County sells old equipment to benefit Hoback Ranches' roads

Holly Dabb
Posted 12/14/18

Sale of surplus equipment goes toward grant match funds.

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County sells old equipment to benefit Hoback Ranches' roads

Posted

PINEDALE – Need a used fire truck?

Maybe a cattle guard? Sublette County Commissioners

chose high bidders for 43 miscellaneous

vehicles, 100 used culverts of odd sizes

and cattle guards. The sales generated nearly

$60,000 in a recent silent auction.

The sales of surplus equipment are designed

to clean out county building of unused vehicles,

snow plows and equipment, also referred

to as “junk,” and happen every couple years,

according to County Clerk Mary Lankford.

The bids were awarded at the Dec. 18 Board

of Sublette County Commissioners’ meeting

with Chairman Andy Nelson and commissioners

Joel Bousman, David Burnett, Tom Noble

and Mack Rawhouser in attendance.

This year, representatives for Hoback

Ranches had asked that the used culverts not

be sold but be donated to the homeowners’ association

to repair roads damaged during the

Roosevelt Fire.

Commissioner Rawhouser said the culverts

would generate $23,000 to $25,000 in

the auction and that could be used as a county

match in the grant process. However, the cost

to the homeowners’ association to buy new

culverts would exceed $100,000.

Commissioners were initially willing to

withhold the culverts from the sale. Road and

Bridge Supervisor Billy Pape said he had room

to store the culverts until representatives from

the homeowners’ association could look at

them and determine what is needed. However,

Pape said the used culverts are all different

sizes and conditions and Hoback Ranches may

not want all of them.

Lankford said that would muddy the process.

She said it would be difficult to value the

culverts for a grant match since they were all

used. She added, that the residents of Hoback

Ranches might not need them all.

“We deliver the whole load of culverts and

they may only need five,” Lankford asked.

“Then what?”

The county couldn’t put them out to bid because

the first bids were opened and revealed,

“tipping their hand” to potential competitive

bidders, Nelson said. If they went back to the

original bidder, a buyer may not have funds

next spring after Hoback Ranch residents decided

what is needed.

She recommended awarding the bids to the

highest bidder. Many of the culverts brought

no bidders and those could be reserved for

Hoback Ranches. She said the proceeds from

the entire sale, including vehicles culverts and

cattle guards, could be set aside as matching

funds for Hoback Ranches grants.

“That’s a much cleaner process,” Lankford

said.

Commissioners approved a motion unanimously

to set aside the proceeds from the entire

sale for a county match in grant applications.

As high bids were awarded, commissioners

Burnett and Noble abstained when family

members had submitted bids.

Also during the meeting, commissioners

sent representatives for the Sublette County

Unified Fire back to the bidding process.

Pinedale Battalion Chief Wil Gay said the

department needs a new command vehicle that

could seat many people that travel for training

or to a fire. The vehicle would also pull several

trailers with fire equipment.

Gay said he solicited the two local dealers

and a third out-of-town dealer.

However, commissioners questioned why

the three bids were for such different vehicles

and only one was for a three-quarter-ton chassis.

He was asked to revise specifications so

each dealer would bid for similar vehicles.

In other actions:

• Commissioners met with state legislators

including Rep.-elect Jim Roscoe (District No.

22), Rep. Albert Sommers (District No. 20),

Sen. Fred Baldwin (District No. 14) and Sen.

Dan Dockstader (District No. 16) about upcoming

bills at the legislative session.

• Representatives for Harris Corp. gave an

update on county’s communication process,

saying things are moving forward and still in

the projected time frame.

• Representatives for Marbleton asked that

money left over from a 2014 consensus funding

project be given back to the town of Marbleton

to be used for a sewer treatment project.

The funds were initially divided by the towns

of Pinedale, Marbleton and Big Piney. However,

Big Piney had a major project and Marbleton

offered to give their funds to Big Piney.

Once completed in 2016, $189,000 remains on

the books.

Initially, commissioners had suggested

those funds could be used to match grants for

the Hoback Ranches. However, town officials

reminded commissioners that projects using

those funds must be approved by 70 percent of

the towns and the county. n