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December 30, 2010 The Lovell Chronicle I 7
Lovell Middle School
sixth-grade band
trumpet players
Chris Salyer, left,
and Kyle Burton
perform during
the LMS Holiday
Concert on Dec. 20
at the Middle School
Commons.
Lovell Middle School
sixth-grader Kade
Gifford adds rhythm
and harmony to
the music with his
electric bass during
the LMS Holiday
Band Concert on
Dec. 20 at the Middle
School Commons.
DAVID PECK PHOTOS
Continued from page 1
CORDNER
the hole by the end of the
(fiscal) year."
Peterson said Director
B en 'Shert d reported
the JAC that ncreasing
demands on the program
due to the economy have
led to the budget shortfall,
and he also gave the JAC a
refresher course on how the
program works.
"The Dept. of Family
Services is the gate, where
applications come in, but
the Dept. of Health hands
out the dollars," Peterson
said. "The Dept. of Health
has a $1.6 billion budget
for the biennium, and out
of that $1.6 billion, $1.2 bil-
lion is Medicaid."
The cost of the program
is shared 50-50 with the
federal government, Peter-
son said, but because of the
federal involvement, the
federal government dictates
the rules, and he said even
Freudenthal has speculat-
ed about what it would take
for the state to go it alone,
without federal input - and
dollars.
"Our argument is that
the gate is too wide. It lets
too many people in," Peter-
son said. "There's a 'me, too'
atmosphere right now. Dr.
Sherard attributes it to the
unemployment level - too
many people down and out.
It's like a lifeboat but we're
swamping it right now. We
have to peek over the side
and toss out the people who
can swim.
"I'm fearful that we're
going to lose the whole thing
if we don't limit it to people
who truly need it We need
to get our hands around it
and make it more represen-
tative of Wyoming's conser-
vative ways."
Peterson said the gover-
nor's supplemental budget
recommends putting $66.2
million into the Medicaid
budget to cover the short-
fall for the remainder of
the biennium and $25 mil-
lion into the Medicaid Re-
serve Account in the State
Auditor's Office - bringing
that account to $50 million
should enrollment continue
to grow above projections.
AML PROGRAM
The Abandoned Mine
Lands program has about
two years of funding left be-
fore the program comes to
a close, Peterson said, and
he said the JAC received a
report on the current status
of projects. He said AML
money has been used for
clean coal projects and oth-
er needs, so the JAC was
interested in whether there
would be sufficient money
to perform the program's
main function: reclaiming
abandoned mines.
Peterson said Wyoming
Dept. of Environmental
Quality Director John Corra
assured the JAC that Wyo-
ming's abandoned mines
have been reclaimed, but he
said the state is concerned
about how to carry on with
mine reclamation once the
program goes away.
The legislature inject-
ed money during the 2010
budget session into the
state retirement program
to keep it solvent, making
up for a sharp loss of as-
sets due to the stock mar-
ket plunge, Peterson said,
and the JAC heard a report
on the current status of the
fund.
"We put money in last
session to shore it up," he
said, "and it's about where
it was before the stock
crashed. We're still not out
of the woods yet as far as
where we'd like it to be. We
not only want to meet ob-
ligations but also get the
kind of investments so we
don't so heavily depend on
the stock market. We want
a portfolio strong enough
to meet our obligations. So
much of the portfolio was
weighted in stock market
investments.
MONEY FOR LOCAL
GOVERNMENT
Peterson said Gov.
Freudenthal's supplemen-
tal budget recommends ap-
propriating some $52 mil-
lion to local governments,
with $2.6 million directed
toward the local govern-
ment payback of the past
overpayments of mineral
royalty money identified by
the State Treasurer - mon-
ey cities and towns were
initially going to have to
pay back. The remaining
$49.6 million would be split
50-50 between the current
budget's allocation formula
for local governments and
capital construction fund-
ing for local governments
through the county consen-
sus process.
"Gov. Freudenthal
likes the county consensus
process," Peterson said.
"We don't know how much
tweaking Gov. Mead will
want to do with Gov. Freu-
denthal's desires."
With Mead coming in,
the JAC will spend the
first two or three weeks of
the session holding depart-
ment hearings and giving
Gov. Mead the opportunity
to present his budget, Pe-
terson said, and "beginning
markups" to finalize the
supplemental budget ap-
propriations bill, giving the
full legislature time to "look
at it and work it over."
"We'll be working
morning, noon and night
on markups and hearings,"
he said, adding that the
governor's recommended
budget allocated nearly all
of the additional revenue,
leaving only $6.9 million
in discretionary spending
for the legislature to work
with.
He noted that the pro-
posed budget recommends
appropriating an addition-
al $62 million to the School
Facilities Commission for
construction projects to
take advantage of the cur-
rent favorable construction
climate.
Peterson noted that
Senate Appropriations
Committee Chairman Phil
Nicholas (R-Laramie) has
warned members of the
committee that they will
have little time to spon-
sor and support individual
bills. Peterson said he was
working on a bill to enact a
pilot project for enhanced
teacher evaluations, but
he said the bill "may not be
ready for prime time yet.
It's still rough."
Peterson has been the
co-chairman, along with
Rep. Elaine Harvey (R-
Lovell), of the Select Com-
mittee on Developmental
Disabilities, and two bills
will come out of that com-
mittee. He is also the co-
chairman of the Compen-
sation Commission, which
deals with state employee
compensation issues.
The senator will reside
at the Holiday Inn while in
Cheyenne, though he said
he will be home many week-
ends to watch his senior
son, Kyle, play basketball.
He said he can be reached
by e-mail at rpeterson@wy-
oming.com, noting that he
checks his messages fre-
quently. Citizens can also
call him at the Holiday Inn
or leave a message at the
Senate chambers at (307)
777-7711.
Continued from page 1
learn from them. He said
the Department of Audit
Website contains useful in-
formation about what defi-
ciencies other towns had
when going through an au-
dit and he will use that in-
formation to check against
Frannie town business.
There are also a cou-
ple issues that will cost a
lot to fix, but are impor-
tant for the town. Cordner
said those two issues are
hiring a law enforcement
marshal for the town and
improving the town's irri-
gation well. There is cur-
rently no plan in place to
address the two issues, he
said.
"Those are two things I
hope my constituents will
bear with me on," Cordner
said.
However, while looking
at improvements, Cordner
said he will keep in mind
that most Frannie citizens
live very modestly, and av-
erage home prices hover
around $70,000.
"I like to think I'm sen-
sitive to the fact that the
people of Frannie don't
have much," he said.
Cordner will have his
first networking opportu-
nity as Frannie's mayor at
the Wyoming Association
of Municipalities Winter
Conference in January in
Cheyenne.
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Continued from page 1
idents) worked to get the
landmark designation be-
cause we thought it was
something special. It's no
longer special," Grant said.
Bob Cochran, recreation
manager for the Medicine
Wheel/Paintrock District,
said he had not heard any
real conversations about
closing the road. From a
recreation standpoint, he
said, the road provides ac-
cess to a large portion of the
forest,
He said the main con-
versation during the an-
nual meeting was concerns
about ATVs going by dur-
ing a Native American cere-
mony and there were ideas
about stationing someone
at either end of the road to
stop the ATVs or ask them
to go slowly when there was
a ceremony.
"We were trying to find
a solution to staffing and
the road closure was one
option mentioned. I don't
believe it's an option," Co-
chran said.
District Ranger for the
Medicine Wheel/Paintrock
District, Dave Hogen, said,
"I understand your con-
cerns. The Forest Service
wants to work with you, but
it will be challenging to get
it signed by that time."
Grant said the Feb. 1
deadline is to give him time
to stop the expanded bound-
cry from receiving Congres-
sional approval. After that
date, it will be hard to stop.
He added that the coun-
ty engineer is researching
the status of the road and
what work and funding the
county has provided over
the years.
OTHER FOREST NEWS
Cochran said he is in-
terested in the trail system
on the Bighorn National
Forest and is looking at im-
proving the Porcupine Falls
Trail, which is a steep, old
4-wheel drive road: 'There's
a lot of erosion. The visit r
center people don't recom-
mend it because of its con-
dition," Cochran said.
His proposed plan is to
fix the trail in two phases,
first completing the NEPA
(National Environmen-
tal Policy Act) process and
then work on the upper half
of the trail. The trail would
become non-motorized, he
said, with the path follow-
ing the current two-track
through the trees.
The bottom half would
have stairs built out of nat-
ural rock in the area. Esti-
mated cost for the project
would be about $80,000.
He said the project pack-
age would be recommended
to the Resource Advisory
Committee for funding.
Cochran also reported
on the facility analysis com-
pleted on the district. The
analysis was to take a look
at facilities because the dis-
trict is behind on deferred
maintenance projects.
Based on the analysis,
the Cabin Creek Meadows
campground will be shut
down and the Cabin Creek
Campground will be turned
into a picnic area.
He said the facilities
analysis looked at mainte-
nance issues and at other
facilities in the area. The
analysis found that the
Shell Creek and Ranger
Creek campgrounds that
are in the vicinity are un-
der utilized, along with the
Paintrock and Medicine
Lodge Lake campgrounds.
The upper Paintrock
Campground will be closed
based on the analysis and
improvements will be made
to the lower Paintrock
Campground and Medi-
cine Lodge Lake Camp-
ground. Both areas will be
reconstructed to reduce de-
ferred maintenance costs,
and some additional sites
will be built into the sites
to accommodate the sites
lost from closing the upper
campground. Roads will
be improved and new tent
pads added, along with new
picnic tables.
The project is in the
planning stages.
Cochran said he hopes
work can begin this sum-
mer and has requested that
only one campground be
closed at a time, which will
mean work will take two
,summers to complete.
v Regarding winter rec-
reation, Cochran said he
hopes to improve signage in
the district to promote the
winter activities.
He said last Tuesday
that they groomed the An-
telope Nordic Ski Trail once
and are waiting on more
snow. This week he said
they are still waiting on
more snow with the trail
icy and crusty. Once there
is enough snow, the trail
will be groomed weekly.
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