Contingency plan discussion for rec center town square begins

The town of Glenrock isn’t letting the failed Nov. 4 Converse County Special Election ruin their plans for making improvements to the heart of their community.
A majority of Converse County voters may have nixed Glenrock’s and Douglas’ sixth-cent tax to pay for a new recreation center for Douglas and improvements to Glenrock’s recreation center, but Glenrock isn’t having any of it – they’ve already taken the matter into their own hands by putting a plan in place during the last budget cycle to the tune of $2 million.
They’re planning on breaking ground on the project, estimated to cost about $5 million, by early spring.
“The town put a contingency in place last year, with the thought that we’d be prepared should the county’s rec center vote fail, which it did,” Glenrock Mayor Bruce Roumell said.
To that end, a project to improve the heart of Glenrock is now underway.
Town of Glenrock representatives Roumell, councilman John Moulton, Public Works Director Randy Rumpler, Recreation Center Director Donnie Stewart, Rec Center Board vice-chairman Joe Perko and Pool Director Jaime Pinkerton met with CEPI engineers and Hein-Bond architects in Casper Monday morning to go over several design concepts for a town square.
The site is situated on rec center property between South 3rd and 4th Streets and West Cedar.
The name for the project hasn’t been decided on yet, but on CEPI architectural renderings the project is referred to as “Glenrock Town Square Concept.”
During the meeting, several of the town’s reps agreed that while they favored concept “C” over the rest, it would need several adjustments before it suited everyone.
The conceptual layout shows two playgrounds with poured-in-place rubber surfaces, one for kids ages 5-12, and another for children 6 months to 5 years old.
There’s a play fountain that town reps would like to see turned into a large splash pool, a resurfaced basketball court which will be converted to a synthetic ice rink during winter months (complete with skate rentals), a large stage with attached storage space made out of brick and wood, possible vendor and concessions’ areas which could be used for outdoor markets in the summertime, and public restrooms.
“It was a plan the town came up with and the town will pay to put it all in and take care of it. We set $2 million aside for this fiscal year. If things progress, we should be able to do part of it this fiscal year and then carry it over into the next fiscal year,” the mayor said.
One of the first things that will need to be done to prepare for the project is for the town to start working on water and sewer infrastructure on Third Street and all of the east-west short streets between Second and Third after July 1, according to Roumell.
“Part of First Street might be done this year, too. Second Street is a large enough water line that it’s considered a transmission line. We’ve got money from the Wyoming Water Development Council. We’ve been before them already and been approved for $1 million for that water project,” he explained.
They’ll need water at the town square site – water for a pool – someday, water for the splash park, water to hose down any areas that may need it, and water for bathrooms.
“If they ever get to the point of building a pool there, we will need at least a 4-inch water main to it. We’re going to need water, so we might as well do it now while we’re in the ground,” he said.
Roumell said the goal is to break ground in the spring and that’s why town representatives are meeting with the architects and engineers now.
“They asked us to come back in early January and we want to have a good sense of the design for them at that point. The engineers can bring it forward and bring us bid-ready documents. We want to have a lot more of a solid design by the end of January. The bid estimates will be done and we figure bid-ready packages can go out for it,” Roumell explained.
While it is a good-sized project, the mayor said the town does not expect the rec board to pay for or support the town square financially.
“We’re going to build it. The Town will support the cost of it. We’ll need to put an MOU together – as it’s their land we’re putting it on – and see what everyone is going to be responsible for,” he said.
Essentially, Glenrock prepared for the November election vote to fail, officials said, and made sure they had a backup plan.
And while the Town’s helpful gesture won’t go toward updating or repairing the recreation center itself, Roumell said there are other avenues the Rec Center Board can pursue to find additional money for the building’s needs.
Glenrock Recreation Center Director Donnie Stewart agreed.
“We don’t have monies set aside for major construction. We have $50,000 in our regular major maintenance budget. We put aside what we can each year to maintain the building functionally. For the last two years, we were moving ahead and planning on the election. Now that it failed, we’ve moved on to plan B. We’ve started looking to generate revenue through a grant. We’re putting together a needs list, trying to come up with the most important things and what we can address,” he said.
Roumell said he thinks there’s money out there for the recreation center.
“Enough gets put into parks and rec by the county. The recreation district can look at applying for other monies with (Converse County) commissioners. They take care of stuff on both ends of the county,” he said.
The new town square is going to be an exciting endeavor for the community with beautiful grounds and wonderful public amenities when it’s built, that will encourage families to use it year-round, Roumell said.
So far, all of the town heads are on board and excited about the project.
“I think it’s great for the Town of Glenrock. If we can do something amazing together with the architects, the town and the rec board, it’s going to be awesome,” Stewart said.