Hannah Shields
Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, Cheyenne
(TNS)
CHEYENNE – Wyoming’s top five elected officials voted Wednesday to award $180,000 in emergency mineral royalty grant funding to the Laramie County Fire Authority to rebuild a fire station that burned down in mid-January.
LCFA Chief Jason Caughey told state officials a staff member was welding one of the fire trucks in Fire Station 74 a few hours before the fire was spotted. The staff member went home around 4 p.m., three-and-a-half hours before the witnesses driving down Yellowstone Road spotted the fire.
“It appears that where he was welding, it was the ignition source,” Caughey said.
Last week, Caughey approached the State Loan and Investment Board (SLIB) to ask for $250,000 in emergency MRG funding. This amount made up the 32% of construction costs to rebuild the fire station that wasn’t covered by insurance.
The Office of State Lands and Investments, which oversees this grant funding, found this project did not meet the “emergency” threshold. It deferred the LCFA’s application for regular mineral royalty grant (MRG) funding, which would be approved during the board’s special meeting in June. The state fire marshal and Wyoming forestry division echoed this recommendation.
However, Caughey said LCFA couldn’t wait that long for funding. The Laramie County Planning Department utilizes an emergency building permit program in the event of a natural disaster or fire. If the facility is rebuilt within one year, “it doesn’t have to jump through all of the same hoops that a normal building process would.”
“By not being able to complete this project within one year, it’s going to cost us and the taxpayers a significant amount more money,” Caughey said. “To rebuild that same existing station today, I anticipate 25% more.”
Without the emergency grant funding, Caughey said the county fire authority would have to take out a loan, and the interest would be paid for by Laramie County taxpayers.
An OSLI staff member said during last week’s SLIB meeting the application was incomplete, missing two documents. SLIB members agreed to hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss the matter, once the documents were submitted.
In both meetings, State Auditor Kristi Racines asked Caughey if a $100,000 grant would be sufficient. Caughey answered that partial funding “would be greatly appreciated.”
“It allows us to continue this project moving forward without throwing the bigger wrench of no (state) funding into this project,” he said.
State Treasurer Curt Meier asked about the details of the newly constructed fire house, such as installing a fire alarm system that’s tied into a central system. Caughey said a centralized monitoring system will be installed, “which will give us early detection of any events that happened in that building.”
Racines moved to grant $180,000 in emergency MRG funding, which passed the board. Caughey later told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle the LCFA will be able to absorb the remaining $70,000 into its current funding mechanisms, without any impact on local taxpayers.
“We’re grateful for the support of the State Land Investment Board today, for funding the additional $180,000 toward the rebuild of Station 74,” Caughey said. “We don’t believe the difference that’s remaining will have any impact on the project.”
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