Kemmerer City Administrator Brian Muir joined SVI to discuss a range of upcoming projects and issues that affect the city.

We will highlight them here:

All West Communications expansion project

Muir discussed the upcoming expansion project for All West Communications in the next couple of months which was also highlighted in a recent city council meeting. He says they started with expanding the fiber optic network last summer. Due to a late start it didn’t go as far as the city originally wanted.

“There is a lot of demand amongst our residents and citizens for fiber,” Muir said. “It’s also an economic development driver of course.”

This means that individuals will be able to use fiber for a new business or feel more comfortable working from home. Right now most of the local businesses have the service, but this new project will also be available to citizens.

He says the company hopes to start April 1 depending on weather. The first half of the summer will be focused on the Diamondville area with the second half moving to the rest of Kemmerer.

Changes to the Kemmerer Fishing Pond

Muir says the Wyoming Game and Fish presented ideas for some changes to the Kemmerer Fishing Pond and these plans also made sense to the city council.

Right now you can only catch one fish per day. It wants to change that to match the creel limit with the Hams Fork River which is six. He says this will help get more youth excited about fishing.

“One of the challenges is people would come here then they’d catch their fish and then they’d have to go home,” Muir said. “Good opportunity for the youth to catch their fish with their parents.”

Rocky Mountain Power workers to come shortly for Naughton Power Plants overhaul

Muir says there are estimates of 200-300 temporary workers that will come for this project and the city is going to do its best to help them feel welcome.

“We’ve reached out to our local businesses,” Muir said. “To be prepared for the welcoming of these folks to the area.”

He also says these types of things help the local economy and the city is really grateful for it.

Other projects citizens may want to know about

Muir also discussed other projects that people may want to know of. For example, the pool had to close last summer due to some problems. It is one of just a few outdoor pools in the state and some cracks were discovered.

He says there is a firm that is ready to come repair it and make some upgrades once the weather permits them to including the kiddie pool. The city is hoping to get funding for that through some grants. He also says that the heating and the domestic water systems for the Recreation Center are 35 years-old and require some upgrades and so once construction begins on that, areas of the building will be closed. There is no date for work to begin right now as the city has to come to terms on a contract with a business.

He says there is a strong focus on the downtown redevelopment and the JCPenney statue. He thanked all those that donated to the funding needed to get the statue. He also says the city is working with committees to improve the look, but to continue to give that 1920’s-1940’s shopping feel to the downtown area.

He says the biggest area of focus right now is trying to save the Golden Rule Store which is the “oldest store built right now”. He says it is on the National Register and so it is trying to get some grants going to help the owners to try and preserve the building.