(Lander, Wyo.) – The demolition of a block-long series of dilapidated and condemned buildings on Shoshoni’s South Main Street is coming up within the month. That was the report from Fremont County Solid Waste Disposal District Superintendent Andy Frey who asked the commissioners if they could lend an excavator for the demolition and cleanup. He said the District would provide the operator and the fuel for the equipment, so the cost to the county would be minimal.
The buildings once served as the core of the town’s business district, but were abandoned and have sat vacant for many decades. Shoshoni Mayor Scott Peters had told County10.com that the buildings are a health and safety hazard. He was hoping to get the buildings down and the rubble carried away by this fall. “That will be my last campaign pledge that I have honored to make Shoshoni a better place,” he said earlier. “All my other pledges have been completed.”
Frey said the Fremont County Association of Governments communities, including Lander, Riverton, Dubois, Hudson, Pavillion and Shoshoni will all send equipment to the effort so the demolition can be done in an accelerated manner, in a matter of several weeks. He said he hoped the buildings could be done by the end of August and the debris removed by the middle of September.
“We need the county’s excavator to knock down the buildings and help load trucks with the debris,” he said. Frey said the Shoshoni landfill is slated for closure next year, and if the demolition project is delayed any further, the District would lose out on a grant needed to help the closure costs of that landfill. He said the closure had already been delayed to accept the debris from the old Shoshoni school, which was demolished two years ago.
When Chairman Travis Becker asked the commission if they were okay with lending the equipment, Commissioner Jennifer McCarty immediately objected, saying “our road issues come first.” Becker noted that the excavator was currently down for repair, and that it would not be back in service for another couple of weeks. Commissioners Clarence Thomas and Ray Price said they had no objections to lending the equipment, once other obligations were take care of.
“As the liaison to the department, I will figure something out,” he told Frey. “We’ll figure something out some way, some how.”