ROCK SPRINGS – New position changes are happening throughout the departments of the city of Rock Springs. One opening is hopefully about to sink a hole-in-one.
For 35 years, Chris Harwood roamed the fairways and greens at the White Mountain Golf Course. He recently said goodbye to the links as a city employee. At the Rock Springs Parks and Recreation meeting Thursday night, Director Dave Lansang reported they have made an offer to a potential replacement and are waiting for a response.
The name is being kept quiet as negotiations are continuing but Lansang did give the board a rundown. He reported that for the last three days, board members Lynne Demshar, Bill Legerski and himself, along with a few other people, have been interviewing candidates for the position.
On Thursday, they came to a consensus and Lansang officially made an offer to him.
“We should hear back from him by tomorrow (Friday),” Lansang said.
He also explained to the board they are looking to do some renovation on the pro shop such as new carpet and other minor changes to spruce up the place. They are hopefully looking to get the new golf pro going by Jan. 16 so he is able to learn processes of the golf course and different software they use here.
Legerski said they had a lot of good applicants to choose from. Demshar said the interviews were very organized and they were able to go through the process smoothly. An announcement should be made soon on the position.
New secretary
The new golf professional was not the only position discussed on Thursday. The board accepted Shelby Vasa to be the new secretary of the board. Vasa is the board’s youth representative and Lynne Demshar said the new position would be a great thing to put on school and job applications.
Arboretum naming
Recently Rock Springs was chosen by the state of Wyoming to represent the southwest corner of the state by housing an arboretum. They State looked at several places in the Bridger Valley, Sweetwater County and Evanston before picking Rock Springs.
The state requires the city to name the arboretum. For several months the board has been discussing a possible name and invited the public to submit requests but in the end the board only had one name to choose from.
With it being the only name presented, the board unanimously accepted “High Desert Arboretum”.
The project is funded by a grant from the state which provides infrastructure and trees. In return, Rock Springs must provide the maintenance and care of the trees as well as provide a spot for the project. It will be housed at the west end of the White Mountain Golf Course.
The purpose of the program is to identify which species of trees do well in this environment. The Parks Department will plant several species of trees and when they find a certain kind which is not doing well, they will replace it with another kind. They are planning on planting around 100 trees to start the process.
