we're elected by the people and we serve a term typically.

Uh and to have it be a popularity contest is a bit problematic.

Now, the issue that came up with that bill was is that it you could have uh envisioned a situation where, say it was uh 20 percent of the people said there was a recall on a councilman, and there was uh no minimum for the amount of people that would have to vote for that removal.

So you could literally had a hundred people voting to remove somebody in a special election, uh, as opposed to maybe they got elected with two thousand votes.

So it was inherently, I thought very unfair that you would just have a situation where folks would go, I don't like Jim over there because you know he voted against chickens or something, and I and I got a petition going and I want to get rid of him because he's a no-good guy, and all of a sudden we don't care about who we vote for anymore because we just get rid of them by a petition.

And I'm I'm afraid that that didn't sound like a good way of dealing with people that maybe we disagree with, because we all have that situation.

We you know, we're people.

So the just to get rid of people without the elective process, I think really flies in the face of what we are in the United States, how we how we developed our country and our process for electing people.

So that's why that thing died.

I think there's a way of doing it.

If we had a floor that said it had to be a certain percentage of the folks that voted for them in the last election that elected them, like if you had over 50 percent that said get rid of said person, okay.

That's probably a conversation to have.

But that bill did not do that, to be clear.

But I can answer more detailed questions if you want.

I had to learn that bill was on the Senate side when it came over.

We don't know what's coming over from the House, right?

We don't know what they do over there sometimes.

Uh what we get is what we get.

So it's like studying for a final exam.

So you dig into the statutes and kind of get into the actual nuts and bolts of a bill and what it's doing.

And that seemed to me to be a uh a problem with that bill.

Uh the other one was there we had a large issue on uh gun bills.

Uh just like to say to the to the council and anyone listening that that SAPA bill was uh an absolute disaster.

The it was supposed to, you know, ensure your second amendment rights in the case that frankly the U.S.

Supreme Court said we didn't have a second amendment.

Then nextly, the administration said we didn't have a second amendment, and then we would have folks from the federal government come in here uh and confiscate weapons, let's say, right.

Well, it's assuming a bunch of things is gonna happen now.

Number one, those books we have are called green books.

They're real flimsy little pages in there that the statutes are written on.

I just like to say that a little piece of paper is not gonna stop me from exercising my second amendment gun rights, nor anyone here, nor law enforcement, nor our sheriffs, none of that.

It's it's ridiculous.

There is no intermediate step.

It envisions anarchy uh at the federal level, which I think then that's another story we have here locally.

I because I don't nobody that I know would let federal people come in and $50,000 fine or not, which it had a $50,000 civil fine to it, which basically was a terrible issue for a law enforcement that they cooperated with the federal officials in and in cooperating with the federal officials, they can find themselves in a situation where their a $50,000 fine will be levied upon them.

It it doesn't work out quite the way some people were saying.

So it was a terrible bill.

It was anti-law enforcement, is what it really came down to.

And uh I trust my law enforcement folks.

I think they're they're good people doing good job for us and protecting us.

They're not the ones I'm concerned about.

Uh so that's the way that SAPA bill was just uh frankly a grifter bill trying to scare people to make money.

And uh I I didn't think that was a good idea, and it died a dutiful death by the governor vetoing it, which I'm very pleased about.

Well, other than that, uh council, uh I'll stand for any questions that you may have during the session.

Maybe you heard something or read something, uh, and you maybe uh want to know anything else.

I'll I'll do my best to try to answer that, Mr.

President.

All right, counsel.

Any questions?

Councilman Zoddi.

No real questions, but thank you for the update and everything you do.

I know it's a hard what month and a half.

How long was it?

A lot of work.

Councillor Zodiac, I'm still recovering.

Yeah, I can imagine.

It's like and do it, you know, being on a certain medication and trying to come off of it.

It's uh it's a transition, but thank you for saying that.

I'd also like to thank you guys for taking a responsible approach when it came to the budget, and I'm sure we invested some in savings while meeting all the needs of the people of Wyoming as best as possible.

Thank you, uh Council President.

I would say to that money situation that you just brought up, that was uh one of the bigger battles on what to do with the money.

Uh you know, there was people that wanted to spend it in a way that would then obligate us to spend the same amount of money in the future that we may not have.

Instead of putting it in the PMTF, which is in fact funding the state by over 30 percent.

And if we would have actually stuck to our guns on putting money in that PMTF, we would 100% funded by what our savings are.

And uh unfortunately uh we're an imper imperfect group of people trying to try and navigate the system, but that was the battle between the PMTF and and uh profiling the money so they could just spend it.

And that that was a that was a large part of the conversation money-wise, but uh it uh I thought it ended well.

You know, the Senate uh that was uh uh Senator Jones was here, and uh we we fought for what we thought was right for for our community, and uh I obvious I'll end with saying that.

Thank you very much.

Well, thank you.

Council.

Okay, with that, we will move to bills and claims.

First, we have the Rock Springs Housing Authority bills and claims for March 17th, 2026.

Mr.

President.

I'm Councillor Demas.

I make a motion to approve Rock Spring Housing Authority bills and claims for March 17th, 2026.

Thank you.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councilman Zotti.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed, same sign.

Abstaining?

Abstaining.

Abstaining.

Thank you.

Bill passes with counselors Pedrian Thompson abstaining.

Next we have the bills and claims for March 17th, 2026.

Council at your pleasure.

Your Honor.

Counselor Pemus, geez almighty.

I make a motion to approve the bills and claims for March 17, 2026.

Thank you.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Counselor Thompson.

Any discussion?

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, same sign.

Abstentions.

Thank you.

Passes unanimously unanimously.

Next we have the salaries for March 6th, 2026.

Council, what's your pleasure?

Your Honor.

Counselor Demas.

I make a motion to approve the salaries for March 6, 2026.

Thank you.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Second by Councillor Hansen.

Any discussion?

All those in favor say aye.

Or vote aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed to same sign.

Abstentions?

Abstaining.

Thank you.

Salaries pass with Councillor Thompson abstaining.

On to new business.

We have our postponed request from the North Street business owners for reconsideration of the recently approved layout for the market main street market relocation to exclude exclosure of the diagonal parking spaces on North Front Street.

Works out really well, if I'm correct.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Thank you, man.

In public.

President members of the council.

Uh, when you postpone something unless you postpone it to a specific date, it remains on the agenda until the next meeting and essentially just stays there.

So we have to deal with it now.

Okay.

Um I do know we came up with a plan to rectify this situation.

I don't know which one of the department heads I should ask about that.

Possibly JJ.

Yeah, we're gonna go with you.

You're up.

Should have uh President Hickerson.

Technically, this is Matt's department, but uh we were both at the meeting.

And he was gonna have to talk a lot later anyway.

So uh I believe uh when when the URA board visited on this, I I just attended so uh the Bunning Park conversation could be brought into play.

Uh Chad did bring forth three options, which I think the board really wasn't a fan of.

There was some different problems with each of those.

And uh with regard to the social media outreach, and I'm sure you got phone calls and everyone's expressed an interest in Bunning Park.

There are some challenges there that we worry about with regard to maintaining turf and trees and such, but uh we did put forth a bit of a plan that I think we can manage it by keeping some of our heavier trucks on paved areas and and then also I I would move down there.

I'd like to take a look at it at the end of the year and see uh what exactly the impact was before there is a decision for 2027.

But I think everybody that was on that board and the people in attendance, um, if we want to take a go at it at Bunning Park, we're we're ready to do that.

All right, thank you.

Matt, would you like to add anything?

Uh Your Honor, I think JJ pretty much covered it.

Um really uh, you know, it's gonna be a trial run at the park, and if it doesn't go well or even midway through, we can talk about switching if that's the council's prerogative.

There's a lot of discussion about what's best for the businesses and downtown pros and cons both ways.

Um what was gonna not inconvenience or harm the businesses versus the businesses that would lose business by moving it.

So it's um this is our best attempt to make uh or the the board's best attempt at a suggestion to um make everyone as happy as possible.

All right.

So council, I guess what is your pleasure and moving the following the request of the North Front Street business owners and moving the main street market to Bunning Park to see how it goes.

Council, what's your pleasure?

Your Honor.

Councilor Demas.

I make a motion to approve the new business at Bunnings Park.

Okay, thank you.

Can I get a second?

Second.

Second by Zodie.

Any discussion?

I have it, yeah.

If I if I may.

Uh Mr.

Beckley.

Mr.

President, uh members of the council.

Uh I think the best thing to do would be to simply deny the request.

Okay.

So yes, I would address that.

In favor of the uh of the fact that the uh farmers market will be held at Bunning Park.

So I I think the request is the decision's more or less been made uh to do that.

And so what we would be doing now is just simply denying the request uh that's been made to uh change the uh you know uh uh to um change the layout and exclude closure of diagonal parking spaces on North Front Street.

That was the original request.

So we deny that request in favor of the fact that we're going to have the uh farmers market at Bunning Park.

So the essentially the the request the request is moot.

Yeah.

Okay.

So what he said.

Yeah.

Councilor D.

So does she have to does Councilor Demas need to yes, you'd need to modify your motion to deny the move to well, you would move to accept it, and then someone else would second, and then there will be a positive or neck you can't you can't make a motion to do something negative.

You can't vote to say I will I vote to deny this.

You say you open it up and say I motion to approve the request, and then the council can then vote on it after a second, and you should probably deny the request after the motion is made to accept it.

Point of order, what he said.

So I I'm going to deny this role.

Well, you're gonna move to approve the report.

And then it is recommended since we're moving it.

This request is moved.

We we deny the request.

So you move to approve it.

Okay, I make a motion to approve this request.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any more discussion?

Yeah.

Thank you.

Um, this is my fault for postponing it, so you blame me for this.

But uh just for the media so they're clear.

This is this will help address those uh concerns that were brought in for this request uh to put it in an alternative location.

So when we were at the RA meeting, so this will um it's a we'll try it out, see how it works out uh down at Bunning Park.

It I think it makes everybody happy.

And so I just asked the uh council to deny this request.

So we're not denying the farmers market, it's just this we're just denying this request.

It's gonna go to Bunning Park.

There we go.

As for your no vote.

Any further discussion?

All right.

All those in favor say aye.

Beautiful.

Opposed, same sign.

No.

No.

Perfect.

Any abstentions?

With that, the request is denied.

Next, we have a request from the parks and recreation department for permission to rebid the Century West Parksplash Ped Project.

Council, what's your pleasure?

Your Honor?

Councilor Zotti.

Move to approve that request.

Thank you.

Can I get a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councillor Bingham.

Any discussion?

Um just so I know I've hammered you on this a lot, but for the public's interest.

Um would you go over again why we're rebidding it, the way we're rebending it, and how that's cost savings.

Yes, uh, President Hickerson.

Uh thanks.

Yeah.

You're not hammering.

This is what we do.

Uh because the bid was so far past what our grant amounts were.

Uh staff did recollect, figure out a way where we can separate some of this, keep it in-house, try to keep it on time and make sure that we can take care of the grant.

We just basically separated it out a little bit better uh rather than combining the entire project into one big bid, we're gonna do in-house work and uh this contract will just handle the splash pad and the um assembly of all the components and the um assembly the ponents inside of the pump house, and then we'll be taking care and uh doing our own project on constructing that house, which we already have and the pad that that's how to be on.

So we're gonna just break it up.

That's brought costs down rather than uh that last bid was uh some there was a lot of unknowns, so I I can see why it went really high.

But uh uh based on talking with other contractors that are experienced in specifically doing this, we have a lot of confidence that we're gonna be able to come in with where we need to on the costs.

All right, thank you.

Any further discussion?

With that, all in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, same sign.

Abstentions.

All right.

Passes unanimously.

Next, we have a request from the parks and recreation department for permission to apply for a Wyoming Historic Preservation Grant to support exterior preservation work for the Rock Springs Historical Museum in the amount of $20,000.

Council, what's your pleasure?

Mr.

President.

We're gonna go with Hansen.

I move to approve this request.

Thank you.

Can I have a second?

Second.

Thank you.

Any discussion?

Your Honor.

Counselor Melone.

Uh yeah, I just have a uh question.

Do we have like uh a restoration plan already in place with any estimates or what do we got going on with the museum right now?

Yeah, President Hickerson, uh Councilman Maloneis.

Um I wasn't uh so the museum just transferred to Parks and Rec this past year.

So actually, Matt McBurn at administrative services has handled it before that.

So he may have a little bit to add to this, but there was a plan done, and I can't quote the year exactly here, but there was a lot of restoration work that was done.

Uh I believe it was a consultation, and there are fee there are some prices at the time of some of the work that needs to be done.

So we're attacking this a little piece by piece, trying to get this 20, 30,000 at a time.

But there is a plan, but a lot of it is just to remediate a lot of that stonework that is either failing or or just cleaning up like uh last summer.

We did they did a lot of work on these stairs because the stairs were crumbling, they're frankly dangerous.

So, yeah, this is gonna be an ongoing plan to try to mitigate any of that stonew and try to fix it up and bring it back.

But we're loosely following the consultation plan that was in place from before I took over.

But this grant is ideally going to match another grant so that we don't have to expend any city funds to try to make this happen, which is the hope.

We're thankful.

So do you have some specific uh uh a specific project?

It's next.

And one and while you're there, do we have to get specialized people to work on that building or can some local people do that?

Uh I know that there's been that there is a special group that does come in from out of town that does the work on this.

Um whether or not there is someone that is skilled enough to do some of this.

Um we were already uh on board with the contractor last year when we started.

So yeah, once with the grant money's in place, I'm sure we'll do an RFP.

And if there is somebody that's local that can do this, but for this specific project, I know that there was a group that um I know Matt had used with them that that they trust, but the work that we're working on next is right above that uh main entrance.

Uh there's those stairs where it used to be where the mayor gives speeches or whatever.

Um, a lot of that is degraded, and so a lot of the loose areas were knocked off last year, cleaned up, uh, and then this year, uh, what they're gonna do is put some of that back, but all along the edges.

If you look, if you walk over by the museum along those edges, there is a lot of degradation of that old stonework.

So one piece at a time is is the way we were gonna attack it.

That's great.

It's nice to be able to take care of that old building.

So yeah, thanks, JJ.

Yep.

Anything to add, Matt.

Your Honor Um Counselor Maloneis.

Um, I believe uh trying to recall when we first started looking into this.

It's been several years that ago, I think even before I had the museum that they did the study about the work that was needed, and it's a lot of money at the time, and it was one of those things that we were never able to fund.

Um, I think I brought it up a few times when we had specific purpose tax meetings and the like.

Um, it just wasn't something that was uh um it was a lower priority compared to some of the other projects that we were looking at.

Um, but um I think the company is hydrotech that we used, and um I believe that mate building maintenance had found that company.

Um, I don't recall exactly the process that was used, but I believe it is specialty work because it's historic building, and uh the repositioning of the stone is uh um, you know, you're talking about getting up on the lifts and um the material they used, and um, so I don't think there's well, there was a lot of interest locally to do that work.

That's okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any further discussion?

All right, all those in favor say aye.

Aye, aye opposed, same sign.

All right, request is accepted unanimously.

Next, we have a request from the police department for permission to fill a vacant police sergeant position.

Council, what's your pleasure?

Your honor, counselor Thompson.

I move to approve this request.

Thank you.

Can I have a second?

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you, Counselor Bingham.

Any discussion?

All right, Chief.

Um, if you fill this position from within, do you already have a I don't know, a beat cop to backfill, or do you gonna have to have another request for that?

Uh council uh I do not uh we we do have plenty of people who are eligible for that position.

Uh we did hold a test uh last year, and it's good for one year, so it has expired.

So I don't have anybody on an eligible list yet.

Okay.

If granted, uh I'll get a hold of the civil service commission and request uh a test be applied and then based on the results of that that test is where we promote.

Okay, thank you very much.

Uh guys, I was the only one to talk.

So with that, all those in favor say aye.

Aye opposed, same sign.

Substentions.

All right.

Next we have a request from Crazy Line Dancing for a road closure of South Main Street from C Street to Bank Court for a summer kickoff street party on June 6th, 2026 from 6 p.m.

to 11 p.m.

Council, what's your pleasure?

Your Honor Council Demas?

I make a motion to approve this request.

Thank you.

Can um is there a second?

Second, I'll second.

Okay, thank you, Councillor Bingham.

Any discussion?

All right, with that, all in favor say aye.

Uh opposed, same sign.

Abstentions perfect.

Perfect.

Passes unanimously.

Last for this, we have a request for five liquor catering permits from Limpai Incorporated for the 2026 Jenkins Music Pool Tournament on April 8th through 12th, 2026 from 8 a.m.

to midnight at the sweetwater events complex.

Council, what's your pleasure?

Mr.

President.

Counselor Hanson.

I move to approve this request.

Thank you.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councilor Pedrie.

Any discussion?

All right.

With that, all in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed, same sign.

Abstentions.

Okay.

Passes unanimously.

That brings us to resolutions.

Matt, if you would.

Um 26.

Oh, resolution 2026-20.

A resolution accepting and approving the sales agreement with Kimberly Brown and authorizing Max Mickelson as mayor of the city of Rock Springs, Wyoming to execute said agreement on behalf of said city.

Thank you.

With that, Council, what's your pleasure?

Your Honor.

Councilor Thompson?

That was in stereo.

I move to approve resolution 2026-20.

Thank you.

Is there a second?

That was a time.

Second.

Thank you, Counselor Zani.

Um discussion.

All right.

With that, all in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed, same sign.

Abstentions.

Which brings us to resolution 2026-2-1.

Matt, if you would.

A resolution of the governing body of the city of Rock Springs accepting and approving a contract between the City of Rock Springs, Wyoming and LS5 Livestock Company, LLC in the amount of $92,000 for targeted grazing and vegetation management along Kilpecker Creek and authorizing Max Mickelson as mayor and Matthew L.

McBurn as city clerk to execute that agreement on behalf of the City of Rock Springs.

Thank you.

Council, what's your pleasure?

Mr.

Mayor.

Mr.

President, sorry.

You're good.

I move to approve resolution 2026-21.

Thank you.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you, Counselor Demas.

Um discussion?

Your Honor.

Counselor Malonas.

No, you can and I'll ask later.

So uh I've been studying the old Kilpecker Crick.

We got those detention basins already out there above Century West.

We got the detention basins above BLM.

Horse corrals.

We spent millions and millions of dollars already on this.

We got some preliminary design work going on some more detention basins.

A lot of money spent already on that crick.

I hope it's gonna pay off.

But the question I have is we got we're putting goats in there.

Are we gonna have to do that?

I haven't heard of doing these goats before last year.

Are we gonna continue to do goats or do we have a permanent solution for this weed problem?

Um I guess I can fill that.

So the purpose of the goats is to help with noxious weeds, help mitigate floods and fires.

We uh don't have the ability to go in with a mechanical means to remove the weeds in that area without a bunch of special permits that sound like they're very difficult to attain obtain.

Um this is a overall safety issue that we're trying to enact to keep our vegetation along the creek beds and waterways from catching fire.

We're helping and also helping mitigate any flooding that would happen in the event of a big storm.

I do believe we have a representative from LS5 here who might be able to touch on the goats a little better than me, but I don't know if he wants to come up and speak.

Well, I just said I don't know if I have a question for him, Mr.

President, Counselor.

Um I guess what he what I believe you're asking is this going to be an ongoing program.

Um that's the intent.

The intent is to continue this as long as you as the council appropriate the funds to do it.

Vegetation grows.

Um so it's a continual type uh you know, just like us going around town with our with our weed mitigation program, we have to spray every year along the rideways and alleyways, um vegetation and and this type of thing will regrow uh in these drainage ways.

Now as Mr.

Scorers can tell you, you know, with with the goat mitigation, uh it removes a lot of the noxious type weeds, the the goats through their digestive system kill the seeds, and and we hope to replace that with better vegetation.

Um that is more amenable to higher water flows and that type of thing, where it lays down instead of of obstructing the flows.

So in our intent would be to continue to work through these drainages and and with the goat program and and get them in a condition that they're uh they're in a lot better shape than what they are today.

But yeah, it as long as it's funded, it would be a continual program.

Cheyenne has been running a program like this for uh numerous numerous years, and they and they graze a lot of their drainage ways the same way.

Okay.

So I've walked that crick.

I've walked it from the confluence all the way up to the bridge.

Any of you guys know where the confluence is, how to get to it?

No.

So anyhow, I've taken before and after pictures.

They don't they look all look the same.

So I'll I'll be voting no on this resolution.

So thank you.

Okay, any uh further discussion?

Your Honor.

Have a question.

Counselor Delas Paul, do we know how many miles this is gonna encompass this goats?

Uh roughly how much Mr.

President, Counselor, are you talking about this specific contract?

Yes.

Um, we're gonna we're gonna graze I guess uh the amount of time that's in the contract, so I can't tell you exactly how far they're going to go.

Uh, but it probably anywhere from a half a mile to three quarters of a mile, I would say that they will probably get to maybe more.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mr.

President.

Counselor Manson.

The creeks have been neglected for a long time.

Uh we can't go in and spray with chemicals uh because that is not good.

We can't go in with backhoes and and dump trucks, uh, which would do that.

EPA, we can't move any uh any dirt or anything, which leaves us kind of hamstringed as far as the things that we can do to keep these uh creeks flowing to uh take care of the the um flooding issue.

Uh goats are organic, naturally organic solution.

Uh we have uh uh contract we were um we we uh we uh approved this last year that the segment.

This is just finishing up what our contract is as uh as I understand it, that we're gonna keep going, uh keep the keep it open and uh try to keep things flowing so that we don't have the weeds, uh the uh noxious weeds, and uh and uh to mitigate the flooding.

This year, I don't think we're gonna have any flooding.

But that doesn't mean that down the line we don't.

So it's a proactive approach to the flooding issue that Rock Springs uh historically has.

Thank you.

Further comment?

Mr.

President.

Counselor Pedry.

I would just like to uh give a little background on my vote.

Uh I personally support it, and I think that it's necessary and the best means to do it.

Uh I've had a lot of constituents reach out and they're not for it.

So I will be in no vote tonight based on the voice of people within my word that do not want to move forward.

They think it's a big chunk of money, and they think that the money could be used somewhere else.

So that is the reason behind my vote.

Uh, but personally I I do support it.

All right.

Thank you.

Further discussion.

Your Honor.

Counselor Bingham.

So what was mentioned?

So I've had constituents too reach out to me and have a lot of concerns.

Mostly the cost associated with it.

And Director Kalsich made some good points about flood mitigation, which is important, uh important to me, especially where I live with Dead Horse Creek running behind it.

Mr.

Kalcich, have we had events recently, I'd say in the last 10 years, um, where there were flood is flooding issues with debris and potentially with vegetation issues.

Yes, we have specifically on Kilpecker Creek.

Um I believe that uh the wall warehouse area has flooded multiple times over the last 10 years.

Um I don't believe that Bitter Creek has breached for quite a few years, but uh we have had multiple events uh through the Kilpecker Creek drainage.

Your Honor, follow up.

Yes, sir.

Um Dead Horse Creek runs behind my house, and so that year the downtown flooded uh not too long ago, um, those grates, you know where I'm talking about where they where they hit right where that kind of that bike path thing that's I can't think of the street, there was large amounts of debris and vegetation that clogged that up and caused the shooting of the water downtown.

So anything we can do as far as um from what I'm understanding what counselor Hansen was stating was is when you replace this vegetation, um it's they can vegetation that can lay down better, so that it facilitates the creek to flip the water to flow better.

And so this vegetation that the goats are removing is obstructs it more.

So this does help in in water.

And you know, that Cheyenne, I believe, uh does this process too.

The other concerns, you know, as far as the costs, and you know, at first when you look at it, that that's a chunk of change.

And so um so that the public just knows, and whoever this question, whether it's LS5 or you, Mr.

Kowcich, what are associated with that cost?

I know it's obviously the grazing because people think, well, this is how much it is for grazing.

What are associated with why those costs are higher when you're trying to control that herd.

Thank you.

And this is just because we're getting a lot of questions on it.

So understand what I'm saying.

I appreciate it.

I appreciate it.

Things that are new are already.

And just you and your name too.

So my name's Josh Score, so I'm the owner of LS5.

So really the cost associated is there's a lot of manpower involved.

So I have to have someone there 24-7 that'll be on site from when we start to when we end.

And then I actually have to bring in other people for we put in, we'll put in probably in the neighborhood of 10,000 linear feet, we'll move that much fence um to keep the goats contained.

So I mean it's and and that's not just we have to brush the lines in with with weed whackers, and I mean it's a it's a very labor-intensive, time-consuming thing.

So um that's a lot of the where the cost is, is that and then also the animals I've had to keep them alive all all winter, all winter, right?

So I I have to feed them to keep them going.

I have to farm and do everything else to keep them going to do that.

So there's a lot of cost involved in it.

So that's kind of where where it's at.

Um, to give you kind of a what we're looking at at the distance.

We're gonna like go down deeper into the confluence um with Bitter Crick and Kilpecker this year, and then move back through where we weren't well last year to to clean up some more there, and then we're gonna go north of Springs Drive and keep moving up towards um towards I-80.

So we'll we'll keep moving that direction for as long as we can.

So that's that's the goal.

So appreciate it.

Yeah, no problem.

You got any other questions or Mr.

President?

How long are you looking at?

Um, so probably um if this passes wool, we're looking at like coming in April 1st, we'll actually start putting in fence and we'll start working on that.

And then it's kind of a weird year with the vegetation-wise.

Well, the goal is is to hit that when it's when it's in the it's growing, right?

We're we're getting the growth stage, and like especially the weeds like the perennial pepper weed, which there's a ton of it down there.

That's a noxious state noxious weed.

Um, when it hits the rosette stage, we really want to hit it then because it really knocks it out.

looking at um so probably um if this passes we'll we're looking at like coming in april 1st we'll actually start putting in fence and we'll start working on that and then it's kind of a weird year with the vegetation wise well the goal is is to hit that when it's when it's in that it's growing right we're we're getting the growth stage and like especially the weeds like the perennial pepper weed which there's a ton of it down there that's a noxious state noxious weed um when it hits the rosette stage we really want to hit it then because it really knocks it out and then um what we'll do too is um they really will will hit a lot of the tamarisk you I mean though the kilpecker and the and the um and the uh bittercooker full of tamarisk so that's salt cedar whatever you want to call it and it's it's it also a noxious weed list so and it's it's more your woody species that any if you drive over um behind autozone when you drive over the bitter kirk and you look up that stream all that red looking stuff it looks like Willows is actually that's actually Tamarisk it's actually a noxious weed so but yeah that's kind of what we'll we'll look at a couple weeks of getting fence lines and going and then probably around the 15th of April we'll dump goats in and then they'll be there we'll keep them there 247 until the end of June so okay thank you your honor counselor Zottie is just a comment of yeah it might it is a lot of money uh when we look at this but when we have seen the impacts of flooding on these businesses and what happens I know people complain about the money being spent but when they have damaged property and that due to flooding they're gonna start asking us why the hell didn't we spend the money in the first place so it is a duty I think we owe to our citizens to maintain our waterways as best we can to prevent any flooding uh when we have the ability to do it so I am in favor of this uh seen too many times the last 10 15 years of homes and businesses getting flooded and I'm happy that we have some way to try and help mitigate that thank you um one thing I would like to add is Counselor Malonis would you for future reference send us some pictures you took so we can all look at them and I might do that that would be very appreciated thank you.

And I have before and after pictures too I took away everything if you guys need them I can I can please send them to all of us it's just city council that would be yeah that'd be great that way we have some sort of reference I'll send them to you okay yep that that would be greatly appreciated to have evidence of whether or not we're spending the put people's money properly oh yeah 100% that's why I took pictures thank you um Mr.

President one other thing I noticed as you worked your way up towards Springs Drive last year that the uh the grazing wasn't as complete as it was in the beginning um can you elaborate on that yeah but that's all timing I mean you know in any grazing situation like once you hit into get into October that's when you got to see all ranchers and everybody are pulling their stock off their range that's because the the viability of the of the the vegetation is just not there.

And so that's that's that's really what hit us is right around the 15th of October we had a really hard freeze and it just knocked the brush out and knocked knocked everything out.

So um that's why this year we're looking at you know proposing like let's come in there during the growing season when things are actually growing and kicking and we can really um make some headway on it that way.

So this is a more opportune time a hundred percent way up way more opportune thank you thank you Mr.

President one last question.

Yes sir so like I said I've had a lot of constituents call um and uh just for the public LS5 is a Wyoming based company correct yeah I live in Farson I grew up here yeah my money I I mean I'll be honest my money goes right back into the community sure so I mean by time I tire up vehicles and you know work on trucks or do whatever I'm doing like it it's all staying local to Sweetwater County mostly Rock Springs.

So that's what that's where it's going yeah I just wanted to clarify that uh for some of the constituents that are watching today 100% yeah okay um with that all in favor say aye opposed same sign no no okay it passes with counselors Malonus and Pedrie voting no thank you for coming yeah um that brings us to resolution 2026 22 Matt if you would a resolution accepting approving the concession stand rental agreement with Rock Springs Little League baseball and authorizing Max Mickelson as mayor of the city of Rock Springs Wyoming and Matthew L McBurned as CD Clerk of the city of Rock Springs Wyoming to execute said agreement on behalf of the city thank you council what's your pleasure your honor counselor Demas I make a motion to approve resolution 2026 dash 22 thank you is there a second second we'll go with Thompson he was a hair faster all right thank you um is there any discussion with that all in favor say aye aye opposed same sign abstentions thank you resolution passes unanimously which brings us to our last resolution of the night 2026 23 a resolution of the city of rock springs designating mayor max mickelson as the city's official voting delegate to the Wyoming association of municipalities 2026 summer convention business meeting thank you council what's your pleasure your honor counselor Demas

Abstentions.

Thank you.

Resolution passes unanimously, which brings us to our last resolution of the night, 2026-23.

A resolution of the city of Rock Springs designating Mayor Max Mickelson as the city's official voting delegate to the Wyoming Association of Municipalities 2026 Summer Convention Business Meeting.

Thank you.

Council, what's your pleasure?

Your Honor.

Counselor Demas.

I make a motion to approve resolution 2026-23.

Thank you.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councilor Bingham.

Any discussion?

Your Honor.

Councilor Maloneus.

There's a lot of discussion going around the state on association and fees like that.

Matt, can you tell me what the association annual association fees for WAM are?

Please.

I think 30.

Yeah, 30,000, I believe.

I believe 30,000.

Is it?

But I'm not positive.

Smart kids looking.

Yeah.

The beaten can.

Tick tock.

Your Honor, Councilor Maloneis.

Um, the fees for Wham in 2026 were thirty thousand one hundred and sixty-one dollars.

Okay.

Thank you.

We were all right.

Any further discussion?

With that, all those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed, same sign.

Abstentions.

Resolution passes unanimously with unanimously, which moves us to ordinances, both on their second reading, so we will take no action.

First is ordinance 2026-03.

Matt, if you would in ordinance amending title 11 entitled business regulations, chapter 11 entitled occupation tax.

Section 11.01 entitled Purpose and Authorization.

Section 11.02 entitled Definitions.

Section 11.08 entitled Termination of Fees.

Section 11.09 entitled Transfer of License.

Section 11.11 entitled Revocation of License and Section 11.12 entitled fees.

Matt, if you would an ordinance amending title 11 entitled business regulations, chapter 113, entitled peddlers and solicitors.

Section 113.04 entitled fees.

Section 113.10 entitled Prohibited Practices and Section 113.11 entitled Exemptions.

Would anybody like to discuss this further?

Well, with that, I will say our meeting.