Coffee with Dave Kinskey at Clearmont Town Hall

Dave Kinskey, who is now on the Board of the Wyoming Business Council, attended Shelby’s Coffee Hour in Clearmont on Wednesday, August 19. Kinskey is a former Wyoming State Senator and Mayor of Sheridan.

Kinskey said he always liked to open meetings with a prayer. Pastor Mark King was at the meeting, and he said a brief prayer to open the gathering. Kinskey said his daughter is fighting cancer, and he asked King to pray for her as well.

Marilyn Connolly, an incumbent who just won her primary for Wyoming House District 40, also attended the meeting.

Kinskey asked her to say a few words. “This is your district.”

She added that the small communities in Wyoming need funding to survive, and that these are exciting times. She had business cards and invited anyone who wanted one to approach her after the coffee. “If you have things you want to talk about, just call me.” We have to do what we can to promote Wyoming. Lets promote it and lets protect it.”

Kinskey told a story about when Interstate 90 was built, and the effect it had on the small towns.

At one time Clearmont was a tourist stop, with gas stations, cafes and motels. Once the interstate was built, the traffic by-passed the town. The challenge now is finding funding for the town. Mayor Chris Schock and Kinskey had this exchange.

Kinskey talked about getting grant money for infastructure for the town, which may be the first step towards increasing housing in the town to attract more residents and businesses.

He said the business council can help the town to plan which direction they want to go. He talked about several other towns that were not hurting for money, but walked away with grants for water and sewer to increase housing there. “You have to have a plan. You have to have an engineer to lay out what this looks like and how much money you need. What is your plan?”

Councilman Ernie Miller commented

It was discussed that Clearmont needs ‘rooftops’ to bring in population and business would follow.

Kinskey:

He talked about how Cheyenne planned its growth by becoming a distribution center, but it took them several years.

He added that there is manufacturing happening all over the state, so niche manufacturing might be a business that would relocate in Clearmont. “You need to consult someone who knows about small towns in the state. There’s a certain amount of luck and certain amount of diligence. It can take a while. This is not a sprint; it is a marathon.”

One problem Clearmont has, Miller said, is that it is landlocked by private land and owners who are not willing to sell any acreage. There is an acreage for sale not far from town, and Schock wondered if the town could purchase it. Kinskey said that other towns had purchased land, so they should be able to, and then there were deals to be made with developers to develop the land.

Connolly talked about getting the convenience store and gas station up and running again, because a lot of people travel this road. Miller talked about having one of the other gas stations maybe have a cardtrol satellite gas station.

Kinskey said that the business council has a regional representative to help the town to bring in business or population. He also advised the town to have a plan, and decide what they want, a bedroom community or manufacturing. As one long-time community member put it, to be a bedroom community, you need beds.

Jennifer Strong, new interim superintendent at A/C School, also attended the coffee. She said that Clearmont needs, ‘rooftops’ in the community.

A good crowd attended the event to share their views of what’s important for the town and eastern Sheridan County. The mayor and town council will continue to work with Dave Kinskey the business council to find ways to grow the town.