Riverton — The Riverton City Council on Nov. 4 considered a memorandum of understanding proposed by Fremont County Emergency Management to relocate three mass-incident medical supply trailers to a cleared, plowable area at the Riverton Airport.

Public Works staff said the airport site would provide centralized access for air and ground ambulances, search-and-rescue and fire agencies and that the trailers are stocked and maintained by Fremont County Emergency Management. Staff said there would be no direct cost to the city for the relocation itself.

Council discussion focused on whether the city should charge a ground-rental fee for use of airport property. Councilwoman Karen Johnson and others said the city provides many unpaid uses at the airport and should consider generating modest fee revenue to sustain airport operations; other councilmembers favored hosting the trailers at no charge because the county’s trailers are an emergency asset that benefits the city and region and because some federal grant assurances can be affected when airports charge fees for certain operations.

A motion to table the MOU until the airport board could review fee and policy implications passed on a tied voice vote with the mayor breaking the tie in favor of tabling. Council directed staff to follow up with the county and the airport board and return with specific recommendations on whether to charge for the space and, if so, what fee schedule to use and how that would affect grant eligibility.

Why it matters: Locating emergency trailers at the airport would improve multiagency access in large incidents but raised questions about cost recovery, consistency with other airport practices, and potential impacts on federal grant eligibility.

Next steps: Staff will ask the airport board to review the proposal and propose fee alternatives and will return to council after collecting that input.