LUSK - The Lusk Town Council met on April 2 to approve liquor licenses and conduct the second readings of town ordinances.

The council approved the following liquor licenses renewals, with no comment from the public:

• Town of Lusk and Lusk Municipal Golf Course
• Silver Dollar Bar and Lusk LLC,
• Lusk Elks 1797
• Young Ducks LLC and Young Ducks Sports Bar Catering.

Dakota Pierce of Upaheadgov.com gave a presentation via a zoom call. His company provides other local towns with an app that sends residents alerts in the body of text messages. These messages come directly from the local towns’ websites.

For example, residents can receive text messaged alerts concerning be water and road closures. Residents could receive both emergency and nonemergency notifications vie text messaging. The text alerts can be programmed to either allow or disallow text responses from residents.

Pierce gave a brief demonstration of the app to the Council. Community members would have access to a QR code that would automatically download the app.

“It’s super simple,” Pierce said.

Pierce told the council they were offering the service at a discounted rate for $199 per month. At regular price, it would be more than $300 a month. If the town decides to receive the service, then Lusk would be locked into a two to three-year agreement. The service is being offered at this discounted rate because Upaheadgov.com are bundling several communities that are already recipients. The council has until April 20, 2024 to decide concerning the app.

The council opted to table the question of the app for further discussion.

The next visitor was Morgan Kling of Wyoming Child and Family Development. She thanked the Council for their past support and gave a brief update. The council opted to continue their support of Wyoming Child and Family development with a donation of $1,000.

Lusk Police Chief Jacob Gordon told the council that he had witnessed 207 incidents in March of 2023. For March of this year, there were 265 incidents. There were 131 traffic stops along with 53 citations. The Lusk Police Department is still undergoing training with special cameras. These cameras were placed earlier this year to identify vehicles that may have been involved in a crime. The department will continue to use the cameras throughout the summer. The cameras have already proved to be instrumental in a missing person case out of Wheatland. The cameras were also used in Cheyenne for a drug trafficking case. DCI (Division of Criminal

Investigation) are also using the cameras for drug trafficking cases.

Earlier in the day Gordon met with the County Commissioners about the SRO (School Resource Officer) position. He said the meeting went well.

Officers Jeremiah Fink and Chris Smith attended active shooter training.

Gordon provided an update concerning a spate of vehicle thefts that transpired on March 20. Currently, there are five suspects connected with the incident.

“We have been working with multiple agencies on that,” Gordon said.

James Santistevan, Manager of the Lusk Cemetery, reported he was gearing up for a spring clean-up in preparation for Memorial Day. He is waiting for applications for summer help.

Santistevan is working on emergency management items. He said he is receiving assistance with those items from Director of Public Works Todd Skrukrud and Fire Chief Chantry.

Lusk-Niobrara Ambulance Director Mike Mayfield told the council they had 17 patient contacts with one being an inner facility transfer. Mayfield was in Arizona for two weeks taking care of primary EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) training. He does have one final written test to procure his Arizona license, which he will subsequently transfer to Wyoming upon completion.

Mayfield gave an update on the new ambulance fund, which received $8,064 in donations last month. $5,000 of that amount was raised by the Mason’s Mustard Seed Dinner. Residents Shelly and Rebel Coffey also contributed to that amount. Mayville will start looking into the grants to use in the procurement of a new ambulance.

Trevor Barner said he and his staff were getting the Lusk Municipal Golf Course ready. He has new windows being installed this month. The Pro Shop will be painted as well.

Lusk Clerk Desi LeLoux told the council she and others will attend the SLIB (State Loan Investment Board) meeting, so they can request arbor funds for a phase three project. There will be a neighborhood meeting concerning the project on April 10 at 6 p.m.

Deputy Clerk/Treasurer Taylor Willis attended the Wyoming Community Gas forum. She said the selection period for the Wyoming Community Gas program is slated to run from April 4 to April 24. Community members who opt into this program can return their forms to the city office. Taylor will then transpose the information into the body of a spreadsheet. Subsequently, the town will submit the information as a group to get the best price. The town receives money from this program for everyone signing up. The money received from Wyoming Community Gas will go towards

various town projects. There is usually around $5,000 a year that is donated.

Skrukrud told the council the swimming pool is being prepped for the summer. He said he has someone who will bidding to paint the pool. His department will start installing the sprinkler system in Northside Park. The sweeper is repaired and up and running. He also reported he has someone submitting a bid to fill in cracks in the streets. Phase II of the street project will start on 7th street and Poplar street. He will know more after the kickoff meeting concerning this project. Clean up week will be May 17-24.

During clean up week, the Town of Lusk will give residents one free dump at the transfer station. To be eligible, residents must present a current utility bill. No paint cans will be accepted unless they are empty. No electronics will be accepted either. Items such as those can be taken to the recycling center. Tires will be charged a fee. No contractors can participate during clean up week.

Livestock permits were approved for Cody Thompson, Becky Blackburn, Ben Volk and Jenny Hester.

A new livestock permit was approved for Miah Buckley and Grey Lacey. A pasture lease renewal was approved for C &W Land and Livestock, LLC. An airport hanger lease was renewed for Tschacher Farms.

WEBT (Wyoming Education Benefit Trust) reported a 13% increase for the town’s employee insurance this year. This increase was already figured into the towns budget.

The department budget request for 2024-2025 was discussed. Town revenue is $23,476,860 with expenditures being $22,895,630.67. This was the first reading with a difference positive of $581,229.33.

Mayor Lytle explained, “Just so the public is aware, expenditures are per budget year totals so that sometimes you can predict what is going to be next year based on this year’s numbers. We get help from Wyoming Association municipalities on some of these numbers. But again, sometimes it’s tough to predict. This year alone, we are $67,000 to $68,000 over the projected amount in one-percent specific purpose tax. That will give you an idea. Some of these numbers can move quite a bit. So, we try to predict them and actually budget off of that.”

This was approved by the council.

There will be a budget workshop scheduled for April 19 at 9 a.m. The council voted to negotiate a contract with HDR as the consultant for the Lusk Safe Pathways TAP Grant Construction Project. Negotiations were approved.

The next town council meeting will be held on May 8 at 5 p.m. at town hall