ROCK SPRINGS — The Wyoming Department of Health (WDH) is offering to pay the City of Rock Springs $80,000 for the collection and testing of well-mixed untreated wastewater samples to help facilitate a wide-scale epidemiological surveillance of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

According the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) website, “SARS-CoV-2 has consistently mutated over the course of the pandemic, resulting in variants that are different from the original SARS-CoV-2 virus. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, many variants of SARS-CoV-2 have been found in the United States and globally.”

If the Rock Springs City Council approves the agreement, sample collection and testing will take place at the Rock Springs Wastewater Treatment Plant through July 31, 2024. According to the agreement, “the wastewater testing results will be publicly available once laboratory testing and statistical interpretation procedures are validated.”

Other Business

Under new business, the Council will review and consider a request from Encore Cinemas, Inc., doing business as Star Stadium Theater, to move their alcohol dispensing area to another location.

Council will review a resolution approving an agreement between D.A. Clark Sculpture, LLC and the City of Rock Springs for the purchase of a bronze sculpture entitled “Requiem.” The $154,000 sculpture will commemorate the Chinese Massacre of September 2, 1885.

The Council will also review a request from the Engineering/Operations and Public Services Department for permission to apply for a $320,000 Department of Transportation Rural and Tribal Technical Assistance grant.

The Council will hear an update from Laurie Graves, president of Graves Consulting on the compensation study.

Under proclamations, the city will look at a request to declare September as Muscular Dystrophy Awareness Month and encourage residents to Fill the Boot on September 1-3. The second request is for the Council to proclaim September 11 as 9/11 Remembrance Day.

To review the complete agenda, click here. The Council will review all of these items and more at its regular meeting on Tuesday, August 15, at 7 p.m. at City Hall.