Road, new planner discussed

by Cat Urbigkit

Sublette County Commissioners met in Marbleton Tuesday for their regular business meeting. Although required by state statute to hold most of its meetings in the county courthouse, the commission tries to meet in Marbleton several times a year.

County Road Super-intendent Dan Holgate talked with the commission about Forty Rod Road and recommended against laying chip seal on the road. Holgate cited problems with the chip seal on the Horse Creek Road, a similar high-speed, high-traffic roadway.

On high-speed roads, Holgate said, the county is better off to save up to lay a two-inch asphalt mat, "rather than poor-boy it with these chip seals." Holgate suggested a dust-control agent be applied to Forty Rod Road instead.

The new road into the Pinedale Industrial Site may be a candidate for the asphalt mat also, he said. When asked the cost of such a mat, Holgate said just the material would probably cost $85,000 per mile, so the total cost estimate would be about $120,000 per mile.

Although Pinedale Town Council attorney Ed Wood was on the agenda for the commission meeting Tuesday to discuss water drainage problems in Shelter Park that were caused by county road work, Wood was apparently out of town for the week and did not attend the session.

Holgate said he had met with Wood to resolve the problem. Holgate said it is true that the county did cause problems with water drainage and has proposed to resolve the problem by installing a valley pan and diverting the water across Tyler and Lake streets. The total cost to the county will be about $12,000, Holgate reported.

The commission addressed planning and zoning business in its afternoon session. Stan Zierlein's request to rezone 6.24 acres from agricultural to light industrial for his property located just north of Highway 354 near the Daniel Junction was approved. The zone change will allow him to build a mechanic/tire shop on property.

The commission also approved a zone change request for Jeffrey and Jennifer Banks to make the zoning match the actual land use rural residential from light industrial.

Jack Richardson's request to rezone 33.47 acres from agricultural to rural residential was approved by the commission. The subject property is located east of Highway 191 and north of Aspen Storage within one mile of Pinedale. Richardson plans to eventually subdivide the land into 14 lots.

The county has received 18 applications for the county planner position Joanne Garnett is vacating in her move to Casper to work in the private sector. Garnett reported that she and County Clerk Mary Lankford narrowed the group to seven contenders who underwent telephone interviews. During this process, one of the applicants decided to withdraw, so there are now five people who the commission may want to interview.

The candidates are from Rock Springs, Colorado, Michigan and Wisconsin (two candidates).

"Four of the five are really strong candidates," Garnett said, with 15 to 22 years of experience in planning. She suggested the county agree to fund a portion of the expenses for the candidates to travel to Pinedale to be interviewed.

The commission agreed that the interviews should be scheduled for the first week in September.

Sublette County Sheriff Hank Ruland and Undersheriff Henry Schmidt visited with the commission Tuesday, with Ruland reporting that the law-enforcement contracts with the towns of Marbleton, Big Piney and Pinedale are in the process of being signed and negotiating those contracts went well.

Schmidt reported that the first of the county's grant for homeland security has arrived and totals $11,800. In addition, Schmidt said he received notification that the county will receive another $79,388 to upgrade communications and provide for the fencing of water supplies for the county's three incorporated towns.

Schmidt also noted that the current target date for entering the new detention center is early October. The commission expressed doubt about whether that target date can be met, considering how few laborers are currently working at completion of the building project.

Susan Kramer of Sublette Citizens for Recycling gave an update about the remodeling of the recycling center in Pinedale. She said the office portion of the project is finished, while the addition is under construction.