The Voice of the Community Since 1909, Serving Moorcroft and Pine Haven, Wyoming

Mea culpa

Black Hills Energy acknowledges blame for disruptive work in Moorcroft area

Black Hills Energy community affairs manager Michael Howe, Cody gas operations manager Bo Secrest and Gillette operations supervisor Scott Wilson expressed their mea culpa to the Moorcroft Town Council last Tuesday night regarding the work of contractor E&S, who has been replacing gas lines throughout town for Black Hills over the last several months, as well as the lack of communication between Black Hills and the community.

After introducing himself and his associates, Howe immediately apologized for not attending the last meeting of the governing body, saying, "I don't know exactly how that came about and that's why we wanted to be here tonight to make sure we address any questions you have, as best we can." He said that the company wants to be a "good partner now and in the future with the community".

Councilman Owen Mathews brought up the un-repaired holes cut into the streets. "We've invested a lot of money in the last several years and our water/sewer rates are some of the highest in the state because of that; [leaving] those holes like that puts that investment at risk," he said.

Public Works Director Cory Allison reported that, in the last two weeks, many of the problems with cleaning the areas of work have been addressed, including reseeding the sites.

Resident Ann Sundstrum also voiced her angst with the company and contractor's apparent cavalier behavior.

"On that property alone, you have three marker poles, I hate them. E&S leveled it out where they dug and it looks nice, but did nothing about the broken tree branches. You just come in and you do what you want," she said.

Sundstrum said that, when she tried to speak with the crewmen, the effort failed, and when one did tell her that they would return later to fix the damage done, “It took them I don’t know how long to come back to just do that.”

Sundstrum also noted that the myriad of flags littering her yard for the last year were unacceptable: “No one told us anything about that; that’s shoddy. It’s time for E&S to come back and clean this up.”

Mayor Dick Claar condemned the lack of “communication and close follow up” by Black Hills: “It didn’t appear to happen and that brought the council’s concern.”

Mathews compared the lack of communication between property owners and Black Hills with the communication between Powder River and property owners when that company conducted their project.

“They talked to the land owners whose land they were crossing. As far as I can tell, you guys have made no effort to talk to any of the customers,” he said.

“You just came in and did your deal with the easiest path for you [and often] that’s right across someone’s yard. This can create issues down the road for our citizens.”

He reiterated the problem he had with E&S attempting to cross his property to reach the private property of his neighbor: “I don’t think that is a very good way to do business or to treat the citizens of this community.” Councilman Paul Smoot concurred with Mathews’ opinion regarding the behavior, not only of E&S, but of the representatives of Black Hills during the work.

Wilson apologized, “I made a mistake in thinking that the previous supervisor had sent out letters to all the residents. It was not my intent to just come in and run roughshod over everybody.”

“To make face to face contact with practically every home owner,” Secrest added, “is our standard, our protocol when we come into an area like this. We failed in making sure that [everything] was clear before continuing with the project.”

When asked for an estimated time of completion, Wilson advised that, barring weather, the entire project including cleanup and reseeding should be complete within the month. “I’ll be sending out letters to that effect.”