County rec. board ends contract with trap club

By DAVID MARTIN

Editor

A debate about how often the Sweetwater Trap Club’s facilities west of Rock Springs are opened resulted in the Sweetwater County Recreation Board severing its contract with the club to normalize the facility’s operations.

Speaking about the issue during the Sweetwater County Commissioner’s meeting, Keaton West, president of the county recreation board, said the trap club’s president resigned a month ago, with other members being unable to open the facility during posted operating hours.

“It’s not county employees that have opened it up and closed it down, it was trap club members,” Sweetwater County Commissioner Reid West said.

Because the facility was built with county funds, the recreation board oversees its operations. The board severed its agreement with the trap club, but what resulted are disputes over ownership of some of the facility’s equipment.

“They claim its theirs, we claim its ours,” Keaton West said.

Some of the equipment was purchased was purchased through 50-50 splits between the recreation board and the trap club.

When asked about if the contract between the board and trap club dictated which entity would own what equipment if the contract were to end, West said he hasn’t found language in the contracts dictating how property ownership would be handled. What complicates matters even more, some of the equipment dates back to the trap facility’s construction.

Some of the county commissioners received complaints from residents regarding the operating hours. Both Commissioners Wally Johnson and Gary Bailiff discussed complaints they’ve heard about the facility’s operating hours. Bailiff said the facility is well used during Amateur Trapshooting Association events, saying more than a dozen trailers were at the ATA shoot hosted Monday.