(Hudson, WY) – County 10 sat down with all the mayors across Fremont County to discuss their wins and losses of 2023 and their goals for 2024.
Below is a transcript of an interview with Hudson Mayor Sherry Oler that has been edited and condensed. Please note this interview was done in January, but for several reasons the publishing was delayed until now.
County 10: What are your wins from 2023?
Sherry Oler: She provided a list of items the Town accomplished in 2023. Their wins are as follows from the list:
- Arrange for an alternate Town Clerk office during flooding repairs.
- Successfully negotiated insurance claim for Town Hall Repair.
- Repair Town Hall roof problems & install new gutters for future preservation of roof.
- Submit and receive approval for a Wyoming Water Development Commission Level 1 Water Study.
- Accept Wind River Visitor Council donation and coordinate design with WRVC for Hudson’s Digital Sign.
- No 2023 Spring season flood.
- Liquidate old junk iron to clean up Town areas.
- Successfully bid and purchase a Fremont County surplus truck for the Town Maintenance and Water Treatment Plant use.
- Successfully apply for a Weed & Pest Control Grant.
- Restart Hudson’s dormant Mosquito Spraying Program.
- Request and receive no-cost infrastructure mapping from Midwest Assistance Program for Hudson’s water meter replacement project.
- Received grant writing education and learned of current grant opportunities through the first Wyoming Federal Funding Summit.
- Successfully participated in Hudson’s EPA Sanitary Survey for the water treatment plant.
- Support and sponsor the 10th Annual Hudson Daze Event.
- Liquidate unused equipment and purchase new replacement riding lawn mower for maintenance with sale proceeds.
- Liquidate the town’s rental house to reduce liabilities and create funds for town hall upgrades.
- Purchase and install replacement and upgrades to the Water Treatment Plan.
- After 8 months, move into old offices and reopen Town Hall.
- Replace old, damaged council table with new tables and purchase town council chairs.
- Identify and reorganize office files, create and archive area and establish an archive policy with Wyoming State Archives for records retention.
- Welcome two new town councilmembers.
- Scan and add Hudson Ordinances to the town’s website.
- Start program for historic preservation of Hudson’s history and plan for future recording of oral histories.
- Partner with the Wyoming Business Council and the Harvard Growth Lab for community assessment and a strategy for economic development.
- Create Code Enforcement position and hire Hudson resident for code enforcement.
- Purchase and install upgrades to the town’s Sewer Lagoon.
- Reorganize and refurbish the Hudson Closet area.
- Requested and received assistance from the Wyoming Honor Farm to clear weeds and debris from Hudson Draw for flood mitigation measures.
- Request a WyDOT Speed Study to assist in obtaining radar feedback speed signs.
- Re-establish permitting procedures and upgrade town forms.
- Modify and import Hudson Economic Recovery Organization (HERO) Rules and Application.
- Applied for flood mitigation assistance through the US Army Corps of Engineers and two FEMA grant opportunities.
C10: What about losses in 2023?
SO: She provided a list of items for the losses in 2023. Their losses are as follows from the list:
- Town Hall Water Pipe Break.
- Town Hall closure for 8 months during flood repairs.
- Massive snow levels and snow removal issues.
- Water Meter Project suspended due to inaccurate and/or lost infrastructure mapping.
- Losing two valued Town Council members for different reasons.
- Theft of town resources.
- Theft of town equipment.
C10: What are your goals for 2024?
SO: We’ve got a lot of projects going on. So, the level one water study. All the work we did last year, getting it approved, going down, and doing the interviews of engineers- all that- is quite a process that I had no idea about, but now I do, and I’ve been exposed to that. We’re waiting to find out if the Joint Appropriations Committee will fund it. If we receive funding, then I know that we were approved through the commission and through the legislature. You know, not for the funding but just for the project. The project got the total okay. Go ahead. And so just waiting for the the paycheck to come. If that happens, then that level one water study will identify distribution issues that we have and water source information for our wells feed into the water treatment plant. So you know, identifying all those options and what we can do there will be good and also identifying if we have any issues with distribution. I know that we’ve got some things and in the whole pipeline and just, you know, fire hydrants – those puppies are expensive. Making sure that all of our fire hydrants are in good shape, all of the valves are in good shape, right, that kind of stuff. So that will be the part of the level one water study.
The previous mayor, Mike Anderson, obtained financing to replace all of our water meters in the town. So that project will be done this year. We’ve got an engineering firm helping us with that and so that will be done.
We also have a bid opening on January 25 on the Frank’s Meats water project. Boring under the river to get them tap water, versus what they’re doing now. And that’s another project that’s on the horizon.
I’m going to apply for funding for a pre-engineering report to identify specific steps for us to take and get our permanent flood mitigation plan, and it’ll probably take three to four years to get it done. But the bottom line is if we can get the engineering report done and start working on those projects, start working on whatever we need to do for the next steps, it would be good because, in the past, it seems like it has happened over and over and over again. I mean, the flooding has happened, but reports and engineering reports and things like that have happened, but it hasn’t progressed beyond the reporting, and oh, this is your issue, and nothing seems to get done until the next flood, and they’re like, oh, we need to get something done. So, I’m hoping to break that cycle, and actually get some serious progress done. If I only do one thing for the town of Hudson that’s what I want to see done.
We also have sewer lagoon issues. So that’s another pre-engineering report that I’m applying for funding to pay for so that we can have an analysis of it. We have an old, really old lift station that probably needs replacing and redone, and I’ve already been able to get our sewer lagoons in much better shape than they have in a long time. But there’s more there. I know a few things, but that pre-engineering report will address those issues as well.
So I guess in the big picture, if I can get like this guidebook, roadmap – this is one issue, and this is what you need do need to do first, second, third, whatever, you know, and to address what I call the trifecta water, sewer and flooding. That’s my trifecta. And for my term in, in my opinion, as I said, I’m going to do a lot more than that. But those are the big, big, big priorities.
The historical preservation. When I go to the WAM Convention in February, I will take a lot of the stuff that we’ve already identified and take it down to the State Archives and so it’ll be preserved forever and that makes me feel really good. I also want to continue moving on. There are oral histories that apparently that’s a new thing, or maybe it’s new to me. Historical preservation where you have people come in and that know the history of the town; they get recorded and then that information is available. You have places where people can go and get that information. I would love to have a little museum where we could have those oral histories by pictures, and that type of thing. If people want to come in and reminisce about their history, then that would be a wonderful way to do that. And so that’s another part of the of the historical preservation that I would love to get done.
We’re working with committees to renovate our baseball park and rejuvenate our cemetery. We’ve got some, some big issues that I would love to tackle.
We are going to get a Beautification Committee going. We working on Main Street. There are many things that I’ve taken steps to start working on. One is the speed study for WYDOT. So the beautification part is there are some buildings on Main Street that need a lot of TLC and I’m hoping to help those owners to deal with those issues. See what I can do to help in any way. I have a vision in my mind of how Main Street and Hudson would be really, really pleasing to the eye as you’re driving through, and it’s a great opportunity for many little businesses that could actually do something and have really good exposure on Main Street. So, I’m working on getting the environment really prepped and right for new businesses to come in and to do things. In that vein, I’ve got a plan, and I need to get support from the town. I would like to put covered bus stops up. So people can sit in a covered semi-protected area waiting for the WRTA bus.
To view all the mayors published so far, click here.