October Council Minutes
October 7, 2025
Those Present: Greg Kunz, Trenton Morrell, Marty Nate, Tee Steadman, Mayor Steve Waechtler, Maintenance Shane Clark & Hadley Wright, Sheriff Bart Heslington, Addison Ochsenbein from Sunrise Engineering, Steve Liechty from Rocky Mountain Power, JJ Murphy from Intermountain Gas, Cole Smith
Meeting called to order: 7:00 pm Invocation: Mayor Steve Waechtler
The council entertained a motion from Councilor Greg Kunz to approve the published agenda and was seconded by Councilor Trenton Morrell. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
The minutes from September 2, 2025, were read aloud by Mayor Waechtler. Councilor Trenton Morrell made the motion to accept the minutes as read and Councilor Greg Kunz seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion carried the council. Greg asked a follow up question for an update on the tractor being donated. The guys have got a new battery but still have not been able to get the tractor to start.
Addison Ochsenbein with Sunrise Engineering came to give an update on the Transportation Plan. He said they gathered the data from the cameras put up last month and there were about 3200 vehicles a day on the highway and 5-600 vehicles along Stringtown. They are working on a draft for the conditions of the roads. He asked about the growth in the City and the council reported that the mine said it should have a big impact on the growth and estimated about 200 families between here and Soda. They keep pushing it’s out another 10+ years before being in operation. There will probably be minimal growth within the City aside from the mine. Addison asked if we need improvements at the intersections or request turning lanes, etc. He reported they will have more to share and some exhibits at our next meeting in November. He also reported that DEQ’s water and sewer grants are just not available and they are expressing that Cities need to fund their own systems.
Police Report: Sheriff Bart Heslington came before the Council and presented his report for the month of September. They worked 62 hours, made 116 contacts, and of those resulted in 21 traffic stops, 21 citations, 2 written warnings and 9 verbal warnings. He asked if there are any concerns and the Mayor responded why are there still so many stops and so little citations. Sheriff responded that there are lots of contacts but they are not always traffic related. It was noted that the Police Department will never be revenue building and did we hire them to make money or to protect and serve the City? Sheriff said that Lynette can send emails to him with individual concerns. He brought brochures to share with the public for safety concerns although nothing is digital to share online.
JJ Murphy of Intermountain Gas Company came before the Council to discuss renewing the Ordinance for the Franchise Agreement. The previous agreement was for 40 years and expires in the spring. They give back 3% from all customers within City limits and their policy has always been 3% back. Councilor Trenton Morrell made the motion to accept the Ordinance #116 to renew the Franchise Agreement for a term of 20 years and Councilor Greg Kunz seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken and is as follows: Marty – yes, Tee – yes, Greg – yes, Trenton – yes. Motion carried the council. JJ said once the signatures are taken care of, they will pay for the Ordinance to be published in the News Examiner.
Steve Leichty from Rocky Mountain Power came before the Council to discuss the possibility of updating the Cities street lights to LED lights. He presented a report that showed it would take about 3 years to pay for themselves. They will service any issues during the 10-year warranty period. After that, we would take care of maintaining and he suggested to set the money aside from the savings each month to pay for the repairs. The City has 36 lights and they would cost $213.50 per light. One problem with our current lights is they don’t have parts anymore to fix a lot of them. The council said that the lights that are bad, we should update to LED. The cost to update all of our lights would be $7,677.00. Councilor Tee Steadman made the motion to have Steve Leichty draw up a contract to update all the lights to LED lights and Councilor Greg Kunz seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion carried the council. Steve also recommended the City apply for the RMP Foundation Grant to help pay for the new playground equipment. Those applications are due by June 15th.
It is time to prepare and file the Wastewater Reuse Annual Report with DEQ for the Land App site. Councilor Greg Kunz made the motion to have Keller Associates prepare the report and have the Mayor sign the contract. Councilor Trenton Morrell seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
Cole Smith came before the Council to discuss the Land App Hay Lease. There has been a 5-year agreement with 3 Mile Dairy, which expires this year, and it says it is up to the Council to renew or put up for re-bid. Lynette reported that it was opened for bid before and only one was received from 3 Mile Dairy. The council said to re-bid where it has been opened before. Lynette will advertise for both properties to be leased and will post at the Post Office and in the paper. It was suggested to still hire Cole to do the fall work in case his bid doesn’t get renewed and to pay them separately for that. Shane will let Jordan Crane personally know that property will be up for bid as well. The bids will be opened at a Special Council meeting next Wednesday, October 15th at 12:00 pm and bids will be accepted until 5:00 pm on October 14th.
The City would like to host the Trunk or Treat again this year and it will be held on Friday, October 31st. Since there is no school that day, it was decided to move it up to 4:00 pm to take advantage of warmer weather and so kids can get a head start for the night. Lynette will post flyers and distribute to the school.
Councilor Marty Nate reported that she has been in touch with Miles Cook at the rock shop in town to install benches for Officer Martinez and The Onstines. It will cost about $800-1000. It was suggested to include all previous Officers names on the bench which would include John Martinez, Rex Skinner, Tom Hayes and Bob Kropushek. The bench for The Onstines would cost about $600.00. The council decided to leave it up to Marty for what to order and the wording. She asked who fixes the headstones that are broken at the cemetery. She’s noticed some broken due to cracks and separating and grass growing in the middle of them now. It was suggested to notify the families so they can decide how to take care of them.
Councilor Tee Steadman let the council know of some issues going on along Hayes Lane and they have also been reported to the Sheriff Department that there might be tenants in a motor home and some of their activities. He said we need to help the Sheriff keep watch and report things we see happening there.
Maintenance Report: Shane Clark gave their report for the month of September stating that he and Hadley took water samples to the lab, serviced the PRV valves, delivered chlorine to the water tank, did some utility locates, trimmed trees, checked the fence around the spring. They are done land applying for the year and have winterized at the sewer ponds. They have done some mowing and found a great deal for a snow plow they purchased at an online auction from Ritchie Brothers in Utah for $13,875.00 and it also has 4-wheel drive.
Office Report: There are 20 delinquent water and sewer accounts for the month of September. There is a scheduling conflict with our next meeting date and the Elections held in November because they use the City Hall for a polling place. The next meeting date was moved to the following evening on Wednesday, November 5th. She also reported that her computer has been giving her the fits and is just barely out of warranty. She is going to look into finding where to get it fixed but thinks it just needs a new fan because it overheats and then shuts off. Because of that, she will be slow with getting accounts updated until she can get the computer fixed.
The chair entertained a motion from Councilor Tee Steadman for the council to approve checks and vouchers for the month of September 2025 in the amount of $51,335.38 in the general fund, $15,282.86 in the water fund, and $22,737.24 in the sewer fund, with all funds totaling $89,355.48. Councilor Greg Kunz seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
The chair entertained a motion from Councilor Tee Steadman that council adjourns from the October 2025 council meeting at 9:00 pm. Councilor Greg Kunz seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
Respectfully submitted,
Lynette Smith, City Clerk-Treasurer