Albany County backs Wyo Silver grant application for Marshall Road improvements

Albany County commissioners on July 21 approved a resolution authorizing submission of a Wyoming Business Council Business Ready Community grant application for the Marshall Road Improvement Project, a proposal presented by Wyo Silver LLC.

Paul Grondell, identified in the meeting as the mine manager and primary industry contact for Wyo Silver, told commissioners the project would ‘‘significantly improve public safety along Marshall Road’’ and improve commercial access that supports local jobs and tax revenue. Grondell said the current grant plan calls for full resurfacing, shoulder widening and adding about four inches of gravel across portions of the road to bring it up to commercial-traffic standards.

Commissioners asked detailed questions about scale, cost and who would benefit. One commissioner said, ‘‘My concern is ... we're doing a $4,000,000 improvement on a road that is already classified as a county road and we're doing that strictly for your purposes,’’ pressing the applicant on fairness to existing property owners and the county's long-term obligations. County staff and the applicant said the road would be brought to minimum county standards and that Wyo Silver expects to help with match and to accept limited maintenance responsibilities during periods of heavy use.

Meeting materials and remarks in the hearing gave a project cost picture in the meeting that ranged roughly from about $2.2 million to $3.0 million for the grant request, with preliminary project estimates approaching $3.5 million; officials said figures were still being finalized with the Wyoming Business Council. County staff said the county's only feasible match this year would be in-kind time (department staff time) and noted an identified in-kind match figure of about $250,000 (staff time over multiple years) that would be included in the application. The applicant said its business plan is viable without government funding but that the grant would accelerate the project and that, without it, the company could choose another site or delay operations.

The board's motion to approve the resolution directing the chair to sign the certification and supporting the application passed by voice vote. Staff noted the application window is time-sensitive; an application deadline mentioned in the discussion was Aug. 1. The application will proceed through the Wyoming Business Council review process pending final budget and clarifying information requested by staff.

What comes next: county staff said they would follow up with the Wyoming Business Council on a math question in the application and finalize the project budget and road-agreement details before submission. The resolution was recorded as approved by the board.