PINEDALE – The Pinedale Town Council approved a winter water-rate reduction from Nov. 15 to April 14, to enable residents to leave their water running.

During the winter, the town encourages residents to leave water running, in a stream about the size of a pencil lead, to keep water lines from freezing. As part of that, they passed a special water rate for the winter to allow residents to run the first 40,000 gallons per month at no additional costs.

That amount was increased from 20,000 gallons allowed last winter. The additional amount will cost the town an additional $4,190. However, it will save the town staff time and money for making expensive street repairs for frozen lines.

In other actions:

• The appointment of Lora Hittle to the Pinedale Planning and Zoning Commission for a three-year term was confirmed. She was appointed at the previous meeting but the length of the term was incorrectly stated as two years.

• An ordinance was approved on second reading that with changes to the animal code that will prohibit persons keeping aggressive or vicious animal as determined by the municipal court. The ordinance will be up for its third reading at the next meeting, Nov. 26.

• Because the regular Nov. 12 meeting was vacated for the Veterans Day holiday, the next meeting will be Nov. 26, starting at 5 p.m. in the Sublette County Courthouse commissioners meeting room.

• The council went into a closed executive session for litigation and no actions were taken following the session.

• Wyoming Athletic Development was issued a license agreement to use the Real Wyoming Trademark.

• A contract was approved with Rio Verde Engineering for the design and engineering, surveying, testing and inspection for the South Fremont Project. The town has already received a grant for the estimated $400,000 project. The grant limits engineers to only 20 percent of a project, meaning if the project comes in as estimated, the town may have to pay an extra $4,000 to $7,000 of the $84,657 engineering expense.

• Two encroachment agreements were approved for the Pinedale Food Basket. One enables a temporary structure made of heavy canvas to be placed on the south side of the building to protect items that are dropped off. A second agreement enables a cement apron to be located on the east dide of the building where food is stored to allow carts to be used.

• An encroachment agreement was approved for Jorgensen and Associates to install a guardrail for the alley behind 58 S. Tyler Ave. to protect the building from vehicles using the alley.

• A memorandum of understanding was reviewed to propose between Sublette County and the town outlining what will happen when animals are cared for by the town. Animals are taken into custody when an owner is arrested or injured in a crash. The memorandum would outline fees and set out the amount of time the town would care for the animals.

• A proposal from R&D Sweeping was accepted for crack-sealing the bike paths in American Legion and Boyd Skinner parks. The company is currently working in town and agreed to also do the two paths at a cost of $4,500 and to not charge mobilizations costs.

• Ordinances establishing franchise agreements with B-N-C Trash, M&M Transfer and West Bank Sanitation were approved setting an annual fee of $120 for the franchise.

• A temporary use permit was approved for the Dec. 8 Mountain Man Christmas Parade.