MILLS, Wyo. — The City of Mills took one of its first steps toward a planned commercial riverfront project on Tuesday, when the City Council unanimously approved a bid to install water and sewer lines and grading.
The bid of $763,731, which was awarded to Andreen Hunt Construction, will be almost entirely covered by grants the city received, Mills Mayor Seth Coleman said.
“It’s going to be roughly 80% that’s paid for through grant money,” he said.
The work will be done from the bridge along Wyoming Boulevard to roughly parallel with the Mills Municipal Library on 5th Street. Coleman said he hopes the work will begin in the next 45 to 60 days.
Once the work is completed, the next step will be bank stabilization in order to prevent the river from eating away at the banks during floods.
“There are several methods we’ll consider to prevent that from happening when the river is in flood stage,” the mayor said.
The project has been in the planning stages for several years, and Coleman said this is the second tangible step toward realizing the project, with the first being the removal of several trees.
“I’ve been to pretty much every council meeting since February of 2014, and it was first discussed right before I started coming,” he said.
A survey was done several years ago to gauge what sort of businesses Mills residents would like to see along the riverfront, and citizens named several retail stores, restaurants and other businesses that they wanted to see brought to Mills.
