Goshen County is receiving $8.6 million in block grant funding that must be divided among all of the municipalities, the county and the special districts. At the county commissioners meeting Tuesday afternoon, the commissioners learned that monetary requests from the various entities eligible to receive funding exceeded the available monies.

Robert Ward, chairman of the Goshen County board of commissioners, called the meeting to order and asked that each organization present its funding requests, starting with the county’s cities and towns.

Yoder representative Norman Feagler said the town received $170,000 last year from the block grant for its storm drain and water drainage system, but the town needs $280,000 in additional funding. Yoder received a $58,000 engineering grant from the Wyoming Department of Transportation and the engineering of the project will be completed by June.

In addition to the storm drainage project, Yoder asked for $200,000 to drill a new city well. The $200,000 would include the cost of the piping, a monitoring computer and other related equipment. Water from one of the Yoder wells does not meet Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) standards, and Feagler said the town doesn’t think that just one well will be able to meet the town’s water demands.

Connie Patterson of Fort Laramie said the city offices do not meet the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards. Fort Laramie received $110,000 last year from the consensus block grant and spent $25,000 of this amount for an emergency generator. Fort Laramie is asking for an additional $320,000 to enlarge and renovate the present city office building. In addition, Patterson said the town’s water system needs to be fixed. Fort Laramie is accumulating data on the system to determine the cost involved.

According to LaGrange mayor Mark Marshall, his town has day-to-day problems with their storm drain and storm sewers. LaGrange also needs a new generator for power to a new section of town ($45,000), and Wyrulec wants $60,000 to get electric power to this location. LaGrange has $56,000 left from the $140,000 they received last year Baker and Associates, a Torrington engineering firm, has estimated a complete town drainage system will cost $407,000.

Lingle mayor Russell Walter said the town needs two new quick attack fire trucks (one for the town and one for the rural fire district), a street sweeper, money to cover the cost over run for the third cell at the sanitation lagoon and funding for sewer line replacement. The total for these items is an estimated $400,000.

Torrington mayor Leroy Schafer said he wants $240,000 to complete the downtown paving project, $450,000 for the new city hall/Lincoln school project, $360,000 for the new fire department building and $1.7 million for East D Street to fix the water and the street. Schafer said he would like to receive $700,000-$750,000 this year and finish funding the projects next year.

Cactus Covello, president of the Rural Fire District No. 3 and chairman of the Joint Powers Board for the new Torrington fire station, said $415,041 in funding is needed for the second phase of the fire station. The total project cost for both phases is over $3.27 million. Two and one half million dollars were obtained from the State Loan and Investment Board (SLIB) in Cheyenne on a three-to-one match basis - a $700,000 match came from the city of Torrington and Goshen County Rural Fire District No. 3. The shortfall of $775,041 will be further reduced by the $360,000 pledged by the city of Torrington.

“Goshen County Weed and Pest needs $129,000 in funding for a West Nile Virus mosquito testing program countywide,” said Steve Brill, Goshen County Weed and Pest supervisor.

In addition to new equipment, Brill said a new employee would be hired. He said it costs $100 per sample to have the testing done and he will need $25,000 per year to cover the testing costs.

Rod Weyrich from Yoder said the Yoder Rural Fire District is requesting $40,000 for a command vehicle.

According to Pat Pickerel from South Torrington Water and Sewer District, the district will resubmit its request of $6.3 million for total replacement of their water and sewer system. She said South Torrington Water and Sewer District also wants $270,400 to cover the cost of a new lift station so that it will not have to increase its SLIB funding request.

Commissioner Ross Newman said he did not feel any “bottom line” conclusions on amounts of funding for the different requests would come from one meeting. He said last year was the first year Goshen County received a consensus block grant. The county will receive the $8.6 million for the next biennium.

Newman asked how the different cities, towns and districts present wanted to see the block grant divided.

Covello said he felt the districts should receive a percentage of the funding based on their special nature and mission. Ward said the initial thinking was to set aside 8-10 percent for the special districts.

Newman said that if 8-10 percent came off the top for the districts, one way to distribute the remaining funding would be based on population. In this case, Torrington would get 46.07 percent, Goshen County 44.09 percent, Lingle 4.07 percent, LaGrange 2.65 percent, Fort Laramie 1.85 percent and Yoder 1.28 percent.

Pickerel said South Torrington Water and Sewer District serves 375 residents, 16 businesses, two apartments and trailers as well as Western Sugar for an estimated 600 people served. Willard said that consideration should be given to the fact that Yoder needs to provide water to 300 students at Southeast schools.

Commissioner James Hudelson said the block grant funding does not replace SLIB funding.

Newman said the SLIB has $44 million and has designated $10 million for “emergency” money and $34 million for large projects such as jails and courthouses. He felt that South Torrington would fall in the large project category. Pickerel said that if South Torrington was given some funding from the block grant, it would show the SLIB that the county felt the sewer project was worth funding.

“This year, May 15 is the deadline to submit block grant applications to receive funding by July 1,” Hudelson said. “We need a consensus by May 15 if anyone wants money by July 1.”

A sepeaate meeting was held today to discuss revolving funds and SLIB funding. Cathy Stoddard, LaGrange town clerk, and others pledged to ask the SLIB about funding priorities and whether block grant funds could be used for matching funds for SLIB grants.

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