LOVELL, Wyoming (STPNS) --

The Town of Lovell and TCT WEST are joining forces in hopes of landing a high-tech telecommunications data center to be built just east of town at the Lovell Rodeo Grounds complex.

The data center would be on the edge of the rodeo grounds complex and would not affect events at the grounds.

Chris Davidson and Marla Leithead of TCT WEST and John Nickle, who is working with the company on the project, came before the Lovell Town Council Monday night to ask for town assistance to help fund a proposal for the data center and to sponsor a Wyoming Business Ready Communities grant to build a building and run utilities to the site.



The proposal being developed would be submitted to a 10-company telecommunications consortium called Bolt Data Centers, which has one data center in Missouri and wants to build two more, Lovell Mayor Bruce Morrison and Town Administrator Bart Grant said in an interview Tuesday. TCT WEST is a new member of the consortium, they said.

?Chris (Davidson) feels very strongly that Lovell is the place,? Morrison said.

Grant added that TCT WEST?s bandwidth is larger than most telecommunication companies and their equipment is state of the art.

The idea behind the data center is to provide a service whereby companies can store and back up data. Bolt has customers all over the U.S.A. and even internationally, Grant and Morrison said. They said it should employ around five high-tech employees with an excellent salary scale.

Nickle and the TCT WEST officials asked for $700 toward a $3,500 project to develop a presentation to the Bolt site selection committee. TCT WEST is also chipping in, as well as the Bank of Lovell, Big Horn Federal Savings Bank and First National Bank and Trust.

The council voted to allocate the money and sponsor the Business Ready Communities Grant.

In other action Monday, Frank Page of HKM Engineering reported that plans and specifications for the Southeast Water and Sewer Infrastructure Project are about 95 percent done and will soon be ready to send to the USDA Rural Utilities Service for final approval. Bids should be let by the first part of April, with work to begin around the first part of June.

Page also reported that Excel Construction should begin work between April 2 and 16 to complete the remaining items on the North project. He estimated around two months of work remaining.

The council will meet Monday at 5 p.m. with HKM for a walk-through of the remaining items on the project that need to be corrected. A special meeting will follow at around 7 p.m.

Morrison and Grant also informed the council Monday that the state fire marshal is requiring a fire wall on the back side of the new community center because the building is close to the property line. The wall, estimated at $6,000 extra for the project, is to be nearly two inches thick with a two-hour fire rating and special fire-rated windows.

Morrison and Grant said the town has also received a $5,000 donation for the community center in the form of an offer to construct either a brick façade or a brick structure on the grounds of the center. The donor wishes to remain anonymous at this time, they said.

?It?s looking good,? Grant said of the center?s progress. ?The metal studs are all up.?

Dispatch funding

Morrison reported that he, Grant and Chief of Police Nick Lewis have been making the rounds to visit with all users of the Lovell dispatch center and pitching the idea of a formal five-year contract and raising dispatch fees ?a little bit,? the mayor said.

Officials of Fire Protection District No. 1 have said that they have been bearing a disproportionate share of the dispatching costs.

Others using dispatching services include North Big Horn Hospital, the towns of Byron, Cowley, Deaver and Frannie, School Districts One and Two and Lovell?s three banks.

The proposal has been well received so far, Morrison said.

Del Weinhold came before the council to discuss the recycling trailer now parked at the Lovell Middle School parking lot. Morrison said Weinhold would like the town to purchase the trailer at a cost of $7,800, and the mayor said the council will consider the purchase in upcoming budget planning meetings.

Hill siren move

Morrison said a decision has been made to move the siren on the Shoshone hill west to the site of the town?s second water tower. He said the town is working with Rocky Mountain Power, which may provide a special tall pole for the siren.

?Personally, I believe it?s a better location,? Morrison said.

Under new business, the council heard a proposal from counselor Gerry Burton for an employee assistance program for the Lovell Police Dept. Various options were discussed, but no action was taken. Morrison said the proposal will be discussed for the 2007-08 budget.

Each family in the program would be entitled to eight annual counseling sessions, and Morrison said Chief Lewis has also asked that the program include a membership at Better Body Fitness.

Open burning

The council voted to allow open burning from March 31 through April 10. If inclement weather disrupts local  burning, the council could extend the burn period at its April 9 meeting.

The shorter burning time was requested by Councilwoman Jodi Lindsay, Morrison said, due to air quality concerns.

With the Wyoming Housing Opportunities Association having been offered $7,000 for a lot at the Lovell Clay Subdivision, the council voted to reject the offer and ask WHOA to submit a counteroffer of $11,500, Morrison said. The council also requested that the purchaser be allowed to build a shop/garage on the lot. The purchaser is also requesting that the two-year time limit for development be waived.