The Wyoming State Shooting Complex has crossed a couple of hurdles that pave the way for construction to get started soon. 

On Oct. 2, the State Lands and Investments Board (SLIB) approved a 75-year lease on the state land for the complex, and since the last meeting, the state has delivered $10 million in promised funds to the Wyoming State Shooting Complex Joint Powers Board. 

And more money could be expected.

State Sen. Larry Hicks, R-Baggs, who traveled to Cody to sit in on the meeting, said he was confident he could get an additional $5.5 million for the complex in the next legislative session. He said it’s money that had previously been identified for the project.

The project is expected to cost just under $20 million.

Board member Bryan Mick, who made the trip down to Cheyenne for the vote on the lease, said the only hiccup was in getting a no vote from Secretary of State Chuck Gray, who didn’t approve of the complex not allowing unlimited public access. SLIB includes Gov. Mark Gordon, Treasurer Curt Meier, Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder, Auditor Kristi Racines and Gray. 

“The reality is, with the functionality of this facility, we cannot have, at least not without our knowledge and consent, other people tromping around the State of Wyoming Shooting Complex,” he said. 

Money delivered

Since being formed, the joint powers board has been working with relatively small amounts of money for such a large project — most significantly $100,000 from Forward Cody, as well as sizeable funding from Park County Travel Council — for initial work such as design and advertising. 

Going forward, the board has access to a whole lot more, no strings attached. 

Board chair Glenn Ross announced at Thursday’s meeting the state has released the $10 million in funds promised to the board earlier than expected. 

That money has been placed in a money market account and the board has approved Ross to look into other funds that still allow high liquidity while bringing in more return on the money while it’s waiting to be used. 

“It has already gained $3,000 in interest in a short amount of time,” said board member Cindy Thomas. “It’s going to have a huge impact.”

Much of the money will be spent on construction of the site, which can only begin once the county road leading to the site, currently under construction, is completed. 

Road work

Park County Engineer Brian Edwards previously told the Tribune the plan is to have the road finished before the end of the year. 

“It’s exciting that there’s a real road there and progress,” board member Jim Saubier said. 

The board is already preparing for the next steps.

Requests for proposals for design build were due by last Friday, and at Thursday’s meeting board member James Klessens said there were five to six good companies who had applied, most local. 

Engineering Associates was also approved Thursday to work on the initial site engineering and preliminary design at a cost not to exceed $50,000. 

“We’ll start seeing real tangible work on the site,” Klessens said. 

That starts with allowing the county to scrape top soil from the complex site for road construction. That will level the site and allow for work on level ground. 

To build on that, the board approved Klessens to send out an RFP and a committee to select a mass excavation contractor to do “a couple million dollars worth of dirt work.” 

“Then things can begin moving very quickly,” he said.