That roll call.

Counselor Hickerson.

Here.

Demas.

Here.

Malonus.

Here.

Thompson.

Here.

Bingham.

Here.

Pedrie.

Here.

Hansen.

Here.

Zotti.

Here.

Mayor Mickelson.

Here.

So we will start off with our council updates.

And this evening I will start on my right with Councillor Thompson.

Thank you, sir.

Only had a few contacts.

A lot of it was about weather, water, and elections.

Meetings I went to and uh things like that.

Rubbing cuttings at Ironcraft out Northtown.

And at the Chamber for Breeze Banners.

The fun one was when we came here on that day to read the Declaration of Independence with the American Legion folks.

Went to the debates at the Young Heart Senior Center that day.

Devin Brubaker put on a uh good presentation about the airport and also the uh where they have auto recycling center, which by the way, we got notification they've got mechanical issues, so they don't want people dropping stuff off tonight.

Uh to the combined communication joint powers board meeting out at the jail, airport board meeting on the 15th.

And we're supposed to do the monster ride proclamation yesterday, but it kind of schedule got all messed up.

Uh other than that, that's what I've got.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Councillor Malonis.

Thank you, Your Honor.

Uh a couple little things going on.

Uh as always nuisance issues.

I had a couple people reach out about the e-bikes and e-scooters.

So uh I'm looking forward to some kind of rules and regulations.

What we can do there.

I uh went to the debates.

I went to the old timer civic center meeting.

They went over a couple projects they were looking at accomplishing.

But one of the one of the main things that I've been hearing is our mental health issues around uh well Wyoming or Rock Springs.

We're talking about uh, you know, it's a complex problem.

There's no easy solutions.

We uh we need to work on normalizing talking about mental health, especially men.

I don't like to talk about mental health much.

Uh couple recommendations that I you know I work on my mental health all the time.

I focus on my sleep, try to stay away from alcohol, less sugar and more fat, get some exercise and be careful about negative thoughts.

And one of the most important things is to learn from the best.

I mentioned this before, but Dr.

Amon, every day he's got really good tips and pointers to help us with our mental health.

So hopefully we can open up discussion about these issues and kind of get a handle on especially suicide.

That's it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Counselor.

Counselor Demas.

Thank you, Your Honor.

First off, I'd like to thank Paul for his quick response today to the orders on C Street.

I greatly appreciate that.

On July 9th, I attended the Chambers Connection luncheon where Devin Brubaker spoke.

On July 13th, I attended the joint powers communications, where we discussed the um lightning striking Wilkes Peak Tower, and we also discussed SSN's not social security numbers not being returned with driver's license when people are trying to arrest people.

On July 16th, I attended the farmers market, Rock Springs Main Street Market, and on July 18th, I did the mobile food pantry behind the mall.

And that's it, Your Honor.

Thank you.

Councilor Hickerson.

Thank you, Your Honor.

Just like the other council members before me.

My only contacts with uh constituents had to do with motorcycles and e-bikes, attended York Power telecommunication board meeting, discussed uh our budget for the year.

And then uh I did watch the Legion do their reading of the declaration.

Other than that, I got nothing.

Thank you, sir.

Counselor Zotti.

Thank you, Your Honor.

Well, I'd say the last two weeks have been kind of abnormally quiet.

I don't really have much to report.

Um, which is really kind of surprising to have any emails, texts, phone calls, um, complaints, which was kind of refreshing, I guess.

Uh did attend international days, though, and that was a really great success for the 100th anniversary for that.

Um, and I have a number of people that were there said that's probably one of the best ones they attended.

Um had people, no numerous people there, the biggest crowd I had seen in a long time at the night, all the way to the end.

So it um yeah, it it turned out really well.

Uh the other thing I wanted to mention, and I I didn't fill out my paper report because I didn't have much to report, but uh we did have a uh building committee meeting last yesterday, and just kind of let council aware in public.

The mayor did put together a committee of residents and business owners to kind of review uh our planning and zoning ordinance and make any recommendations or changes potentially to help um ease some of the burden and regulation and help spur development within the city.

Uh, we got a stack of ordinances that we're gonna be reviewing here in the next couple weeks that'll then go on to uh planning and zoning and through that process and then to the council for final review.

Um, so this is something that has been worked on in the background for several months.

We're gonna start to see some fruit from that.

And uh just preliminarily looking through some of those changes is gonna make a pretty good impact um on how we can move forward and hopefully promote growth and ease some of the cost burden uh for developers.

Thank you.

Thank you, Counselor.

Counselor Hanson.

Thank you, Your Honor.

Um, I, along with the same with a lot of the counselors here, attended a lot of the same events.

Uh the debates at Young at Heart Community Center uh International Days, which was uh great turnout, what a success.

Uh participated in the Wyoming Gives program this last couple weeks last week, uh, where the donations were matched with the nonprofits, and that worked out well on my activity report form.

I did make a typo uh attending the downtown farmers market, which has worked out really well this time.

I put down that it's Fridays from four to seven.

Actually, it's Thursdays from four to seven.

I don't know what I was thinking there, but uh uh also for the URA, they did business of the month presentation.

Congratulations, Justin Spicer at Edward Jones for that award.

Uh a couple ribbon cuttings, um, also the July Chamber luncheon.

Um, and as far as upcoming convet events, uh I urge everyone to get out and attend the uh Sweetwater County Fair next week.

Uh the Red Desert Rodeo this Friday and Saturday, uh gates open at six, and the Red Desert Rodeo Parade this Saturday at 10 o'clock.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you, sir.

Counselor Petrie.

Thank you, Your Honor.

Um, last couple weeks I kicked it off.

Uh, we set the buffalo down at the Afmoon office building, and we got a lot of good feedback from that.

And uh Chad Banks uh came by and did a quick little video to tell him the history about the Buffalo.

I attended the debates at uh the Young at Heart.

I met with uh Richie Como running for sheriff, uh went to international days and caught a ribbon cutting there.

The building uh committee meeting with Rob and the mayor on Monday, and like Randy said, getting ready for a busy week coming up.

Uh the 4-H events start on Sunday morning.

So hope to see everybody out and about.

Thank you, sir.

Counselor Bingham.

Thank you, Honor.

So multiple constituents reach out in the last uh couple of weeks concerning economic development's been some of the subject matter.

Uh city bidding and procurement process.

And I also spoke with a constituent regarding a city policy, and we'll continue working to better understand and address their concern.

Uh just as Councillor Zotti stated, I look forward to uh the upcoming ordinances.

I also received that packet.

There's some really good things in there that should help facilitate residential development is one of the things.

Uh, especially even with the subdivision process, so look forward to that.

Um the Brownback concert series on Tuesdays, and then also the farmers market.

Uh Brown Bag Series is great thing to enjoy live music and spend time in our with others in our community.

And next week I'll be attending the county fair.

I also attended International Days, did the candle ceremony.

That was a great thing, even though I'm not sure how well I spoke in that language that I did, but I gave it a shot.

So uh just appreciate the opportunity there.

And uh that's all I have, Your Honor.

Thank you, sir.

Um, for my part, it's been busy as usual.

Uh International Days was absolutely wonderful.

Uh, and then I don't know how many folks were able to attend the farmers market, but it felt like the whole town.

Uh so it was definitely I couldn't move five feet without someone pulling me aside to say how great it is to have it in Budding Park.

Uh, I know our parks and rec department is working very hard to monitor the sod and the trees to make sure that such a wonderful event is not going to have a negative impact on us, and so that's very appreciated.

And with that, that brings us to our consent agenda.

First up, we have the city council meeting minutes of July 7th, 2026, and then we have the health insurance fund recap from June of 2026, the financial report summary from May of 2026, the Parks and Recreation Monthly Report of June 2026, the Urban Renewal Agency Monthly Reports from May and June 2026, the Rock Springs Renewal Fund Financial Statements from April and May of 2026, and then the specific purpose tax board meeting minutes of July 9th, 2026.

Council, do I have a motion?

Your Honor.

Councilor Thompson.

I move to approve the consent agenda.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councillor Zotti.

All those in favor, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Any abstaining.

Motion carries unanimously, which brings us to bid openings.

Uh, and for this evening, that's super unexciting because we have received no bids.

So we'll move on to petitions and public comment.

And first up, we have Gary Ghee, who is here to speak with us about or G, I beg your pardon, sir.

Carports, rules, fees, and changes.

My name is Gary G.

Is it on?

Okay.

And I'm glad to hear that about the uh people that are looking into the rules and zoning laws of Rock Springs.

Um, I've not got to do uh exactly what I had planned to do.

I had to be out of state, but I do have with me the Rock Springs zoning laws and the application for the City of Rock Springs language and admin admin application admitment anyway.

Uh what I'd like to find out is the $340 that I am supposed to pay to change the language in the zoning laws is this committee that is looking into it.

Are they going to have to pay $340 for every zoning law that they want to change, like I do?

Um It would be awfully hard, sir, to find volunteers uh to look through our ordinances and provide some feedback to us uh if we charge them.

I think it is uh if if memory serves me, 15 different ordinances that we have proposed changes to.

Um the memo to LEGO with the request to make the changes was 11 pages long, so it's a fairly extensive uh amount of things that we've requested they look at.

Yeah, sure there is those will go to planning and zoning.

Um, and then should planning and zoning feel that it's appropriate to bring them forward, they'll come to council for consideration.

Um they're currently with engineering uh in the planning department for their feedback and with the building committee for their feedback and with the ordinance task force for their feedback, so that the council has the broadest amount of information available uh when they look to make those decisions.

Um I would anticipate the ordinance changes that don't need to go through planning and zoning would come before council in August.

The ones that do need to go to planning and zoning uh because of their process would come before this body in November.

Um so it is a uh fairly substantial revision to how the city has regulated planning and zoning and building.

Um, and we want to be careful and cautious in how we make those changes.

We don't want to end up in a situation like Utah where they just sort of removed the guardrails and people were paying a million dollars to have a house built that was condemned before they could move into it.

Um, but we do want to ensure that we have granted people the maximum amount of liberty with their own property that can be reasonably accommodated.

Okay, yeah, it's it seems uh kind of ridiculous that the filing fees 340 dollars per item that you'd like to change, and you have a stack of them that needs changed.

Um the residents and citizens of Rock Springs should not have to pay that amount to try to write the wrongs of the city ordinances that needs changed.

Uh the other thing that I have is in the actual zoning rules.

Uh they're conflicting with what I'm being told verbally.

Um of the things that I was told verbally about putting in a car port is it had to be attached to the primary residence, which is impossible on my property.

Uh I could run uh 130 feet of plumber's tape out and screw it to my house and the car port and attach it.

But uh in here it says uh an accessory building shall be considered an integral part of the per principal building if it is attached to the principal building by a covered passageway.

So there it's it insinuates that it does not have to be attached to your primary building.

It also says uh no accessory building shall be erected or located in any front yard.

I agree with that, except the planning and zoning commission is telling me that when I erect one on my side yard, that the property behind me that's their front yard because I live on a corner.

Now the idea of that is when they're entering and leaving their own property, they can't see around it.

It's a car port, you see through it.

What you can't see through is my motor home that's already parked there that's gonna sit under the car port.

What I would encourage you to do, sir, is uh if you would call Mary Seals and set an appointment with myself and Chandler, we can all sit down together and go over the particulars of your situation.

Okay.

Your Honor, I have a question.

Council Zani?

Because looking at the fees, it's a zone change is $300.

That would need to be done as a zone change.

Would you like to see this?

I'm just kind of curious as to what we're changing.

I I was thinking it was just a zone ordinance exemption or something like that.

What Chandler told me was he marked it here in the zoning laws, excuse me.

Uh that uh line six needs to be incorporated in with line five and some of the wording removed.

Now it's gonna cost me $340 in fees to submit that when some of the rest of this uh rules negates what it says here.

That's where I think the farther I look into this, the more silly it gets.

The most productive thing, sir would be for you and I and Chandler to sit down together and go over the particulars.

Uh zoning tends to be fairly complicated, and so the best thing would be for the three of us to sit down and we can look at your property and where it falls specifically under ordinances uh and and try to work through it.

Okay.

One of the the things I brought up the last time uh that I brought this up was the uh the enforcement on any of the rules uh like this what I found out about carports.

Uh if you're if the city is looking taking a blind eye effect to a rule and only enforcing it when somebody complains, then the rule needs to be eliminated completely.

And that is certainly uh a perspective that we can appreciate um the city does not have staff uh whose job is to drive around town and catch everyone.

Um the city does not have staff uh whose job is to drive around town and catch everyone.

Uh we rely on people following their better angel and using the correct procedures, but then it becomes incumbent on us to ensure that their procedures are not punitive, uh, which again is where if you would uh call the the finance department and speak with Mary, she'll schedule us an appointment and we can sit down and walk through it and sort out uh the best approach to resolve this.

Okay.

That's all I have.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Your Honor, I would like to be there also because I think there is some miscommunication and probably some misunderstandings.

Certainly, we will include you.

Thank you.

Next up we have Stephanie Current who is here to speak with us about the donation stations and stuff, the bus.

And I would before you speak, I would like to extend my condolences for the loss of Mrs.

Jones.

That's a hard uh thing.

She was a lovely lady.

It's been very hard.

But thank you so much.

My name's Stephanie Current, and a lovely volunteer recommended I come here to speak to you on behalf of Donation Station.

We are a 501c3 nonprofit, ran 100% by volunteers, and we are in our stuff the bus season.

So we are collecting school supplies for students in need in Sweetwater County.

We help students from preschool all the way to college.

We do everything on a first come, first serve honor-based system.

We um give out everything we give in.

This last Saturday we did our staples block party.

I don't know if anybody was able to attend.

We had over 40 vendors fill out the plaza mall.

We were able to collect donations.

Coming up this Friday and Saturday, we will be outside of Walmart again, collecting as many donations as we can.

Next week we kick it up a year.

We have a big old shopping day with any monetary donations we have available.

And then we distribute Thursday.

We're gonna do Green River at the Immaculate Conception.

Uh hang on.

I want to get my times right.

From 3 p.m.

to 6 p.m.

Friday, we'll give it out 12 p.m.

to 3 p.m.

at St.

Sarah and Methodius Church here in Rock Springs.

Saturday, August 1st, we will do 9 a.m.

to 12 p.m.

And then any supplies we have left over, we're going to open it up to teachers in both districts to come get the supplies they may need to fill the classroom.

Um and so we wanted to come just kind of raise awareness.

We are fully committed to helping as many kids.

Last year we helped 450 students.

We can't wait to see how many we can help this year.

Thank you.

Council.

Your Honor.

Uh just out of curiosity, how would one give a monetary donation to your station?

Any monetary can be made out to donation station and sent to our address.

Or um, we do have a lot of different collection boxes at different businesses throughout Rock Springs, Green River, and Reliance.

They would also accept them and hold them on our behalf.

We will collect them next Monday and Tuesday.

Um, and we are looking for volunteers.

So even if you cannot give monetarily or with a school supply, an hour would help us indefinitely between gathering and collecting at Walmart, the shopping date, and or giving out the supplies during those three distribution days.

I don't know that people generally are aware of how man show up on the first day of school without shoes.

Right.

It is a definite need.

Um, and there is a huge amount of dignity involved in having a new outfit and a backpack for school.

But it's very commendable work.

And we do ask that all students come to distribution to collect because that way they can pick out their own backpack from our donations.

We have volunteers walk every single student through our lines of school supplies, and we fill the backpack according to grade and school, because everyone's different.

We never pre-fill backpacks.

Every kid leaves with as much to the best of our ability to fit that class.

Very good.

Counsel, do you have any further comments or questions?

Okay.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you for your time.

And then our final public comment of this evening is Rebecca Chessler, who's here to speak about the recycling center.

Hello.

So mine might be more of a question.

I apologize for not knowing all the back history and previous discussions.

But I was wondering if there is a way that the town can support the recycling center a little bit better.

They seem to be struggling.

And I'm not sure maybe a piece of equipment is broken.

I'm not sure if you were talking about the same recycling center.

I know I'm going to pass a contactor.

I'm not sure exactly what's gone down to date.

They seem to have really picked up in their ability to take in a lot more stuff from I'm not sure where it's coming from.

Maybe most of the county.

I'm not sure.

But they seem to they seem a little overwhelmed.

And I'll just have there been previous discussions of like ways to support them, creative ideas for grants or volunteer programs or the solid waste district is currently working with the recycling center board.

They are wanting to move the recycling center out to our solid waste uh facility.

Oh, which then would open up curbside recycling and various things.

They're kind of a victim of their own success.

And it is actually not only beneficial in terms of reducing the amount that you know is just sent to waste, but our solid waste facility, which is governed by its own body, has a you know finite amount of space.

And so the more that they are able to send to recycling, the longer that facility lasts, the less cost there is to everyone.

So there's lots of benefits to it, and they are working through it.

Uh it the recycling center is its own independent body and it has been supported uh in the past by the city.

They are very aware when things get backed up of how it looks and of the problems that it causes, and they work very, very hard to address it.

The long-term solution is to move it out to the solid waste district uh and to remove that from the center of town, and they are working on it.

Um certainly the city is willing to support them with any grant applications and things that they might like to do.

They've had a lot of support uh from the Brown Family Foundation from various other you know, nonprofits.

Everyone likes it and sees the benefit of it.

Um, but that particular facility is just not equipped to deal with the volume.

My least favorite day is the day after Christmas, uh, because there is a mountain of cardboard.

Uh and then unfortunately, if folks don't always understand the purpose of the recycling center.

Um, and so the amount of actual waste that they have to deal with is very problematic.

That and so the best thing the public can do is to only bring recycling to the recycling center.

Uh most memorably and fairly recently, someone dropped off a cardboard box with kittens in it.

Happily they found them before they used heavy equipment to load it because it would have been the end of those kittens.

Uh and I believe they ended up at animal control, um, which is not great for animal control, but uh good for the kittens.

Um, yes, ma'am, that is something that we're all cooperatively working on finding a solution to.

Um, were it to move out to the solid waste district, then we wouldn't have the sort of piles in town.

And hopefully uh folks would understand that the general refuse pile is where you take used mattresses, not the recycling center.

Um, although people sometimes get confused and dump them in the desert, which is wild because it's free to take them to the dump.

Um, but we are very fortunate to have that option open to us here, and really some of that just becomes the folks that live here deciding they want to do what's appropriate.

Uh but yes, they are actively working on it.

Uh Devin Brubaker, who runs our airport, is also the chair of the recycling center board.

Um, and he's on the Solid Waste District Board.

Um, and they're all working along with us and the county.

Uh and we've talked to Green River about the advantages of participating, and we are working very hard to move that forward.

Oh, that's great news.

And for the record, I was not complaining about the way it looks or whatever.

I just felt really bad that they have to deal with mountains of the And they do accept volunteers to help them when it especially things get backed up.

Oh, that's good.

Um, yeah, because it it does it becomes uh quite a project.

Uh there have been times when I've been taking our own like Amazon boxes down there and I've been like not today and just gone back home.

Uh yeah.

So it's I feel kind of guilty adding to the enormous mountain they already have.

But very clearly based on the use, it's something that our community very much supports.

Oh, yeah, for sure.

Cool.

Well, thank you for the update.

Yes.

Absolutely.

Okay.

That concludes petitions and public comment and brings us to bills and claims.

First up, we have the Rock Springs Housing Authority bills and claims for June 30th, 2026.

Do we have a motion?

Your Honor.

Councilor Demas.

I make a motion to approve Rock Springs Housing Authority Bills and Claims for June 30th, 2026.

Thank you.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councillor Hanson.

Any discussion?

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

Aye.

Any opposed?

Any abstaining?

Abstaining.

Abstaining.

The motion carries with Councillors Pedrie and Thompson abstaining.

Which takes us to the Rock Springs Housing Authority Bills and Claims for July 21st, 2026.

Do we have a motion?

Your Honor.

Counselor Demas.

I make a motion to approve Rock Springs Housing Authority bills and claims for July 21, 2026.

Thank you.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councillor Petrie.

Is there any 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.

Bringing us to the bills and claims for June 30th, 2026.

Do we have a motion?

Your Honor.

Counselor Demas.

I make a motion to approve the bills and claims for June 30th, 2026.

Thank you.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councillor Zotti.

Is there any discussion?

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

Aye.

Any opposed?

Any abstaining.

Motion carries unanimously taking us to the bills and claims for July 21st, 2026.

Do we have a motion?

Your Honor.

Counselor Demas.

I make a motion to approve the bills and claims for July 21, 2026.

Thank you.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councillor Thompson.

Is there any discussion?

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

Aye.

Any opposed?

Any abstaining.

Motion carries unanimously, taking us to the salaries for July 7th of 2026.

Do we have a motion?

Your Honor.

Counselor Demas.

I make a motion to approve the salaries for July 7th, 2026.

Thank you.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councillor Hickerson.

Is there any discussion?

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

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Any abstaining?

Abstaining.

Motion carries with Councillor Thompson abstaining.

That takes us to new business.

And first up this evening, we have a request from the housing department for permission to reject the sole bid received and to rebid the Rock Springs Housing Authority Aluminum Pigtail Retrofect Project.

Do we have a motion?

Your Honor.

Counselor Demas.

I make a motion to approve this request.

Thank you.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councillor Zotti.

Discussion.

I have a question, Your Honor.

Counselor Zotti.

What's the reason for rejection of this bid?

Your Honor and Councillor Um Zotti.

The reason that it was rejected was the sole bid included a personal check.

For the bid bond, and the bid documents clearly stated that a certified check was required or a bid bond.

So it did not meet the minimum requirements for the bid documents.

Gotcha.

I saw that when the bid was open that it was up, and I was wondering if that would pass.

Okay.

Thank you.

And Mrs.

Thompson, would you please identify yourself for the record?

Yes, my name is April Thompson.

I'm the uh housing supervisor for the housing authority.

Thank you.

Is there further discussion?

Your Honor.

Councillor Maloneus.

Do we have an engineering uh estimate on that project by any chance?

Price.

Counselor Malonus, that doesn't require an engineering estimate.

That's why we go to bed.

Okay.

Thank you.

Further discussion.

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

Aye.

Any opposed?

Any abstaining.

The motion carries.

The motion carries with Councillor Thompson abstaining.

And abstaining.

And Councillor Pedrie.

Thank you.

That brings us to a request from the housing department for permission to fill a vacant housing operations and accounting specialist position.

Do we have a motion?

Move to approve this request, Your Honor.

Thank you, Councillor Hickerson.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councillor Zotti.

Is there any discussion?

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

Aye.

Any opposed?

Any abstaining?

Abstaining.

Abstaining.

Motion carries Councillors Thompson and PG abstaining, which brings us to a request from the police department for permission to bid a lease agreement for police feet fleet vehicles.

Do we have a motion?

Your honor.

Councilor Demas.

I make a motion to approve this request.

Thank you.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councillor Hanson.

Discussion.

Your Honor.

Councillor Hickerson.

Um I understand when we did this in the past, there's a lot of struggle with getting the vehicles in.

Is there gonna be any better delivery on vehicles expected this time?

Your Honor, Councilman Hickerson.

I just wanted to say that the reason we are pushing this is because when this program was started back in 2019, is when the pandemic kind of started to kick off.

So that was pushing production back.

So instead of getting our six vehicles every year, which we had the plan to do when we initially started this, we then got backed up, and in turn we have 20 vehicles that are up for end of lease in 2028.

So our hope was to push this bid forward to kind of break that up and in the lease of five of those 20 vehicles early so we can get the new ones in if that makes sense and kind of get back on track because the pandemic bogged us down a little bit.

So yes, that I don't foresee any additional production issues that we had during the pandemic.

Thank you.

Further discussion.

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

Aye.

Any opposed?

Any abstaining?

The motion carries unanimously, bringing us to a request from the fire department for permission to fill a vacant bacillian chief position.

Do we have a motion?

Your honor.

Councillor Demas.

I make a motion to approve this request.

Thank you.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councillor Thompson.

Is there any discussion?

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

Aye.

Any opposed?

Any abstaining?

The motion carries unanimously, taking us to a request from the Stellar Cellar for permission to close Northfront Street from the corner of Elk Street to J Street on October 3rd, 2026, from 3 p.m.

until 7 p.m.

for a business anniversary celebration.

Do we have a motion?

Move to approve this request, your order.

Thank you, Councillor Hickerson.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Counselor Demas.

Discussion.

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

Aye.

Any opposed?

Any abstaining?

The motion carries unanimously, and now we are on to a request for two liquor catering permits from the park LLC for the Red Desert Roundup Rodeo on July 24th and 25th of 2026 from 4 p.m.

until midnight at the Sweetwater Events Complex Grand Stands.

Do we have a motion?

Your Honor.

Counselor Hanson?

I move to approve that request.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councillor Demas.

Discussion.

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

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Any abstaining?

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

A request for four malt beverage permits from CARA Beach for the sweetwater speedway races on August 14th and 15th and August 28th and 29th, 2026 from 5 p.m.

until midnight at the sweetwater speedway racetrack.

Do we have a motion?

Your Honor.

Councillor Demas.

I make a motion to approve this request.

Thank you.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councillor Bingham.

Is there any discussion?

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

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Any abstaining?

Abstain.

Motion carries the councillor Zotti abstaining.

Bring yes to resolutions.

And first up this evening is resolution 2026-94.

A resolution approving the job description for the new full-time position of housing operations and community specialists at pay grade 108 and authorizing the fill-in of said position within the Rock Springs Housing Authority for the City of Rock Springs, Wyoming.

Thank you.

Council, do we have a motion?

Your Honor.

Councilor Hansen.

I move to approve this request.

Thank you.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councillor Demas.

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 Petrie and Thompson abstaining.

Taking us to resolution 2026-95.

A resolution accepting approving and adopting an official artificial intelligence usage policy for the Rock Springs Housing Authority to execute and attest to said policy on behalf of the City of Rock Springs.

Thank you.

Council, do we have a motion?

Your Honor?

Councilor Hickerson.

A move to approve resolution 2026-95.

Thank you.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councillor Demas.

Discussion.

Councillor Zod.

Yes.

This is more kind of question or statement just for public benefit on what we're doing here.

When people say AI and the use of AI, kind of get a little nervous.

Reading through the policy, this is really basically just a policy on how to properly use and not abuse EIF AI tools.

No personal identifiable information.

Is that correct?

Councillor Zodia and Your Honor, yes.

So it is a clear defining document for staff in the housing authority that are using AI to maybe create a letter to a resident or using AI to take notes.

That usage that you saw there was a green light, a yellow light, and a red light of what is allowable and what is not is clear and precise as to what they can and cannot use it for.

HUD issued guidance stating that there is potential when using AI for fair housing compliance issues.

And so one of the parts of the policy states that a human eye, a human must review all tenant screening so that an AI bot or whatever is not automatically discriminating or saying that they are ineligible without a human looking at that documentation.

So it is it's not AI making any decisions choices or anything like that.

It is up to the human to review and make the final determination.

So you know any concerns with nefarious countries, AI and that.

So it would have to be approved by the housing authority, and I would assume approved by HUD as well as to what tools can be used.

Approved by IT.

So IT.

Nothing could be downloaded to any city computer by my staff that has not been approved by IT, right?

To make sure that we are not downloading some dangerous tool.

Um HUD doesn't go so far as to tell you what you can and cannot use.

They have just issued guidance stating that housing authorities should have a policy so that staff is aware what they can and cannot use.

It's a fabulous tool.

I use it every day.

It is amazing what you can accomplish.

It is it's it's a time saver as far as staff time, right?

We run a very small office.

There are three people in my office, and that's it currently.

So when you're having to write multiple letters for infractions or whatnot, or create a newsletter, it's much easier to input that into an AI tool and have it generate in minutes rather than taking staff time that we're paying for several hours to create and document.

Great.

Thank you.

Well, and that was the point that I was hoping would be made that this was a federally federally directed policy that you had to create.

Correct.

Very good.

Is there further discussion?

Your Honor, Councillor Bingham.

And just for the benefit of the public, too.

And it's really well outlined in here, April.

So you talked about the green, yellow, and red.

What are so when what is some red light things that people can be aware of that's not going to be shared specifically?

No names, social security numbers, addresses, no personal information is to be placed into an AI tool whatsoever.

Okay.

And then how about the green light?

What kind of information are it?

Um a generic.

Um I would like to write a letter to an applicant that requested a reasonable combination explaining why we cannot accommodate that reasonable accommodation, right?

With no information about who the applicant was.

Um it could be as simple as requested a three-bedroom as a reasonable accommodation when it is a one-person family, and the doctor's note stated they require a two-bedroom, but they're still asking for a three-bedroom, right?

So I would deny the three-bedroom and allow them to be placed on the two-bedroom list and writing a letter for those one offs.

I can type in very little information, can generate it.

I can review it, ensure that the information is accurate before that letter is sent out.

And then yeah, and then the yellow light, what's kind of information is um I gotta re-look.

As far as the yellow one second, please.

Okay, so that would be we have, as you guys have approved in the past, several policies that are several hundred pages long.

Right.

Right?

Five, six hundred pages.

When you are looking for a certain policy uh that refers back to, say, a code of federal regulations or a HUD rule, so you can type that in and say find this, right?

Um, and you need to be very cautious that you don't allow the AI tool to interpret the policy as it was written.

Okay, right?

That you need to read that policy thoroughly.

Staff needs to read it and understand what it says before any information is given out or action taken.

Okay.

Okay.

Don't allow the the bot to interpret that policy.

So whatever policy it might be in that, whatever, because those are quite extensive documents, and we've seen them here when they come before us.

So it scans through that, but still it'll direct the staff to go there, and they still have to interpret that.

Correct.

It's not just a machine saying yay or nay.

Correct.

I think that because that's a concern.

And this is coming from the concerns of data centers, data leakage, and their valid concerns with personal information.

So that's that's why the questions.

So thank you.

Further discussion.

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

I need opposed, any abstaining.

Abstaining.

Abstaining.

The motion carries the councillors Petrie and Thompson abstaining.

Which brings us to resolution 2026-96.

And before I ask Matt to read it, I uh would let counsel know that we are looking for a motion to table uh the RSAHA board has not been able to convene to review and sign the contract.

Uh, and so we are waiting upon them to take that action.

The intent of the city in providing this contract to them is so that they can avoid falling under a regular rental fee structure.

Uh, that would be significantly more costly to them.

Um, but we would like to give them the time to look at the proposed contract and provide feedback uh prior to approval.

So Matt, if you will, please.

A resolution accepting and approving in annual use agreement between the city of Rock Springs, Wyoming, and the Rock Springs Amateur Hockey Association and authorizing Max Mickelson as mayor of the city of Rock Springs, Wyoming, and Matthew L.

McBurnett as city clerk of the city of Rock Springs, Wyoming to execute said annual use agreement on behalf of said city.

Thank you.

Council, do we have a motion?

Your Honor.

Councillor Hickerson.

I move to table resolution 2026-96.

Thank you.

What you said earlier.

Thank you.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councillor Himis.

Is there discussion?

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

Aye.

Any opposed?

Any abstaining.

Motion carries and is tabled to our next meeting.

That takes us to resolution 2026-97.

A resolution granting and accepting the deed of dedication in which union telephone company whose address is PO box 160, Mountain View, Wyoming 82939 grants a drainage easement to the city of Rock Springs, Wyoming.

Thank you, Council.

Do we have a motion?

Your Honor.

I make a motion to approve resolution 2026-97.

Thank you.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councillor Zotti.

Discussion.

Your Honor?

Councilor Malonas.

I was looking at the plat and I don't I don't see any roads or any in I don't even know where this is at.

Can somebody update me on this out where the roads are?

Your Honor, Counselor Malone.

So this is kind of in the in the Pacific Steel area, I guess, behind there.

You know where their tower is up on College Hill, down below there on Kilpecker.

Okay.

All righty.

Thank you.

Further discussion.

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

Aye.

Any opposed?

Any abstaining?

Motion carries unanimously.

Taking us to resolution 2026-98.

A resolution authorizing and directing Max Mickelson as mayor of the City of Rock Springs, Wyoming, and Matthew L.

McBurned as City Clerk of the City of Rock Springs, Wyoming to accept and approve a budget revision to the budget for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 2026.

Thank you.

Council, do we have a motion?

I'll move to approve, Your Honor.

Thank you, Councillor Zotti.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councilor Demas.

Discussion.

Your Honor.

Councilor Hickerson.

Just for clarification for the public, what what are we having to do with this request?

Um Your Honor, uh, Councilor Hickerson.

So this um we don't know what um our final amounts, final invoice is gonna be for June until July for the from the joint powers water board to purchase our water.

And that um line item is in our um water and sewer admin budget, which is very small, other than that line item.

So when it goes over, um the only op the only thing we can do to um um so we purchase more water than we budgeted for, right?

Um, but on the other hand, we sold more water um than we anticipated also.

So this all this does is make the accounting correct so that division's not over budget in total.

Um just strictly due to our our fiscal year being separate.

Yes, yeah, and and like I said, I we don't know um until we get past the fiscal year what that final amount is and um you know with the dry summer and everything.

Um when I looked through it, I think I put a lot of this in the um action brief.

It was just a lot of months besides the rate increase um for uh from the water board that caused that.

It was also increased usage um little by little, kind of each month, like five percent, I think.

Um, so the accountants really like it when we cross our T's and daughter I's very good.

Further discussion?

Your Honor Counselor Malonas.

So Matt, there was a there was an expense and then there was an income.

Are they both included on that line item for a net positive was like almost 200,000 net?

Um Your Honor, Councilor Malonis, yes, that is the case.

It's run out of the enter one of the enterprise funds, the water enterprise fund.

So all the um any more water we buy, it means more water sold, right?

So um it's a net nothing to the fund really, but for the expenditure side by statute, not we're not allowed to overspend a um a division in whole, and this would have overspent the division as a whole.

All right, thank you.

Well I think it's important for the public to note that the additional revenue that's collected uh does not one go to the general fund, it goes to maintain those water systems, and when we know that both the costs of water and the cost of those systems are going up, that that is where that excess revenue goes to.

Very good.

Is there further discussion?

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

Any opposed?

Any abstaining?

The motion carries unanimously, bringing us to our final item of business this evening, resolution 2026-99.

The resolution accepting and approving a spy glass snapshot audit agreement between the city of Rock Springs and the spy glass group LLC and Ohio Limited Liability Company and authorizing Max Mickelson as mayor and Matthew L.

McBernadess City Clerk to execute set agreement on behalf of the city of Rock Springs.

Council.

Council, despite their nefarious name, do we have a motion?

Your honor, Councilor Hickerson.

Move to approve resolution 2026-99.

Thank you.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councillor Demas.

Is there discussion?

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

Aye.

Any opposed?

Any abstaining?

Motion carries unanimously, and council is adjourned.