Manderson fire protection restored

Big Horn County Fire District No. 3 Chairman Joe Wildman and Worland Fire Protection District Chief Chris Kocher attended the Oct. 12 meeting of the Manderson Town Council to discuss the possible reinstatement of fire protection.
Earlier this year, District No. 3 pulled fire protection from the town. Prior to that, the insurance company for the district requested documentation that the fire hydrants in the town had been maintained and tested. If such records could not be produced, the insurance company directed the district to no longer provide protection within the town limits.
No such documentation was found so the protection was pulled. Since then, the town has been working on the hydrants, which included replacing and/or fixing as well as testing.
Councilman Tim Patrick said, “Basically everything has been flow tested, static tested. Like we said at the last meeting, there was one fire hydrant by Randy Brown’s that did not work.” The town has ordered a new one and it will be there and installed the following week. Nowood Construction will do the work. There is a fire hydrant by the Hi Way Café that has a crack in the top of it. The town is hoping that the top off the one being replaced can be placed on this hydrant.
Wildman told the council that the council had already addressed many of the district’s concerns. Additionally, the district would like a map of all the hydrants within the town. This will help when other fire districts come to help fight fires. Councilman Patrick said he believes the town has a map; they just need to find it.
Town resident and volunteer firefighter Dennis Chambers told Wildman there is a map at the fire hall. Fire Chief Barbara Wall said she would provide copies to the district.
Wildman asked for re-verification that the town had float and pressure tested the hydrants. He would like the documentation so it may be sent to the insurance company.
He brought a contract for the reinstation of the fire protection that could be signed at this meeting. The contract was signed and is valid as long as the town provides documentation of the testing to the district.
The town plans to test again in the spring and will do so twice a year for a few years so there is a record of the testing to satisfy the state.
Wall explained that ever since fire protection was pulled, she has been harassed and belittled because some people were saying it was her fault. “I didn’t do this. I didn’t start this. I didn’t find out about it until just before you guys did,” said Wall. “I want to publicly say that I did not do this to the town. I have been trying to work with the council for the last year to try to get the fire hydrants done.  The board (fire) came to me and asked me why I hadn’t told them yet. I would like the harassment and belittling to stop.”
Wildman said it should stop, since the town has protection again. He told the council that the only way the district could get their attention is to do what they did.
Councilman Patrick pointed out the hydrant issue has been ongoing for years and the last council should have been held responsible also.
Wildman agreed there was enough blame to go around. The council moved to sign the contract.
PUBLIC COMMENTS
During the public comments portion of the meeting, former Mayor Dennis Chambers asked for a clarification about a comment Mayor Patrick made at a previous council meeting. The comment made by Patrick stated there was a $5,000 bill left over from the previous administration that the town needed to pay. Chambers was the mayor of the previous administration and he wanted to know what that bill was.
Mayor Patrick replied there was bill out there from the previous administration that hadn’t been paid. He asked Councilwoman Julie Williams for clarification. She said there was a bill from 2021. The town recently received correspondence from the company that the bill had not been paid. The town records show that it was paid. The amount was around $1,100, not $5,000.  The town asked the company to research the bill further while the town was going to look at bank statements from that time to see if the payment had gone through.
The mayor said he had been told by someone that there was a bill from Energy Labs that was overdue for over a year. He apologized that he was mistaken.
Bud Ruffing asked to speak during public comment. He was told by Mayor Patrick that normally the public comment portion is limited to citizens, but he said Ruffing could speak at this time. Ruffing noted he is the husband of the former clerk Lisa Ruffing. He asked if it was necessary to give her a police escort from the building when the town fired her.  Mayor Patrick stated it was in the town’s policy and that the town didn’t fire Lisa. Ruffing stated that Lisa had given the town two weeks’ notice but that she was fired “on the spot.” The mayor said that it was his prerogative to do so. He continued that he would not continue to discuss as this was a personnel issue. “Everybody that gets released has a police escort out of here. We have too much information in that office. That’s the way it works.”
OTHER BUSINESS
Williams gave the clerk/treasurer report. The town’s enterprise account has $25032.75, the police account has $252,771.90, the general account has $7,698.28, and the community account has $51,976.06.
• Mayor Patrick noted that public comments were going to be just once per meeting, instead of twice.
• Police Chief BJ Kidgell gave his department report. There will be a highway clean-up on Oct. 14. The Halloween party is Oct. 28, 4-6 p.m. at town hall.
• Bury provided copies of surveys about how blinking speed signs are effective. She asked the council and residents to review the info.
• Court Clerk Janet Reasoner gave the court report.
• A building permit request from Wall for a fence was on the agenda. Wall told the council she hasn’t had time to fill out the paperwork. The mayor asked the council if they wanted a diagram of the proposed permanent fence or should they just vote to pass it. Councilwoman Judy Bury said she would like to know where and what the fencing was going to be. Wall explained her plans. A motion was made to approve the permit once it is filled out.
• Resident Travis Study asked the council about the abandonment of School Avenue.  The mayor said he and this council were not involved when the process started. He asked Study to give this council some time to research.