EVANSTON — After months of approaching the city council for funding to help relocate the Wahsatch water tower to the Evanston Roundhouse & Railyards, Rick Eskelsen finally received approval at the council meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 17. The council voted to approve, with Mayor Kent Williams casting the lone dissenting vote, to amend the fiscal year budget and set aside $84,000 for the water tower project.

“This money will not be wasted,” Eskelsen said. “In April and May, I had good, firm bids, but those figures included trees that would be placed next to the tower, a water source, lights and sidewalks. All I want to do now with this funding is get the footings in and the tower moved and set up. Winter is coming. and contractors are pushing to get jobs done and didn’t have time to give me new bids. If you approve the $84,000 in the budget, you will hold it until you get the bids and you are satisfied with them.”

Eskelsen has worked tirelessly for more than three years to get Union Pacific Railroad to agree to donate the water tower to the city via the non-profit RRINC (Roundhouse Restoration Inc.). Eskelsen has received various donations of time, semi-trucks for moving the tower, labor and equipment from various contractors.

He also received a commitment from Rocky Mountain Power to donate labor and time for moving any electrical lines during the tower relocation on the old highway that connects Wahsatch, Utah, to the Evanston railyards.

During the public hearing segment of the meeting, city treasurer Trudy Lym testified that the public hearing had been advertised as required and, if approved, the money set aside for the tower would come from unassigned funds.

City Engineer Damon Newsome had contacted Bart Jensen with Jones & DeMille Engineering and gave the council a letter from them stating what their structural engineers would charge to perform a site assessment and a design plan for the moving, installation and restoration of the water tower. That amount was estimated to be approximately $20,000 to $50,000.

After councilmembers Jesse Lind, Evan Perkes and Mike Sellers all made comments in support of setting the money aside, Mayor Williams spoke.

“There is a perception that I’m opposed to this project, and I am truly not,” Williams said. “My concern is that the numbers are still arbitrary, and I want to see hard and fast numbers. I have never seen any documents to support who the tower will be assigned to. We don’t know what we are getting into, and I fear this $84,000 is not going to come close to being enough. I take it very seriously how we spend the taxpayers’ money. If someone says they will do the footings for free, give me a written document that says that.”

Councilmember Jen Hegeman said, “The mayor and I don’t often agree on a lot, but I, too, would like to see documentation. But this is just setting the money aside and the bids will come to us. We still make the decision to approve them, and this gives [Eskelsen] time to produce the documents.”

After the public hearing was closed, meeting attendees gave a round of applause.

Other business included the removal of two tabled items from the Sept. 3 council meeting. The public hearing for the renewal of the liquor license for JoeCo LLC (Queen City Saloon) was then held and, when there were no comments from the public, the hearing was closed and the renewal of the liquor license was approved, with Hegeman recusing herself, as she has had business ties to the entity.

The item was then removed from the table and approved.

City Attorney Mark Harris explained that a holder of a liquor license has one year to become operational or they can apply for an extension.

Joe Westerman of Joe-Co testified that the process of connecting two buildings, the bar and the annex from the Evanston Hotel, had proven to be complicated and, due to the lack of labor in the area, he needed more time.

Other business included approval on third and final reading of the ordinance relating to amending pawn shop finance charges and maturities to match Wyoming statutes.

A bid from Peterbilt of Wyoming for the purchase of a new garbage truck was approved. Acceptance of a bid and a contract with SCI of Lyman for construction of the Grass Valley Force Main Project was approved, and the final plat for the Hurdsman subdivision was approved.

During public comments, Shelly Horne asked the council to please use their microphones so that the audience could hear. He also wanted to know what happened to the oven and lathe at the Roundhouse, as they were missing. Newsome said they had been moved to the back of the property.