2 J The Lovell Chronicle J January 5, 2012
Town, Pryor residents agree to
temporary utility license proposal
BY DAVID PECK
Following a process that had both
the council and residents scratching
their heads, the Lovell Town Council
and residents of the Pryor View Subdi-
vision agreed Tuesday to a temporary
utility license agreement that will al-
low negotiations that had threatened
to blow up a possible agreement con-
tinue for several months, even after
the installation of a pressure-reducing
valve for the subdivision this week.
The town this fall informed resi-
dents of the subdivision that lies
just east McKinley Avenue atop the
bench that the new higher water
pressure on the hill - 70 pounds per
square inch -- made possible by the
South Phase of the water and sewer
infrastructure project would likely
cause the older water main and ser-
vice lines in the subdivision to spring
leaks. Project engineer Frank Page
recommended installation of a pres-
sure-reducing valve since pressure
will triple with the installation of a
new water main coming east off of
Nevada Avenue atop the hill to pro-
vide better water service to homes on
the Garfield hill and other residences
in the area.
Another option to residents was
the installation of new water lines,
but with the new main reaching the
subdivision in about three months af-
ter the announcement, the only via-
ble option was the PRV.
Residents pooled their money
for the PRV, and plans were made
to place a new vault containing the
hookup and the PRV where the wa-
ter main enters the subdivision. Resi-
dents were informed that because the
vault was to rest on town land, resi-
dents would need to sign a utility li-
cense agreement.
That's when things got sticky.
Some residents objected to cer-
tain language in the agreement but
were informed last week, they said,
that if they didn't sign the agreement,
water would be cut off to the subdi-
vision. Time was running out because
the new main, as well as the vault and
PRV, were to be installed Wednesday
after service lines were hooked up
Tuesday.
With fears and misunderstanding
mounting, the council called a special
meeting for Tuesday at noon.
"We had been told Friday that un-
less everyone signed, our water would
be cut offuntil everyone signed," Pryor
View resident Janet Prosseal dur-
ing Tueday's meeting. "Our request
was a 30-day extension to negotiate a
mutually-accepted agreement."
Mayor Bruce Morrison expressed
the town's willingness to continue to
work with residents, and Council-
man Brian Dickson pointed out that
the utility license is only required be-
cause the vault and valve was to be
placed within the towns right-of-way,
noting that no agreement would be re-
quired if the valve was placed on pri-
vate land.
"It was never our intention to be
hard-nosed," Dickson said. "Our le-
gal counsel said we have to have an
agreement before the equipment can
be installed. And it had to be done be-
fore the winter shutdown. There has
been a lot of'he said, she said' in every
conversation."
But the problem was the last-min-
ute timing, residents attending the
meeting agreed.
"The problem with this is the late
notice," RJ May said, referring to a re-
cent letter from the town. "If we had
notice, we could have done something
else, but everyone has been, 'Oh, crap!'
It came at the last second."
Rick Grandalen of GK Construc-
tion agreed that the information from
the town in recent days came with the
threat of a shutoff.
Residents said they were told that
there would be no negotiations, that
it was "sign or lose water," they said.
Councilman Scott Allred ex-
pressed optimism that common sense
would prevail and the agreement lan-
guage would be worked out. He asked
what the major objections were.
"We feel misled as far as tim-
ing," resident Joe Prosser said. "We
thought there would be time for nego-
tiation. Nobody seems to like it."
Councilman Bruce Wolsey echoed
Dickson in saying, "Our intention
was never to shut the water off," and
town attorney Sandra Kitchen added
that the language in the agreement is
standard and similar to language the
town must agree to in deals with the
county.
Dickson also noted that the agree-
ment contains a 180-day termination
clause for the town because, while he
has no problem with the vault within
the town right-of-way, he cannot bind
a future council to the agreement.
"The town's intention was to help
the residents and give them options,"
Kitchen added. "The intention was
not to force the PRV."
RESOLUTION REACHED
With some language in the agree-
ment still to be resolved but an instal-
lation deadline looming, Allred asked
if there was a way to sign a temporary
agreement while negotiations are un-
der way.
"I really believe we can come to an
agreement," he said.
Residents discussed some ele-
ments of the license agreement lan-
guage but ultimately decided to nego-
tiate further if a temporary agreement
could be reached and signed.
Kitchen said one alternative
would be a six-month temporary
agreement, which would include six
additional months for residents to re-
move the equipment if a permanent
agreement cannot be reached. The
council and residents liked the idea of
a temporary agreement.
"The problem is, when it came
down these people felt threatened and
backed into a corner," Dickson said.
"We were told that in order for us to
hook up the PRV, we had to have all
of the signatures on the agreement.
That's why there was the deadline.
The problem is, everyone was up
against a wall."
Dickson asked about a temporary
agreement, and Kitchen said that,
like the permanent agreement, the
temporary agreement would have to
be signed by all residents of the sub-
division.
Speaking to the council by speak-
er phone from her Powell office, Kitch-
en said she could draft language not-
ing that the agreement at hand is
temporary in nature, then went to
work drafting and later sent the new
agreement to the council.
As written, the new language
states that the license agreement
shall be for a temporary period of Jan.
4, 2012 through Jan. 3, 2013, and if
the town and residents cannot agree
to a permanent license agreement by
June 4, the residents must begin the
process to remove the equipment from
the town right-of-way by Jan. 3, 2013.
With a deadline of Wednesday
morning facing the residents, it was
noted that not all of the 10 property
owners are in town currently, and
others were unable to attend Tues-
day's meeting. The residents and
clerk/treasurer Valerie Beal agreed
to work together to contact residents
and, in some cases, a faxed signature
would suffice until a hard copy could
be sent, signed and returned, the
council agreed.
Residents attending the meet-
ing agreed to the temporary license
language, and the council eventually
voted to approve it, but not before one
last question reared its head. Council-
man Kevin Jones asked what would
happen if one resident declined to
sign the agreement.
"I would hate to see one spoil it for
the rest," he added.
Dickson said the water meter, and
thus water, could be removed for any
resident who doesn't sign the agree-
ment. He: said, "I don't want to.do,hat v
but added that one individUal:without
water would be preferable to many.
The council voted to approve the
temporary utility license agreement
following a 2½-hour meeting.
As of noon Tuesday, six of the 10
property owners had been able to sign
the temporary agreement, and Beal
said it would be up to Mayor Morrison
as to what to do about the four who
have not signed.
December DUP meeting r ad Yuletide flavor
Christmas decorations were up P. Smith. The Pledge of Allegiance was the guest speaker, May Emmett, of
for members and guests attending the led by Dorothy Winterholler. Lovell. She explained that many early
Big Horn Company Daughters of the
Utah Pioneers meeting and social on
Monday Dec. 12, which was conducted
by President Mary Jensen.
Savanna Nash from Byron shared
beautiful Christmas thoughts before
the delicious soup, salad and dessert
luncheon was served by the officers:
Mary Jensen, Marjorie Stevens, Sher-
aldean Jones and WillaDene Kraft.
The patriotic presentation by Doro-
thy Winterholler included thoughts by
President Eisenhower, as well as beau-
tiful pioneer Christmas thoughts from
International DUP President Maurine
Museum Notes presented by Patty
Hansen included a pioneer history of
a family living in isolated Teton Val-
ley. The father, F.W. Morgan, left his
family on Dec. 22 to travel 60 miles on
his sleigh to obtain his family's gifts,
which would be packed in a 60-gallon
barrel. He experienced problems and
was unable to return to his family un-
til after New Year's. Sometimes we
need to remember how fortunate we
are today.
The group enjoyed singing some
favorite Christmas carols. "A Pio-
neer Christmas" was the subject of
pioneers came from a Puritan back-
ground, which banned Christmas
celebrations except for a church ser-
vice. However, it didn't take long for
Christmas traditions to develop. Pic-
tures of homemade ornaments, sleds
and sleighs and early paintings of ice-
skating were shared.
History surrounding the Christ-
mas carol, "Far Far Away on Judea's
Plains," written by pioneer John M.
MacFarlane, was shared. Announce-
ment was made for the next meeting
to be held Monday, Jan. 9 at i p.m. in
the Lovell Annex.
Ulll i ,, ,1111111
Please submit obituaries to us via
e-mail: Icnews@tctwest.net; fax:307-548-2218;
or bring to our office at 234 E. Main St., Lovell, Wyoming
i
William Corlis
Roberts
Feb. 15, 1921-
Dec. 28, 2011
William Corlis Roberts
was born Feb. 15, 1921, in
Frannie, the only son of
Charles Edmond (Ted) Rob-
erts and Bessie Marie Mc-
Collum.
Bill attended school in
Frannie, southern Montana,
Denver and Lovell, where he
enjoyed playing basketball.
Following his graduation
from Lovell High School he
attended Rocky Mountain
College in Billings, major-
ing in business.
Bill left school in the
spring of 1941 to join the
war effort, working first in
Seattle for Boeing Aircraft
and then in Long Beach,
Calif., for Douglas Aircraft.
While in Long Beach Bill
enlisted in the Navy and
was trained as an aviation
radioman and tail gunner
in the Naval Air Force. He
was honorably discharged
on May 31, 1946.
Returning to Wyoming,
Bill worked for his uncle
Art Muller in his Frannie
trucking and oilfield con-
struction business. Dur-
ing that time he met and
courted Zelda Brimhall.
They were married on June
11, 1950, in Frannie; their
marriage was later solem-
nized in the Salt Lake LDS
Temple.
Faith Southern Baptist
-" 340 E. 3rd St., Lovell
Pastor Michael McKnight
548-6561
Servlcea: Sunday School 9:48 am
Morn. Worship 11 am • Eve. Worship 6 pm
Wed. Bible Study 7 pm
St. Joseph's r
catholic church
1141 Shoshone Ave., Lovell, WY
Sacrifice of the Mass
Sunday at 11:30 am
Reverend Glen Szczechowski
Please recycle
this newspaper.
Recyclingbins are located
in the Red Apple Supermarket
parking lot in Lovell.
I Serving Northern
,ted Big HCounty
III Method'st ( ] f%
t ItC/,.,h ,,1 I
'==,7=i[ ====7 years V
Q at the corner of
Park & Shoshone, Lovell
Pastor Paula Morse
Church: 548-7478
8:30 Deaver Worship
10:30 Lovell Worship
Bill and Zelda bought
the Frannie Mercantile in
1951 and operated it to-
gether for 20 years. During
that time Bill also worked
for Muller Trucking and
Louis B. Welch Construc-
tion. They sold the store
in 1971, at which time Bill
worked full-time for Welch
Construction. In 1973 he
went to work for Conoco
Oil in the oil fields west of
Frannie until his retire-
ment in 1985.
Bill enjoyed hunting
and camping, bowling, gar-
dening and collecting tools.
He joined the Church of Je-
sus Christ of Latter-day
Saints in 1971 and served
in many positions in the
church, including on the
Lovell Stake High Coun-
cil, as bishop of the Cow-
ley 1 st Ward, as an ordi-
nance worker in the Idaho
Falls and Billings Montana
LDS temples, and as a full-
time missionary with his
wife, Zelda, in the Missis-
sippi-Jackson Mission from
March 1995 until October
1996.
On Wednesday, Dec.
28, 2011, Bill completed his
mortal life while a resident
of New Horizons Care Cen-
ter and following a lengthy
battle with Alzheimer's.
Bill was preceded in
death by a baby sister,
Mary; his parents, Ted Rob-
erts and Bessie McCollum
Verhasselt; and his daugh-
ter-in-law, Layne Baxter
Roberts. He is survived
by his wife Zelda of Fran-
nie; sons Shane C. (Miri-
am) of Frannie and Lane
E. of Iona, Idaho; daugh-
ter Blynne (Lynn) Lovell of
Gilbert, Ariz.; 18 grandchil-
dren and 16 great-grand-
children.
Funeral services for
William C. Roberts will
be held on Saturday, Jan.
7, 2012, at 10 a.m. in the
Cowley LDS Meetinghouse,
with visitation immediate-
ly preceding at 9 a.m. and
interment following at the
Deaver-Frannie Cemetery.
ITh Bible Church
e
• ' 'e Prayer 7 pm
10:30 am 56 E. Main
1Bible Lesson Lovell
I, 6,m J
L0uell
flssemblg W
of God
Church
310 Idaho live,, Louell
Servicea
Sunday School - 9;45 am
Morning Worship -- 10:50 am
Sunday Night -- 6:30 pm
Wed. Bible Study - 7 pm
Rev. Dan Jarvis
548-7105
5th & Montana, 548-7127
Rev. Christopher Brandt
9:15 am Bible Study
10:30 am Worship Service
Wednesday Service 7:30 pm
The Lutheran Church-Missoun Synod
Dr. Karla W00ag.er
is accepting new patients
at Powell Valley Clinic
548"7021www.hyarttheater.corn
Happy Feet
Two
Rated PG a 100 minutes
Friday, Jan. 6
7 pm
Saturday, Jan. 7
3&7pm
MISSION IMPOSSIB!;
Ghost Protocol
AIRPORT MANAGER
BIG HORN COUNTY AIRPORTS
Big Horn County seeks to employ an individual to act in the capacity
of Airport Manager for both the north and south county airports.
For job description and related information please contact the office
of the County Commissioners, Basin Wyoming, at (307) 568-2357,
e-mail to Wendy Thulander <wendy.thulander@bighorncountywy.
gov>, or mail to P.O. Box 31, Basin, WY 82410.
Please submit a resume with references.
Big Horn County is an Equal Opportunity Employer
Need an OB/GYN?
If you'd like to make an
appointment, please call
HIe ;[[ ' Valley 754-7257 or 1-888-284-9308 Karla Wagner, M.D.
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• ?
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Environmental Compliance and Technology online.
:, ,, ,, Course starts Jan 16.
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