No easy answers for trailer parks

Trailer park and apartment owners joined with Moorcroft’s council Monday night to discuss at greater length the ongoing dilemma over a fair charge to this business community for water and sewer fees and usage.

In this preliminary session, paying investment fees for vacant units was the focus of conversation. Moorcroft Mayor Dick Claar advised of his willingness to listen to different ideas as he does not advocate the charging for unoccupied spaces/units.

Councilman Ben Glenn expounded, “We’ve had month-long discussions about this, trying to be as fair as we can to everybody in town.”

He shared an example of why the town does charge, using Powder River Energy: “If there’s a meter on your property and you’re not hooked to it, are you charged for that meter?” The group answered that yes, they were, to maintain the service point.

Glenn told them, “It’s exactly like that. I would love to have discussion about where you guys think we need to be on it because, honestly, it’s a bit of an issue. We can’t just say it’s empty so you don’t have to pay. Like you said, you pay for your meter to stay at that empty lot.”

Glenn agreed, though, with the point: “If there’s nobody there and they’re not using water and they’re not using sewer, why can’t we get rid of the sewer because they’re not using it? To me, that makes the most sense.”

However, while expressing his personal support, he again advocated the need to “keep it fair through the whole town”.

Town Attorney Pat Carpenter, while not in attendance, had advised council not to make any arbitrary recommendations regarding these discussions until they review the town’s financial obligations, which reach well over $7 million, and the remaining infrastructure replacement that has been postponed. If moved upon, this could affect the rest of the town’s residents, including those who rent and pay investment fees for rental houses.

Claar opined, “The ideal situation would be for us to put in meters for every one of them, but it would cost [you] as much as it would cost us because you would have to run [pipeline] to them. We can’t afford it.”