BARGERVILLE – The High Mountain Meadow Water District that serves most of the Barger Subdivision south of Pinedale voted Thursday, Sept. 14, to approve a new residential water system.

The water district board opened its public hearing at Sublette County Weed & Pest, which was attended by just three property owners.

Board chair Sam Bixler and members Richard Smythe and Russell Rhodes discussed monthly amounts of $11.92, or $143 per year, that every lot owner will now have added to property taxes to fund the upgrades. Fellow board members Glenn and Laura Whicker did not attend.

The project includes 8-inch transmission line replacements, a new well, a connection system, water storage and other improvements. Lot and homeowners’ comment period ended Sept. 9.

The project’s estimated cost is $5.6 million, with the Wyoming Water Development Office paying $2.1 million, a Wyoming Drinking Water Revolving Loan Fund grant for $2.1 million and a loan from the revolving fund for $2.543 million. Also, about $450,000 will be granted “in forgiveness.”

Jorgensen Engineering consultants Brian Gray, Corky Stetson and Kolter Booth described the project and the history of Bargerville water service since the system was installed in the 1970s.

“You’re the second largest town in Sublette County,” Stetson said. “These 700 lots are more than Marbleton and Big Piney put together.”

“We’ve been working on this since 2013,” said Booth. “The board was formed in 2012 after (residents) realized they were having some major issues with the water system.”

That year, the Wyoming Water Development Office funded a Level I study and master plan at about $170,000 and found the aging, leaking system, unconnected systems, no backup power and no water storage options.

Some transmission pipes are made of 4-inch PVC glued together, Gray reported, and the old well has dropped to about 35 gpm when used by several Block 8 homeowners at once.

In 2015, the WWDO paid about $490,000 for the Level II study, which included drilling a new test well “at the top of the hill” that turned out to be a good source with good yield, currently putting out 100 gallons per minute that would increase to 110 to 120 gpm in the new system.

“We can purchase that well for 33 percent of the drilling costs alone,” Gray added.

Currently the new well serves all blocks but Block 8, which has an older well that is “not that great and demands exceeds supply.”

When the new system’s top priorities are addressed in “problem areas,” the Block 8 well will be plugged and abandoned.

But that is five or six years down the road “at best,” Gray said, adding they’re installing 10 miles of new water lines.

In the meantime, owners of all 750 lots, vacant or not, will be paying the additional $11.92 a month, Bixler said. He reported an 80-percent compliance for Barger owners’ water payments and said the new bills “will not be voluntary.”

They will appear on property tax bills being sent out now and delinquencies could result in liens against property.

“The state requires (paybacks) are assessed so they are required to be collected,” Gray said. “We can’t connect to the new well unless the district pays for it.”

Bixler said they had hoped “to avoid a giant increase and we did” with grants and the low-cost loan.

But longtime homeowner Bob McCarty said he thought the board had “a communication problem” with getting the word out about the increase.

“We have 300 full-time and part-time owners and we have basically nobody coming (to district meetings),” he said. “But it sounds like a great deal to me. … I’m just concerned about the rebellion we’re going to be facing.”

He asked if a letter could be mailed out but Bixler said the decision had to be made that night as county treasurer Roxanna Jensen was waiting to hear their vote to mail out Bargerville’s tax bills.

“I think we should go ahead – it’s been a long time getting this far down the road,” Smythe said.

Bixler closed the public hearing and returned to the regular meeting.

Rhodes moved to proceed with the water system project and Smythe seconded; all three board members present voted in favor of the High Mountain Meadow Water District upgrades and the $11.92 monthly assessment.

Also, looking toward winter, Gray said it’s time to get the word out to homeowners that they should winterize their homes and to call the Jorgensen team to shut off water. “We don’t want people tampering with the curb stops.”