Brian Muir, Administrator for the City of Kemmerer, called into the Weekday Wake-Up on Thursday, July 10 with his monthly report for Kemmerer and southern Lincoln County.

A full transcript of the interview can be found below.

(0:00) Joining me live over the phone today is Brian Muir, Administrator for the City of Kemmerer (0:04) with his monthly report from Kemmerer and Southern Lincoln County. Brian, (0:07) good morning. Hope you’re staying cool out there, my friend.
(0:11) Oh yes, the nice thing is we have a pool to keep us cool. Here in Kemmerer, 7,000 feet. I think (0:17) it’s one of a kind.
Absolutely. That does help. Yes, it does help.
Well, Brian, of course, into (0:24) the summertime and, well, into July, which means the big Oyster Ridge Music Festival, (0:30) now just a few weeks away, going to Kemmerer. Yes, and we really appreciate it. It’s under (0:36) new leadership now, Jake Lozier, who is the new President and CEO of the Oyster Ridge.
We’re (0:44) excited. That’s on the 25th and 26th of this month, of July, and we welcome everybody to come (0:52) and see all the great things going on in Kemmerer. Absolutely.
So always a good time, the Oyster (0:57) Ridge Music Festival. Great lineup. Visit them online at their website for the full schedule (1:02) of events.
Brian, what’s happening in Kemmerer and Southern Lincoln County that you’d like to (1:06) mention today? Well, if it’s okay, I’d like to just lightly touch on each of our people who are (1:14) over different areas and what they’re doing and the contribution they’re making. I mean, we just (1:18) passed a $6.3 million budget. Natasha Dears, our Clerk, Treasurer, and Finance and HR Director, (1:28) was instrumental in getting that to happen, and we appreciate the Council supporting us.
It’s got (1:34) almost a half a million dollars in roads, and so it’s a $6.3 million budget. It’s an investment (1:40) in our town and trying to make things better there. I mentioned our pool is open as well.
(1:48) Lois Hicks is helping get the lifeguards ready, and our other staff is making sure the pool is up (1:54) and running, and it’s quite an operation to do it every year. We especially appreciate (2:01) one of the descendants of one of our founding fathers here in Kemmerer, Patrick Qualey III, (2:07) donated significantly to help us keep the pool open. We also have Jamie Thornock over at the (2:15) Events Center helping to get ready for the Goldman Rules Community Picnic coming up in August.
(2:21) The golf course is doing phenomenally well under the new direction of John Tibbetts, (2:26) our Golf and Parks Director. We’ve had tournament success and league success, and the league raised (2:32) over $10,000 for the golf course, and it looks fantastic. A great new start for our golf course (2:39) this year.
Chad Nilsson, our Airport Manager and Public Works Director, is getting ready for (2:45) our fly-in in the airport in September and looking for cars. Anybody want to bring a car to a car (2:52) show, get a hold of us and we’ll get you on the docket. We’ve really enjoyed doing that every (2:58) year.
Our Police Chief, Mike Kari, is doing a great job helping us stay safe. We do have an (3:06) opening for a police officer as well, and we’re trying to stay on top of all the ordinances. This (3:13) is the time of year when all those pesky weeds get going.
So those are some things that I (3:19) appreciate. We have a good staff support and good council and mayor support here to help continue (3:26) to make this a great community. Well, and as you mentioned, Brian, those are just kind of the (3:30) department heads, if you will, and then there’s more and more people behind the scenes that work (3:34) with those people.
So it really does take a whole community to run the community, right? (3:40) Yes, it does. And we’ve got great staff and we appreciate all that they do. And (3:48) they’re the unsung heroes, I guess you could say, on the front lines as well.
(3:52) Brian Muir, Kemmerer City Administrator with us on the Weekday Wake-Up this morning. (3:55) Very well said. Appreciate that, Brian.
Anything else you’d like to mention (3:58) while we have you on the air today? We’re really excited that under the (4:04) Trump administration that they’ve accelerated the nuclear plant permissioning, if you will. (4:11) It’s looking really good and on time. Everything is looking for 2030 to have the nuclear plant (4:19) done.
Things are already moving on the earthworks side of things here and the permissioning side (4:26) from the federal side. It’s exciting to hear some progress there. I’m actually getting ready to go (4:32) to Wyoming Community Days at the INL, the Idaho National Laboratory, July 15th and 16th near Idaho (4:39) Falls, where we’re celebrating kind of the victory that we’ve had in the nuclear industry here in (4:45) Wyoming and progress in the future that we have there.
So I’m honored to be a part of that. (4:52) Absolutely. And of course INL, just in eastern Idaho, and they’ve been doing nuclear power (4:57) there for quite some time.
And so probably a good learning opportunity, right? (5:02) Oh, yes. Yeah. There’s a lot of networking opportunity and learning opportunity.
(5:06) I’ve actually recently spoken there and at a previous conference. And so it’s just fun that (5:14) people are, we’re getting on the map with nuclear. It’s just exciting for Wyoming and for Lincoln (5:20) County and for Kemmerer, of course.
That’s Brian Muir, Kemmerer City (5:24) Administrator with his monthly report here on the Weekday Wake-Up. Brian, (5:27) appreciate it as always. Anything we missed you’d like to touch on today? (5:30) Oh, I think I covered everything that I can.
Other than my grandson, speaking of staying cool, (5:37) two of my grandsons are up here. Last night we went to, we have a nice (5:42) pool at the indoor pool at the school. And they spent last night doing that.
And I think (5:48) they’re planning on going to the outdoor pool today. So lots of participation from the youth (5:53) and the community in the pool. And it’s just great to have that asset.
And we appreciate (5:58) to all those who made that happen this year. Absolutely. Well, and as you mentioned, (6:02) the weather is fitting for it.
So it’s a good time of year to be doing that. That’s Brian (6:06) Muir, Kemmerer City Administrator. Brian, thank you so much for your time.
We’ll talk next month. (6:10) Thanks. Bye-bye.
It’s the Weekday Wake-Up this morning on SBI Radio.