Sale of surplus equipment goes toward grant match funds.
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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