Natrona parks trustees revise grooming agreement; club says $10,000 won’t cover prior service

Natrona County Parks Director Michael Brown told trustees he had revised a draft grooming agreement with the Casper Mountain Biathlon Club to reflect county budget cuts and legal requirements, including a reduction in the grooming line from $30,000 to $10,000 and an increase in the required general-liability insurance to $2,000,000. Brown said he consolidated the trail map and invoicing procedures into one document and kept the contractor hourly rate at $150.

The board asked that invoices include photo documentation — for example, a photograph of the groomer hour meter and start/end-of-month trail photos — to substantiate hours billed. A trustee recommended the photo proof language be included in both the communications addendum and the invoice requirements to make it explicit. Trustees also discussed specifying a notice-and-cure period for breaches; one trustee urged adding a written-notice timeline (e.g., 14 days) and allowing extensions when a contractor shows good-faith efforts to cure.

Pat Holster, counsel for the club, pressed for clarity on how written notice will be delivered and said email with read receipt and copies to county and club counsel would avoid disputes about delivery. Director Brown indicated he prefers email with read receipt as county practice.

Robert Rosser, speaking for the Casper Mountain Biathlon Club, said the proposed $10,000 allocation represents a steep cut from the roughly $25,000 the club historically received and warned that ‘‘we can't do as much as we were previously’’ under the reduced funding. He described rising costs for parts, fuel and maintenance and said the club’s equipment is operational but will require ongoing preventative maintenance. Rosser offered to provide additional grooming capacity — including an offer to operate groomer functions — but Brown said county insurance currently would not cover a nonemployee operating county equipment unless the person were an employee.

Brown said the county has an open, year-round parks operator position on the mountain; he also said he will send the revised draft to county counsel, incorporate the insurance and term-date edits discussed by trustees, and return the contract to the board for formal approval at the next regular meeting in December. Rosser said the club ‘‘is not a nonstarter’’ and indicated they plan to sign the agreement once the discussed edits are incorporated.

Several public commenters, including Bruce Lamberson of Mountain Sports, described the economic importance and technical complexity of grooming, urging the board to maintain high grooming standards because the quality of grooming affects trail-pass sales and tourism. Lamberson said, ‘‘The grooming is the product this county is selling,’’ and emphasized that consistent, skilled operators are critical to that product.

The board directed staff to update the draft to (1) add photo and hour-meter documentation language in the invoice/communication sections, (2) specify insurance at $2,000,000, and (3) include a clear notice-and-cure clause with an agreed timeframe and the ability to extend if cure efforts are underway. Trustees left the item open for final legal edits and scheduled the agreement for board approval at the December regular meeting; Brown indicated the grooming period in the agreement starts November 15 and may be applied retroactively once signed.

Next steps: Director Brown will revise the draft with counsel and circulate it to trustees and club counsel; the board will consider final approval at its next regular meeting.