Lincoln County Commissioner Mel Shumway stepped into the SVI Radio studio on Monday, July 28 for the monthly report from the commission. Shumway discussed a number of items including the U.S. Forest Service Revision Plan and logging in the Bridger-Teton, grant funding approved for the Afton-Lincoln County Airport, update on the Strawberry Rd. construction project, the public comment period for TerraPower’s construction permit and a statement on the current status of septic tank dumping in Lincoln County.

A full transcript of the interview can be found below.

 

(0:00) Joining me in studio this morning is Lincoln County Commissioner Mel (0:03) Shumway and the monthly report from the County Commission. (0:06) Commissioner Shumway up next in the rotation. Good morning, (0:09) Commissioner.

How are you today? (0:10) Doing great, dude. Thanks for having me here. (0:12) Absolutely.

Appreciate your time as always. And as always, a lot, a lot going on. (0:17) There’s a lot going on.

It is. It’s exciting though. (0:20) Well, one thing that we’ve been talking about on radio and we’ve had some updates, (0:24) there’s been some public comment meetings and more up and coming.

(0:27) The revision plan for the U.S. Forest Service has been in the works for quite a while and what’s the (0:33) discussions been between the county and the Forest Service on this? (0:36) Well, we’re trying to stay in constant contact with them. We are one of the cooperating agencies (0:42) we would like to have been in a little earlier, but we got that ironed out. (0:47) The draft assessment is out and it’s the first step in the multi-year process to update the (0:52) forest plan, provide the summary of that state of the forest, kind of a snapshot in time.

(0:58) Right now, the information is the current ecological, social, and economic conditions (1:05) and the trends that are affecting the Bridge of Teton Forest. And public comments are open. (1:11) There’s been some open houses, been one held here in Afton.

There was one in Kemmer. (1:16) Last week, I walked through and visited with Chad Hudson, the forest supervisor. (1:20) There’s a couple this week in Rock Springs and Evanston.

The one of note is going to be (1:26) August 7th in Alpine. No, August 21st in Alpine, Big Piney on August 7th. So, (1:33) if you get a chance, walk through these open houses.

They have some storyboards, picture boards, (1:38) some timelines. They kind of discuss what they’re looking at and it’s just a good time to interact (1:44) with that upper Bridge of Teton team. I don’t know that you can understate too much (1:50) kind of how big the revision is because it really does kind of set the path for how it’s going to (1:55) be managed for the next several years, right? Correct.

And so, being out and involved in this (1:59) as someone who recreates or does anything in the forest is a big deal. Yeah, they call it a 10-year (2:04) plan. The last 10-year plan was 1990.

Yeah. So, yeah. My, how time flies.

(2:11) Absolutely. So, again, you can be part of that plan and we’ll have more details on that as it (2:16) goes on. And other updates within the Bridge of Teton, specifically, they’re working on some (2:21) logging permits that are kind of a unique way, it sounds like.

Yes. Yeah. There’s a few timber (2:25) sales.

We went with Adam Kalkins a couple of weeks ago through the Kemmer District and looked at a (2:31) couple of sales. There’s one ongoing now. There’s a Little Spring salvage sale and an Allen slide (2:38) rock sale that’ll be coming up later this year.

Those are some substantial 200-250 acre sales. (2:46) The other thing is some smaller partials coming up. And these are more individualized and smaller (2:53) and geared more towards probably a hobbyist that needs a little lumber or timber products for some (3:00) furniture making, maybe firewood.

And you can go in and get these smaller permits and you own that (3:06) little lot. And they’re going to be, you know, up to an acre, a couple of acres worth. And it’s (3:11) kind of in cohorts with, in conjunction with their vegetation management along their roadside (3:19) treatments.

And it’s kind of a pilot program, pilot project this year. You can stop in the (3:25) Kemmer Ranger District and the Grays River Ranger District and get more information on that. (3:31) Hopefully that will pick up and have a little more interest because I think it’s a good (3:35) opportunity for individuals to get smaller partials that they can utilize as they see fit.

(3:42) Thank you, County Commissioner Mel Shumway in the studio for the Weekday Wakeup this morning. (3:46) In a recent commission meeting, the commission voted to approve grant funding for the Afton (3:50) Leakey County Airport. Tell us what this grant is for and what the money is going to be used for.

(3:55) Yeah, this is a two-part grant. It’s an FAA construction grant and it was presented to (4:02) the commission in two parts and it will expand the taxi lane of the airport. These two grants (4:08) in conjunction should cover the entire cost of the $459,000 plus improvement projects.

So it’s (4:16) really nice to get these grants from the FAA. And it’s just forthcoming. So that’s really all (4:23) I have on that.

Okay. And Commissioner, also just maybe an update on the construction project (4:30) happening in the Narrows area near the rest area of Star Valley with the Strawberry Road. (4:33) Looks like that’s coming right along.

Yeah, the Strawberry Realignment Project. This is (4:37) going to be nice to get done. It’s really not impacted traffic because it’s a new road cutting (4:42) through, but it sure is going to enhance the safety, visibility, and the flow through that (4:48) bottleneck right there in the Narrows.

I visited with Matt McLeod last week. He’s the road and (4:54) bridge foreman for the county and they have got final grade achieved. They’ve finished up final (4:59) grade last week.

Paving will start the second week of August and get the blacktop asphalt (5:04) laying down. The county’s been working very close with the contractor and with the state. (5:11) The county has provided some concrete pillars to come over for the cattle guard and the state (5:17) kicked in a cattle guard and that’s going to save about $15,000 to $20,000 on that project.

(5:22) It’s not a lot, but it does help quite a bit. So anything we can do on the county to help (5:28) find and reuse repurposed stuff, we’re willing to do that and I’m glad that Matt and his crew (5:33) was able to find and bring that over to help out. It will be really, really nice, as you said, (5:40) to have that done.

Just the safety on the corner, that extra site. At the beginning of this (5:46) project when it was still being discussed, there was some ideas of maybe expanding the park and (5:51) ride and a bus stop and those types of things. Have those been still part of the project or (5:57) maybe down the future? Down the future, in the future, those are things to look at in the future.

(6:01) As of now, they just want to get the one approach into the rest area completed and then the (6:06) asphalting done. So that’s really the focus for this year, but that’s not out of the realm for (6:13) future expansion and use on those areas. Lincoln County Commissioner Mel Shumway on the weekday (6:17) wake up this morning.

Commissioner, let’s talk TerraPower. They’ve begun construction on some (6:22) of the nuclear facility south of Kemmer, but I understand a comment period is open now for (6:28) another construction permit. Tell us what this is.

Yeah, they’ve been, they broke ground that are (6:33) building the training center right now. So public comment is open for the construction permit, (6:40) which is yet to be granted for the actual nuclear facility. Public comments are open until August (6:46) 4th, and you can go to the NRC, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and put comments in on (6:53) there.

They’re hoping to have that permit issued by December. It’s kind of been accelerated and (7:00) the time frame’s been bumped up, but they’re prepared. Sat in last week with the NRC and (7:05) talked about the environmental.

The things that they’re looking at and wanting public comment on (7:11) are the environmental review, archaeological review, and the socioeconomic review. So right (7:18) now the public comment is open for that environment for that review and comments can be made up till (7:23) August 4th on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission website. Okay, and that’s happening right now (7:30) for TerraPower’s construction permit.

Lincoln County Commissioner Mel Shumway. Mel, we had a (7:35) great chat earlier in the month already with Stephen Allen, of course, the chief of staff (7:39) talking about septic dumping in Lincoln County and changes to that. Anything new or worth (7:46) mentioning as far as what things they’re looking at or where the direction the county’s going? (7:52) Yeah, it has been discussed previously, but to recap, the county started studying this issue (7:57) about a year ago.

We’ve hosted a meeting with cities and commercial septic pumping companies. (8:03) The next step is ongoing to continue to gather the data on the septic volumes generated, (8:09) and which systems are willing and capable of handling that actual volume at this time. So (8:15) it’s still ongoing, but we’d like to note that Leisure Valley, which is a private lagoon system, (8:20) has stepped up to assist if possible.

So that’s going to be kind of some immediate help and (8:26) relief, so that’ll be nice to work with them. But we’re still kind of evaluating systems around the (8:30) county to see who can handle and what improvements we can maybe help them out with, but it’s still (8:38) ongoing. Now, one of the underlying issues with this, and this is, if I’m understanding correctly, (8:42) one of the reasons the third-party study was done is groundwater, and are the septic systems (8:48) going to be, or are they, or could they potentially cause groundwater issues? What (8:53) were the results from that study? Did anything come out from that? (8:57) The one study is still ongoing to identify some of that.

Yeah, the study right now that is done (9:06) was mainly evaluating some of the holding and the lagoon systems and the volumes and how they could (9:11) enhance them to accept more and to process more quicker, faster. So the groundwater study is still (9:19) ongoing and won’t be wrapped up for a little bit longer. Anything we missed, Commissioner, (9:24) you’d like to mention while we have you on the air today? Yeah, the courthouse, district courthouse (9:29) expansion in Kemmerer.

We had a nice groundbreaking ceremony a couple of weeks ago on the 15th, (9:36) this project’s been on the book for quite some time due to some ADA, some American Disability (9:41) Act concerns with the second floor of the current courthouse, the old courthouse. So this has been (9:47) an ongoing project and ground is going to be starting to be dug up this week, and it’s going (9:53) to be about a one-year project to get that district court expansion out there. I would like to note (9:59) that the county saved for this for a number of years, so this is basically a cash project that (10:05) the county has been putting into a capital fund to pay for this district court expansion.

(10:12) And it’s been fun to work with the various departments utilizing that district court, (10:18) the give and take on different finishings and floorings and how we can save money but yet have (10:27) it safe and secure and aesthetically pleasing too. So it’s been a good mix to work with the (10:33) various people. So that’s going to be going on out in Kemmerer, and it’s just an addition to that (10:38) Justice Center out there that’s currently there, and it’ll just be an add-on, and it’ll be (10:42) more secure, more compliant, and a better facility.

Much more convenient as well, right, (10:48) just to have it right next to the Justice Center. It will be absolutely more convenient. Lincoln (10:52) County Commissioner Mel Shumway, it is the Weekday Wake-Up.

Commissioner, thank you for your time. (10:56) Thank you, Duke. It’s all part of the SVI Radio Network on SWIFT 98 and the SPUR.