Fireworks approved in town for July 4

Basin Town Council members at their June 15 meeting agreed to permit fireworks in town on July 4 between the hours of noon and midnight. 

Councilman Mike Dellos said he had received some complaints last year about fireworks going off after midnight. Police Chief Kyle McClure said Basin officers and sheriff’s deputies responded to some of those complaints and found they were not within the town limits. 

Mayor Duncan said he had spoken to the county fire warden and fire chief for BHC Fire District 2. Both indicated they would rather see fireworks in the town than out in the extra dry badlands. 

McClure reminds celebrators to be respectful and to clean up after themselves.  Duncan asked the council to also approve the school shooting off fireworks for touchdowns at home football games. There will likely be four home games. The council approved the request. 

MATTERS OF THE STAFF 

Department reports were provided for public works/water, electrical, police department, and administration. 

Town Administrator Deaun Tigner discussed a meeting she and town engineer Jesse Frisbee had with Lillian Freed and Katie Culver from Rural Utilities Service (RUS), which is a part of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). 

“I asked them what we were doing with our annual loan payment and reimbursements that we were supposed to have. They said they thought we were going to have to do interim financing again. This was not a part of our loan document.” 

She added that the loan document says the town is directly funded from RUS. Tigner said she contacted Barbara Bonds, who told Tigner to hold off that until more information was available. Bonds is an attorney in Cheyenne who practices municipal law and was hired by the town to do its bond work.  

McClure and Tigner have been working on the potential move of the PD to town hall. 

OTHER BUSINESS 

• A public hearing was held for the 2026-27 budget. No public spoke during the hearing. 

• A change order was approved for a chipseal project in the town. 

• A building permit was approved for construction at the Basin Heritage Initiative Commons. 

• The council approved changes to the signature cards at the bank. 

• Ordinance 720 Utility increase passed on the second reading. Audience member Dean Eibert asked for clarification on the increase on commercial garbage collection fees.  The ordinance reads that weekly collection fees are: One collection-$37. Two collections-$54. Three collections-$68. Four collections-$78. Five collections- $88. Each unscheduled collection is $37.70. 

Eibert asked if the commercial fees were per dumpster or just per location as some businesses have more than one dumpster on site. Duncan said it was a great question that he would look into. 

After the meeting, Duncan shared with the newspaper that the fees were per dumpster, not per location. 

The next council meeting is June 25 at 7 p.m.