Lovell Chronicle July 8, 2021: Page 8

July 8, 2021 Lovell Chronicle
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fp- 8 The Lovell Chronicle July 8, 2021 Another BY DAVID PECK Happy guests enjoyed ice cream, music and fellow— ship Sunday ni ht as David and Jennie Rae once again put out the welcome mat at their home in Cowley be- fore treating north Big Horn County residents to a grand fireworks display. Music was provided by country music performer Harr Luge of Mesa, Ariz., as fo ks visited and enjoyed ice cream. The evening was dedicated to recently de- ceased veteran Art Schatz and former New York Giants head coach Jim Fassel, who died on June 7. Fassel’s son John Fassel, a close friend of the Raels, was the guest of honor Sun— day. The younger Fassel is currently the special teams coordinator for the Dal- las Cowboys following an eight-year career with the St. Louis and Los Angeles Rams, when he got to know Dave and Jennie Rael and their family. Fassel, 47, played foot- ball for University of the Pacific before the school dropped football, then played wide receiver at and graduated from Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. His NFL coaching ca- reer began in 2005 with the Baltimore Ravens. He coached special teams with the Ravens for three sea- sons and the Oakland Raid— ers for four seasons before starting an eight-year ca— reer as special teams coor— dinator with the Rams. He was also the interim head coach with the Rams. in 2016 for three games after Jeff Fisher was fired. With his contract up, he was hired as the special teams coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys in 2020 and is in his second season with the Cowboys. Fassel said he has known the Raels since he joined the St. Louis Rams in 2012 and first visited the Raels in Wyoming in 2018. He said he and wife Elizabeth had wanted to come other times, but the birth of two daughters, Lilah and Avery, and the COVID—19 pandemic Additional BY BARBARA ANNE GREENE Big Horn County should receive nearly $2.3 million from the American Res- cue Plan. How to handle the money was a point of dis— cussion at the county com— missioners’ June 1 meeting. On May '10, the US. Department of Treasury (Treasury) released an In- terim Final Rule, FAQs and a fact sheet for a significant portion of the $362 billion Coronavirus State and. Local Fiscal Recovery Fund, es— tablished under the Amer- ican’ Rescue Plan Act (ARP) signed into law on March 11’ by President Biden. This specific inter- im rule and related uid- ance covers the $61. bil— lion in direct federal aid to America’s counties. Later this year, the Treasury will release separate guidance for the $1.5 billion in addi- tional federal aid for public lands counties under Sec. 605 of ARP. County Clerk Lori Smallwood told the com— mission, “One of the less restrictive pieces of this funding is the revenue re- covery piece. By calculat- ing our revenue, that mon- ey can come back to the county and that’s eligible for things like roads, bridg— es and things like that. None of the other infrastructure money can. That is about the only way we can maybe replace some of the revenue we are going to lose, to keep up with our road work and things like that.” A formula was provid- ed to the county to calcu- late the lost revenue. Coun— ty Treasurer Becky Lindsey presented the calculation of Big Horn County’s lost #2 "with. new David and Jennie Rael honor veterans attending their Fourth of July celebration Sunday night. The Raels annually thank and honor veterans during the gathering. thwarted more visits. He said he enjoyed his eight years with the Rams and coach Sean McVay wanted him to continue when his contract was up, but Dallas coach Mike Mc— Carthy reached out to him and he said he felt Dallas would be a good opportu- nity for a change of scenery uccessl ‘ Foul? ‘ a and a new challenge. “I had a great experi- ence with the Rams, and so far, so good in Dallas,” Fas- sel said. Fassel said he has truly enjoyed getting to know the Raels and coming to Cow- ley, noting that during a long professional coaching career a person might not make as many close friends as one might expect. “You think you’d meet a lot of people because you’re in all these different cit- ies and big games, but real— ly you don’t,’ he said. “Dave and Jennie are the most special people we’ve met re- ally outside of football, that we’ve stayed in touch with. Luge of Mesa, Ariz., the audience following Sunday night at the David and Jennie Rael ice cream social and DAVID PECK Cal Jones greets a friend during the Fourth of July ice cream social at the David and Jennie Rael home in Cowley Sunday evening. DAVID PECK Country music entertainer Harry addresses a number fireworks show. DAVID PECK Fassel, during ice cream social and fireworks DAVID PECK David Rael (left) poses with his honored guest, Dallas Cowboys special teams coordinator John the Fourth of July show Sunday evening in Cowley. Their hearts are huge, and you can see what they do for the community. They of— fer an invitation for us every year to come up here and celebrate the Fourth of July. “God bless America. To us, my family, this is America right here. You’ve got Fourth of July fireworks, you’ve got community, you’ve got country music, you’ve got great people and a great small town. It doesn’t get any better than this.” Fassel said he lives in Frisco, Texas, just outside of Dallas, but also has a sum— mer home in Bear Lake, Ida- ho, so it was only about a 61/2—h0ur drive to Cowley from Idaho. American Rescue Plan money coming to the county revenue from 2019-2023. It came to nearly $2.3 million. Smallwood continued that the guidelines for the public lands counties are supposed to come out in October. There will be an- other chunk of funding that will come with that. No one has been able to esti— mate what the formula will be and what restrictions it might have. Lindsey explained that the " county would receive half of the money now. She has an inquiry into the county’s CPA on what to do with the money, such as put it in general funds, special line items or more. Smallwood said the current treasury guide— lines do allow for the mon— ies to be put in an interest bearing account. The in- terest earned would come back to the county directly and will have no restric- tions on usage. ALKALI RESERVOIR Justine Paxton and John Joyce from the Nowood Watershed Improvement District appeared before the commission to dis- cuss _the Alkali Reservoir Assessment. The county does an assessment on all of the lands within the dis— trict. Joyce said they were getting ready to start con- struction. The peOple who have bought shares in the reservoir will be the only ones that will be assessed for Operations, ‘mainte- nance and debt retirement. That assessment ‘Will need to be done. He said the district went through the statutory pro- cess to meet the require- ments for the assessment including holding a public HAVE YOU HEARD? More than 5,000 products can be made from recycled paper! hearing. The public hearing was held 29 days previous to this meeting. The statute says the public has 30 days to respond. Joyce asked if the commission would ap— prove the form for the as— sessment at the next com— missioner meeting to allow the 30-day period to pass. Joyce said no one came to the public meeting. AIRPORT/ LAND PLANNING Paul Thur made his first appearance in front of the commissioners as the coun— ty land planner and airport manager. Along with Thur was Stephanie May from Land Planning. May informed the com- mission that since the last time she met with them there have been five new address applications, two new septic applications and three development permits. There are two new major subdivisions and two more on the horizon. ‘ County Assessor Gina Anderson said there has been a parcel increase due to so many people moving in. Thur noted that the Hawkins hangar at the South Big Horn County Air— port had not been removed yet. The hangar needs to be removed for a runway proj- .ect. Commissioner Bruce Jolley said he understood that the airport board gave Hawkins more time, as the replacement hangar had not been completed. Jol— ley also believed that the county was going to help with thedemolition of the old hangar. ROAD AND BRIDGE Shannon Hovey, south end road/bridge supervi— sor, jokingly told the com— ‘u’ mission his department has been having cattle guard cleaning contests. They’ve also been patching a lot of potholes. Hovey and north end road/bridge» supervisor Eric Mann went to look at a chip spreader owned by the Town of Greybull. They wOuld like the county to purchase it. The county will be chip sealing in the next couple of weeks. There was further dis— cussion regarding a fence and cattle guard where Davis Lane and the ben— tonite haul road meet. Jan Barnett brought the is— sue to the county’s atten— tion last month. Commis— sion chair Dave Neves said he had talked to Dale Nutall at Wyo-Ben. Nuttall said he III/ In» would go look at it and very seldom do they see cows there. Neves asked Nut- tall whether if the coun- ty moves the cattle guard it would create a corner that the cows could ball up at on the road. There is a possi— bility that Wyo—Ben would come up with a solution. Hovey said he thought the fence could be fixed in a couple of hours. Commis— sioner Jolley asked, if the fence was fixed, would any additional work like moving the cattle guard need to be done? Hove indicated that fixing the ence would be the simplest way to handle the issue and no addition— al hazards would be created like what would happen if the cattle guard was moved. Commissioner Felix Carrizales stated the coun- ty’s policy is to not fix fence. Neves noted that, in his opinion, everything should be left where it is. Then whatever happens with the fence happens. " Hovey also discussed a sinkhole on HorseshOe Lane. He said the water dis— trict would be dig ingup the road again to a dress a water leak. He has wanted to chip seal the lane, but be- cause of frequent water line leaks he is worried about doing so. ‘ In other business: , 0 Hillary Mulley gave-éa department report on Big Horn County Pubic Health; County maintenance supervisor Jeremy Pouska asked for an executive ses- sion for personnel. 3 AV on TOP orvoun .FlNANCES WITH MOBILE ALERTS: REA. . TIME INFORMATION! Monitor account balances and activity. Control security alerts. [let deposit and withdrawal notiﬁcations. Create your own custom notifications. Notiti mobile alerts are available to all mobile bankin c t mers! AND MUCH MORE!