TORRINGTON – The Torrington City Council worked its way through seven action items on its agenda Tuesday night at Torrington City Hall.
Mayor Randy Adams opened the meeting by announcing that Wyoming Community Gas will be funding a new shelter at Jirdon Park.
“We have a new park shelter going up soon,” he said. “I’m not sure how soon it is going to be, but it is paid for by Wyoming Community Gas. When you think about whether or not we need to opt out of Wyoming Community Gas, understand we get a cut out of the profits.”
Adams also announced that Jeff Jones of Pleasant Valley donated six trees to the overpass enhancement project, which is a city initiative carried out by city employees, to beautify the open area in the loop on the north side of the overpass.
“It’s all cleaned up, and hopefully within a week or two, we’ll see it all green-ed up,” he said.
The first action item for the council was to unanimously approve Rhonda Estes to a mayoral appointment to serve on the city’s Safety Committee until the end of 2020.
The council approved a special event permit 5-0 for Love Thy Neighbor, a fundraising event to help families affected the Goshen Irrigation District tunnel collapse in July, and to waive the regular special event fee for the cause. Love Thy Neighbor will be on Sept. 28 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
It begins with a poker run that leaves from Gering, Neb. and finishes at the Elks Lodge in Torrington. The municipal parking lot behind the Wyoming Theater and East A Street from 20th Street to 21st Street, will be closed for the event. There will be a car show in the lot, and an enchilada supper and silent auction in the Elks Lodge.
Proceeds from the event will go to help the families affected in the tunnel collapse and the breach, Sharon Hubbard, one of the event’s organizers, told the council.
The city voted unanimously to transfer liquor licenses from the Broncho Bar and the Broncho Grillhouse to Tiffany Leslie, from former licenses holders DT2019, LLC and Dai-Duong Lam-Pham, respectively.
The city approved an update to the city’s municipal parking ordinance on first reading. The ordinance will allow city officials to better regulate Torrington’s nine municipal lots and prevent citizens from storing vehicles on city property long-term.
The updated ordinance requires any person or company that uses public parking for private use, such as construction projects, to submit their request in writing to city hall. It also reinforces the authority of the Torrington Police Department to enforce the parking code.
The city approved 5-0 a $221,141 bid for a new garbage collection truck. The winning bidder was Peterbilt of Cheyenne. The bid came in $80,000 less than expected.
“We need to upgrade from one of the older ones to a newer one,” Ed Hawley, Streets and Sanitation Supervisor, said. “The bids came in quite a bit below what I had budgeted. I went ahead and added a five-year extended warranty, which I feel is a good idea since an injector is $1,800.”
The city unanimously approved a $203,585 bid to Altec Industries of Dixon, Calif., for a new digger derrick utility truck for the city electrical department. According to department supervisor Dana Youtz, the new rig will replace a 31-year-old truck.
“The one we’re replacing is a 1988 model,” he said. “It’s been a great truck for a lot of years, but it’s time to replace it because it can’t be certified anymore to do hot work.”
Youtz told the council the old truck will be auctioned off, and could bring in around $10,000 to partially offset the price of the new truck.
Torrington Clerk-Treasurer Lynette Strecker presented the council with the month’s bills, which were approved unanimously.
