EVANSTON — At the start of the Uinta County Economic Development Commission (UCEDC) meeting on Wednesday, June 28, Chair Dan Wheeler asked for an addition to the agenda to have a discussion regarding the letter to Governor Mark Gordon that had been approved at the May 24 meeting of the commission. The addition to the agenda was approved.

Brent Hatch said he had found a statistic stating the average price of homes in Mountain View was now at $272,000, which was a $20,000 change over the last year.

Providing the website report, Community Development Director Rocco O’Neill said, “The redesign of the economic development website should be starting by the end of July. We will be modernizing the site and we are right in the middle of Google transitioning to their new format. We started fresh with the city’s new budget in July and I’ll start working on a marketing campaign.”

Wheeler said additions to the website will be two articles regarding the Evanston airport development and Airport Day. He announced a new meeting schedule, which includes alternate meetings to be held at the Lyman Town Hall — except for some of the meetings during winter months, which will continue to be held in Evanston.

Wheeler asked Conrad if he could arrange a tour of the TATA mines for the commission and Conrad said he would be happy to do that.

The commission spent the rest of the time discussing the fate of the vacant Wyoming State Hospital (WSH) buildings and questioning the letter of support they had agreed to write for Joe Westerman.

At the May 24 meeting of the commission, contractor Joe Westerman attended to ask the commission for a letter of support to the state. Westerman builds, owns and manages multi-family dwellings and is asking the state for a delay on the demolition of the old WSH buildings in order to have time to do a redevelopment study of the vacant buildings.

Commission member Brent Hatch said, “Just so everyone knows, the Evanston Historic Preservation Commission wrote a letter of support for Westerman.”

UCEDC director Gary Welling said, “When SWOT (Southwest Wyoming Off-road Trails) came and asked for a letter of support, we provided it. We agreed at the last meeting to give Westerman our support. It is not our job to pick winners and losers. We’ve written lots of letters of support for businesses that didn’t happen. Our intention is to just show support for economic development in the county.”

Rep. Jon Conrad said, “I do not feel comfortable endorsing a letter of support. There are a lot of complexities involved with private entities on state land. What if the state sells the land and buildings to a private entity and they ultimately don’t have the financial resources to redevelop, and the buildings still sit there for more years? I just don’t support it. Have we seen a financial statement from this group? I don’t want to put the commission’s name behind someone we don’t know anything about. We have to believe they are solvent, otherwise it could hurt our credibility.”

Hatch asked if the commission could reach out to the Wyoming Department of Health and state opposition to the demolition and asked if that would help.

Wyoming Business Council Southwest Regional Director Kiley Ingersoll told the commission the WBC is working to facilitate the process and provide information to the right people as the land belongs to the state and the buildings are owned by the Department of Health, which adds a layer of complexity.

Ingersoll said the study UCEDC got a grant to do suggested the land be sold to a private entity to develop and also provided all the facts and figures toward possible redevelopment. She said the letter of support from the commission, the city and the county may help to delay the demolition.

Conrad said the Department of Health wants to demolish the buildings, as they see them as a detriment to the WSH. There is more value to the state to demolish the buildings because of the asbestos, lead paint, seismic issues and mold in the old buildings that would require mitigation, he said.

A concern brought up by several members centered on what plan the state may have for the property.

Conrad said there is a plan but he didn’t remember what it is exactly.

O’Neill said the fear and rumors in the community are that the state will sell it to the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WDOT) to use as a parking lot for semi-trucks when the Interstate is closed. He said many people in the community definitely feel a love for and a tie with the old buildings and wish to preserve the history and the view.

Uinta BOCES No. 1 Assistant Director Sheila McGuire said, “I was here at the last meeting when Westerman came, and what he wanted was a letter of support asking for a delay for the demolition to give his group time to do a study to see if those buildings could be used for residential use.

“He had said that none of the other studies had looked at residential use,” McGuire continued. “I know that people who work at the State Hospital have been asked to prepare those buildings for demolition. Could you include asking the state for a timeline on their plans in the letter of support?”

Conrad said the only positive thing the commission could do would be to show the state a formal plan for development from an investor and tell them they can have the $53 million back they appropriated for the demolition. Conrad asked where UCEDC was years ago, when the buildings were being discussed.

Welling said commission members were at meetings with state representatives years ago and asked to be able to use the demolition money to develop the buildings but the state told them no. The commission then applied for a grant for the study and held public meetings.

“We have been in the middle of it for some time,” Welling said. “I’m not ready to wash our hands of it. We should not pick a winner or a loser, we should continue to support this. We approved sending a letter of support at the last meeting.”

Commission member Clyde Kofoed of Bear River said, “We have a decision from the last meeting for the letter of support; we should keep our integrity intact and write the letter.”

Commission member Eric Wyatt from Lyman reread that decision from the May 24 minutes aloud and agreed with Kofoed.

Conrad then made a motion to delay the letter of support so director Welling could meet with Rep. Llyod Larsen, who serves on the Select Committee on Capital Financing and Investments and on the House Appropriations Committee. He said Rep. Larsen would be able to go over all of the complex issues involved with the WSH buildings and the probability of a letter of support having any viability or not.

Then, based on that conversation, Conrad said, Welling could bring the information back to the commission and a decision could be made in regards to the letter of support. Conrad said he would set the meeting up for Welling and anyone else from the commission who wished to attend.

Kofoed seconded the motion and the motion passed. The decision on writing the letter of support will be determined after the meeting with Rep. Larsen.