 - Two of the three people running to represent Ward 1 on the Riverton City Council engaged in a forum this week at Central Wyoming College that revealed several points of agreement between the candidates - as well as points of contention.){kind=link}
(Riverton, WY) – Two of the three people running to represent Ward 1 on the Riverton City Council engaged in a forum this week at Central Wyoming College that revealed several points of agreement between the candidates – as well as points of contention.
Incumbent Councilmember Kyle Larson and challenger Piram Duran both participated in the Tuesday forum, sharing their visions for Riverton, discussing their budget priorities, and offering their opinions on the proposed .75 percent sales tax measure voters will consider passing next month.
Both candidates said they support the optional tax, which would be used to support commercial air service, public ground transportation, and the local ambulance system.
“I do believe it’s going to be good … if it’s utilized properly,” Duran said. “I’ve been reassured that (the revenues) have been earmarked specifically.”
Larson concurred that, based on the agreement the City of Riverton has signed, revenues from the tax would be “set aside” to fund the three identified service areas.
The candidates also agreed that Riverton isn’t obligated or able to fully fulfill all of the funding requests it receives from local service organizations and nonprofit entities each year.
“Those are feel-goods,” Larsen said. “We’re required to give you good water and have availability of a street that you can drive up and down. … The purpose of government is to do what everybody can’t do for itself, not to pick and choose winners and losers.”
Duran said he would like to support as many of those organizations as possible – and maybe even form new entities to help the community – but he acknowledged that “we can’t sustain them fully.”
Instead, he suggested the city could support those groups by helping them find other sources of funding – through granting agencies, for example.
He shared another idea when asked about policies or partnership changes he would support to reduce the number of at-large animals in town and prevent the local animal shelter from being overwhelmed: Promote more involvement in the animal foster program by recruiting people who like animals but aren’t ready for the “long-term commitment” that comes with adoption.
That recruitment effort could involve an “incentive” that rewards people with community recognition for being part of the foster program, he said.
For his answer, Larson noted that a committee has been formed to study the city’s animal shelter system, which he said is currently “not working.”
“Something has to change,” he said, adding, “I have a lot of ideas, but I’m not allowed to discuss them right now.”
Larson did have a suggestion when asked about alternative strategies for funding the Riverton Aquatic Center: consolidate the number of school districts in Fremont County.
“We have seven or eight superintendents, (and) we have an equal number of assistant superintendents,” he said. “That’s where the money is to cut to get the swimming pool to stay open.”
Duran proposed expanding pool hours and renting the facility out for local parties and community events in order to make the operation “self-sustained.”
Regarding another school district-owned facility – Tonkin Stadium – both candidates said they would like to see the property utilized in some way to serve the community.
“Tonkin Stadium is a beautiful place,” Larson said. “A lot of things could be there. It could be a community center for plays – theater in the round. It’s a great asset. It just has to have somebody look at it and say that’s what it should be.”
Duran echoed Larson’s comments, suggesting the space could be used as a community center for youth activities – or as a venue for live shows.
“Something we could do to bring people in I think would be a great way to use it,” he said.
Contrasting views
The first point of disagreement between Larson and Duran emerged when they were asked their opinions about data centers.
“I love those,” Larson said. “I would welcome a 5,000 man camp in Riverton to build an AI center.”
Unfortunately, Riverton doesn’t currently have the workforce to maintain a data center, Larson said, so “foreign people” would have to come in to run the facility – but that would bring an influx of money to town.
“Those jobs are going to consume a lot of food and spend a lot of taxes,” he said. “And then that gives us the opportunity to have a rec center. That gives us an opportunity to have better roads, better sewer systems – everything.”
Duran, by contrast, spoke against data centers, which he said don’t provide enough benefits to outweigh the “cost of the water (and) land” required to sustain them.
“There’s history in the ground that we are standing on,” he said. “If we allow data centers to take over, we might get a faster answer when we ask AI a question – but we have experts available. We’ve always had experts available. … Let’s look internally for answers, not externally.”
Larson pushed back on that answer, however, proposing that a data center could be built in sparsely populated areas between Shoshoni and Casper, for example, where it would be less disruptive.
“A data center would be great there,” Larson said. “There would be no petroglyphs in the middle of that. (There’s) nothing there but sage brush and open spaces.”
Duran mentioned Castle Gardens, but Larson said no “knowing engineer” would build a data center near Castle Gardens, “or any other place,” when “millions of acres of big spaces” are available nearby where the facility “would hurt nothing.”
In response, Duran suggested debating the issue at a different time, because “this forum is not the place for that.”
“I think it is,” Larson replied before the moderator moved on to the next question, asking the candidates whether they thought increased regulations could be useful in curbing activities that cause safety concerns – like loitering, jaywalking, and public defecation.
Duran answered that question by noting that the people engaging in those activities “are our neighbors, our friends, (and) our family” and suggesting that an increased sense of “belonging” could help curb those unwanted behaviors.
“If we can … help the community feel more involved with the City of Riverton, it would give everyone in the community a little bit more purpose, and that would help decrease that number of individuals who want to sleep on the street or who want to defecate on those buildings,” he said.
Larson contended that increased regulations would not be effective in reducing jaywalking, public intoxication, and public defecation, and when asked about alternative approaches the city could try, he said “the sad fact of the matter is, those people that are going to break the law eventually are going to (get) hurt.”
“(It’s) a tragedy,” he said. “But when you willfully break the law, you suffer the consequences.”
The candidates also had differing answers when they were asked to describe areas where they believe the city is doing well, and areas where they would like to see things done differently.
Responding to that question, Larson talked about the confidence he has in the municipal accounting processes that ensure that the money that flows through City Hall is deposited in the appropriate accounts, while Duran said he’d like the city to reassess some of its infrastructure spending.
Duran pointed, for example, to the local street signs that have been updated with “our beautiful Riverton logo” but which only seem to be installed in “nicer neighborhoods.”
He also wondered whether it was necessary to purchase multiple road signs directing motorists to the local dog park, and he mentioned a recent road re-sealing project that was completed without first addressing issues deeper beneath the surface.
“It looked pretty for a few months, but inevitably we wasted money,” he said. “In my opinion, we wasted money on that project.”
Larson touched on that topic later when discussing the municipal road system, which he said is “monitored” by “professional people” who “come in with X-ray units that determine what is good and what is bad on a road.”
“We don’t do it ourselves,” he said. “We don’t look at it and say, ‘There’s a pothole and we should dig all the way down.’ We run an X-ray machine down it and it tells us what’s the structure below that so that we can do something with more than just feel.”
He also challenged a comment Duran made at the end of the forum, urging the city to do more to prioritize local companies for municipal contracts.
“Local people are encouraged,” Larson said, describing the “5 percent rule” that allows the city to contract with local entities whose bids are within 5 percent of the low bid offered for a project.
But Duran countered that the city has a “history” of awarding contracts to outside entities that submit low bids but “later renegotiate” their payment amounts.
“No, we don’t,” Larson replied.
Event organizers offered Duran the opportunity to respond further, but he declined, saying, “We’re done.”
To watch the live stream of the event, click here.
Candidate Levi Shull was not able to attend the forum.