Awesome baby! Council wraps for NCAA final

Wednesday, April 07, 2010

By Jake Nichols

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-The order of business at the April 5 meeting of the Town Council was take care of business as fast as possible and get to the real pressing order of business: the Duke-Butler game to determine the NCAA College Basketball Championship. It would have probably been a great night for a developer to push through a five-story megamall in downtown Jackson. Permits and approvals would have been cheerfully granted as long as matters were wrapped up before tipoff.

Libation creation
Pearl Street Meat & Fish Company scored themselves a $1,500 liquor license from the Town with relatively little trouble.

The new restaurant that will move into the old Jedediah’s, to be called Café Genevieve, also received their restaurant liquor license. Councilman Bob Lenz asked the applicant whether there would be enough people over 21 who the restaurant could hire. A pertinent question for April 2008, but thanks to the current state of the ‘Help Wanted’ section, a rep from the eatery said that was not a problem.

Café Genevieve will also be the brick-and-mortar home to Strapped Belts, the budding enterprise of sometimes-Moose hockey player John Frechette and gold medal winner in JH Weekly’s 2010 Best Of for Best Emerging Artist.

Peddle power
Jonathan King is hoping to add his company to the list of town taxi services. King’s JH Eco Cabs is a franchise pedicab business looking to launch this summer with two or three bike taxis. Each unit would accommodate 1 to 2 people, not including the peddler.

The mayor wished King luck and directed staff to work up a resolution. He suggested King get with Chief of Police Todd Smith to hammer out the traffic requirements for a Schwinn-powered hansom cab.

Spring things
With the arrival of spring comes two things – Clean Up Day (May 8) and sewer work (ongoing).

Shawn O’Malley said he was recommending accepting the $301,870 bid of Depatco, Inc., for necessary work on sewer lines between W. Simpson and W. Hansen, and pipes between E. Hansen and E. Kelly.

Mark Obringer asked about the protocol for accepting bids, for instance, whether the Town was required to always accept the lowest bid and whether any consideration was given to keeping work in Jackson. “I ask this because it is an Idaho contractor versus a local boy,” he said.

O’Malley said in-state bidders receive a five percent discount consideration and staff chose Depatco (St. Anthony’s, Idaho) because they were the lowest “qualified” bidder.

“We can also deny any bidder if we have a reasonable belief that bidder is not capable of completing a contract,” O’Malley said. Depatco outbid locals Westwood Curtis Construction ($363,495) and Evans Construction ($406,126).  
O’Malley also said the Town had budgeted 332,057 for the project. Savings from the low bid reflected the “effects of a lack of construction work elsewhere,” according to O’Malley.

In other business
PAWS worked out a unique arrangement with Jack May, owner of the Grove Development. May’s project on Snow King between the library and the beer distributor is stalled for at least two years, according to Town Administrator Bob McLaurin, who added, “The ground is just sitting there.”

Even with Pierson Land Works offering its services pro bono, PAWS estimated the park would run them somewhere between $20,000 to $40,000. PAWS executive director, Amy Romaine, asked the Town to waive development permit application fees.

“We have to watch the bottom line, too,” Melissa Turley said. All but Lenz voted not to let PAWS off the hook, though everyone supported the idea of a dog park in town.

Mayor Barron asked that an emergency moratorium on planned mixed-use developments (PMUD) be placed on next meeting’s agenda. He later explained that the timing seemed right to tweak the much-maligned development tool as there are currently no PMUD projects in the pipeline. JHW
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Awesome baby! Council wraps for NCAA final | Planet JH News Article: Council Chronicles

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