Parks Director Michael Brown presents mountain and lake budgets; proposes BLM land-swap talks and upgrades for lagoon and maintenance shop

Parks Director Michael Brown presented the Parks Board’s mountain and lake proposed budgets for FY27, detailing staffing allocations, contract labor increases and a number of capital and maintenance projects that the board may fund or seek through grants.

For the mountain budget, Brown said he included portions of salaries for five full-time and two part-time employees and increased the mountain budget by 1.75% ($11,149). He proposed up to $20,000 for contract labor (including a grooming contract for the Casper Mountain Biathlon Club and $5,000 to the Central Wyoming Trails Alliance), a six-person Wyoming Conservation Corps hitch in July, Starlink communications (~$2,000/year) to move into parks' budget, and LED upgrades for the maintenance shop estimated at $5,000–$8,000.

Brown noted a pending archery-target grant (he previously requested $35,000 and asked again for $70,000) and said shelter grant work advanced past an initial hurdle, with a site inspection scheduled for June 19. He estimated simplified shelter units might cost roughly $120,000 (noting one custom bid at $236,000) and described matching plans that include $40,000 carried from prior fiscal-year 1% funds and in-kind labor.

On the lake side, Brown presented projected revenue of $1.272 million, projected expenditures of $1.218 million, and a restricted reserve balance of $1.067 million as of March 31; he expects about $887,000 in near-term revenue tied to water permit fees. He said lagoon aeration is reaching biological-oxygen limits and proposed replacing floating aerators with micro-bubblers at an estimated $90,000–$100,000, and noted generator requirements for wells and lift stations are still under review.

Brown also outlined a search for a new maintenance-shop site and proposed an exploratory land swap with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for roughly 40 acres near the lake, noting such a swap would require surveys, NEPA environmental review and BLM coordination. Board members debated whether to budget $100,000 as a placeholder for design/survey — some suggested reducing that to a $10,000 conceptual-survey placeholder or holding funds in restricted reserves until the BLM is contacted. Trustees also emphasized that county-commission (BOCC) involvement would be needed for any land swap or disposal of county land.

No formal vote was taken on the land-swap idea at this meeting; Brown said he would contact the BLM and could bring a proposal to county commissioners before committing to survey or site-design expenditures.