Sundance to seek new fire insurance rating

The Sundance City Council will seek a new Insurance Service Office (ISO) evaluation on the recommendation of Fire Chief Chris Tomford. With improvements to the city water system now in place and better training and maintenance records within the fire department, Tomford believes the city could score higher on the assessment.

House insurance is dependent on that rating, said Mayor Paul Brooks, so it could indeed be worthwhile to seek a new evaluation.

“We have the opportunity to maybe see an improvement in that ISO number and help people’s insurance premiums,” he commented, noting that the fire department’s trucks are newer since the last assessment and the city had only three hydrants that met code before improvements such as looping the system and fixing pressure valves were complete; now, he said, there are more than ten.

Tomford was directed to move ahead with implementing a new ISO evaluation.

At last Tuesday’s meeting, the mayor also reported on a meeting held with consultants and Powder River Energy to look at the specifics of bringing natural gas to Sundance. The cost of doing so is significantly higher than the city has means to invest, he said.

That’s not to say the project cannot happen, he added, but it did transpire that it may not be feasible to team up with Pine Haven; two separate lines could be more cost effective. The city has been given some homework to gather data, he told the council, and the conversation will then be continued.

Public Works Director Mac Erickson reported on preparations for the Sundance Winter Festival, telling the council that work will begin on Thursday to truck snow onto Main Street, beginning at the hardware store and moving east. The street will be closed at this point.

The reason for the change, Erickson said, is so that the snow can be spread from the edge of the course, rather than dumping it in the center and spreading it outwards. In previous years, this has led to there not being enough compaction in the middle of the course, he said.

The mayor commented that he is hoping the festival will be bigger than ever this year as Deadwood may no longer be hosting their own ski joring event.

Karla Greaser of Trihydro reported on the project to replace a water storage tank in the canyon area, telling the council that the 50 percent level design is complete and initial comments have been received from Wyoming Water Development that suggest some components are not eligible for funding according to their guidelines. Trihydro is now working to understand their concerns and see if the design can be fixed or altered, she said.

A change order was passed for the Old Stoney renovation project to clean up a couple of items. The change order was for a total of $4122.

City Attorney Mark Hughes asked the council if they have had sufficient time to consider the example ordinance he presented last month regarding the rights of communications companies to place equipment on public rights of way without the need for consent from the city.

“I would probably simplify it significantly,” he said of the hefty document. The council approved that Hughes move ahead with developing a version for Sundance.

The next meeting of the Sundance City Council is scheduled for March 5.