By Angus M. Thuermer Jr.

The increased cost of the proposed Alkali Dam near Hyattville has rendered the project “close to not making sense,” the speaker of the Wyoming House told state water developers earlier this year.

Rep. Albert Sommers (R-Pinedale) made that assessment May 8 after hearing that the estimate to build the 100-foot high, half-mile long earthen structure is now $113 million. That’s more than three times the $35 million cost estimated in 2017.

The Alkali Dam would impound 6,000 acre feet of water that would be used by 33 irrigators for late-season irrigation of 13,000 acres. Wyoming would lend the benefitted landowners a total of $2.1 million and pay for the rest.

The Wyoming Water Development Office, which is designing the project for a private irrigation district, is having difficulty justifying the expense.

“I think it’s important to try to understand the price of what we’re doing, because, ultimately, that comes back to the cost-benefit ratio,” Sommers said at the meeting.

Cost-benefit rules govern how much the state can pay.

“I’m all for doing water projects,” Sommers said. “But it’s got to make sense in the end, too. And this is getting dangerously close to not making sense.”

$127 million above estimates

Alkali Creek is one of two proposed Big Horn County dams whose original cost estimates are now collectively about $127 million off-base. The Upper Leavitt Reservoir expansion is estimated to cost $89 million, up from the original $39.8 million.

The state outlines what “makes sense,” as Sommers put it, in its criteria for funding reservoirs. The Wyoming Water Development Commission can give grants “for the full cost of the storage capacity [of any given reservoir] but not to exceed public benefits as computed by the commission.”

As computed in May “the public benefits [amount to] only $104 [million]-$105 million,” for the now-$113 million Alkali Creek project, Water Development Office Director Jason Mead told lawmakers and water commission members.

The cost-benefit ratio could be improved if some of the project’s costs are attributed to elements other than the irrigation supply itself, according to discussions at the meeting.

A principal example is the $30 million cost of converting a ditch that would fill the reservoir into a buried pipeline. “Should [$30 million] be attributed to the project — raising the cost and putting the public-benefit ratio at risk — or counted as mitigation?” Mead asked as he outlined potential accounting options.

Another way of improving the cost-benefit ratio would be to attribute more value to benefits, irrigators said. The Water Development Commission should be liberal in its assessment of public benefits, including birdwatching, irrigators said.

That could be tricky.

“I understand there’s things we can’t necessarily quantify — birdwatching and things like that,” Mead said. “We can always get creative on those things. We’re just trying to be consistent with how we’ve looked at other projects.”

To reduce state costs, Wyoming sought but failed to get a federal grant to fund part of the development. The Bureau of Reclamation rejected the request “because of concerns with economics,” among other things, Derrick Thompson, an engineer with consultant Trihydro, told the panel.

Undeterred, Wyoming is seeking another federal grant from funds earmarked for a “watershed protection and flood prevention program,” he said. It’s uncertain whether an irrigation project would qualify for the program, let alone prevail in a competitive application process, Thompson said.

Cecil Mullins’ vision

For years, Worland native and irrigator Cecil Richard Mullins watched the nearby Nowood River, fed by runoff from the Bridger and Bighorn mountains, swell in the spring and dry up in the fall. In 2007, he “wanted to figure out a way where we could capture that early spring runoff and actually put it to use when the river went dry,” Mead told the panel.

Mead met Mullins and his fellow irrigators and told them it would cost $1,000 to apply for a state-funded watershed study, a necessary beginning for any reservoir construction.

“Everybody was pulling out $20 bills by the time we got done to come up with $1,000,” Mead said of the meeting.

Mullins died in 2019, but his $20 investment has grown. “We’ve spent probably $5 million over the last however many years it’s been — since 2010 — to get to this point,” Mead told the panel.

“We’re about 50% into the design,” he said, “and needing to acquire easements.”

But landowners on whose property various ditches, canals, pipelines or the reservoir itself would lie have asked for design changes — like the $30 million ditch-to-pipeline conversion.

Landowners at the upper end of the reservoir are also worried about public use of the reservoir near their property. Therefore developers would build an embankment to impound a small pool at that end of the reservoir.

The pool would provide “some additional benefits to those landowners to offset some of the impacts,” Trihydro’s Thompson said. Yet “we’re still struggling to come to agreements with many of the landowners,” his Trihydro colleague, Mark Donner, said.

Irrigators’ share

Inflation, geologic surprises, lighter-than-expected embankment material and the design changes add to costs. But irrigators have not pledged to pay more than their $2.1 million loan.

“That’s what everybody voted on,” said John Joyce, an irrigation district member. “The operating costs are starting to mount here,” he said, ticking off maintenance, annual rent for federal property and other things.

“I’m not saying it can’t be higher,” he said of irrigators’ contributions, increasing the debt would require a vote among district irrigators that hasn’t been proposed.

Water Development Commission Vice Chair Lee Craig told irrigators the state will do “everything we can to try to help you.

“But there’s certain things we can’t do or certain things that you guys will have to do,” Craig said. “And hopefully, working together, we can get through this.”

This article was originally published by WyoFile and is republished here with permission. WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.

CODY — When the Cody Theatre opened on the historic Western town’s main street, one of its main attractions was being the first air-conditioned building in Wyoming. It was a great selling point for 1937 movie-going audiences.

Nearly 90 years later, the theater’s cooling unit is the ultimate example of if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

The same swamp cooler installed in the Cody Theatre during its construction is still cooling off theatergoers every day during the dog days of summer. It’s arguably working harder in 2024 than ever before, yet it’s keeping its cool.

“It was the very first air-conditioned building in the state of Wyoming,” said Ryan Fernandez, owner of the Cody Theatre. “When somebody told me that, I called BS. But then with a little bit of research, I discovered that it was true.”

It’s just one of many historic features of the building that Ryan and Liz Fernandez are showcasing with bright lights.

The Historic Cody Theatre

Cody resident Jim Corder built the state-of-the-art Cody Theatre in 1936 for roughly $50,000, which would be more than $1.13 million today. The theater had its debut July 8, 1937, with a viewing of the Wallace Beery film “Slave Ship.”

The theatre is notable for its subtle art deco design, with colorful wall sconces and designs in the interior and a neon marquee on the exterior. There were originally 672 seats inside and a balcony overhead, although that’s long since been removed.

Keeping Up With The Industry

The Cody Theatre was the community’s one-screen movie theatre for decades and was upgraded with the latest technological advances in the theater business. Surround sound speakers were installed in 1955, an 18-by-35-foot “big screen” in the 1970s, digital sound in 1999 and digital projection in 2015.

Despite technological advances, the Cody Theatre’s design and structural integrity were preserved. That included the swamp cooler, which was built into the back of the building during construction.

The Cody Theatre started its current life as a venue for the performing arts in 2008.

Dan Miller’s Cowboy Music Review performed nightly in the space during the summer until 2015.

Ryan and Liz Fernandez are the fourth owners of the theatre. They bought the property in January 2019, saving it from possible destruction.

“We had heard that it was going to change hands and potentially turn into a little strip mall, which I think would have been pretty devastating for the community,” Ryan said. “For us, it was time to look at how we could retain the integrity of the space but have a different business model. That’s why we took ownership.”

Just As It Was

When they acquired the Cody Theatre, Ryan had to learn how to operate the antique swamp cooler.

While some minor equipment improvements have been made since its installation, he said most of the original mechanical elements are still there and working just as well as they did in 1937.

“The original owners taught us how to work it,” he said. “There are a couple of new features when it comes to electricity, but you’ll see almost everything on the boards, and all the electrical is basically original. It’s a little scary and awesome at the same time.”

The unit consists of 70 large water sprayers across a 10-by-12-foot board attached to the same room where the primary unit evaporates the water and circulates throughout the building.

Since the same unit moves all the air through the vents of the Cody Theatre, it must be summerized and winterized every year. Fernandez has made the maintenance of the historic swamp cooler a personal project, but also calls in technical expertise for the aspects beyond his knowledge.

“I realized that I was out of my comfort zone to do it and to understand it,” he said. “We use DNG Electric in Cody, and they’re HVAC folks that do awesome maintenance. They know each summer and each winter, and a few calls in between, they’ll be here.”

Keeping Its Cool

Despite its age, the Cody Theatre’s swamp cooler still performs remarkably well. The feedback they get from summer audiences is that it often works too well.

“People we’ve spoken to tell us (the theatre) gets too cold,” Ryan said. “The unit is pre-thermostat, so there’s no smartness to this at all. Either it’s cold or it’s off.”

“I personally have a love-hate relationship with the air conditioner,” Liz said. “I works so well, but I freeze in the theater every time it’s on. I know it’s important for most other people, so I’m happy that we have it for that reason.”

Figuring out the perfect balance is still a work in progress.

“If it gets too hot, we flick on water and air and then once it cools down, we typically drop the water so it’s still circulating some air,” Ryan said. “If we need to then turn water back on to keep people cool, we do. And if people say they’re cold, we eliminate the air.”

That process used to involve lots of running up and down stairs since the controls are in the original projector room in the back of the theatre. That’s why everyone’s excited about this summer’s tech upgrade.

“One cool thing we’re getting ready to do is (install) two new switches upstairs that turn on air and water,” Ryan said. “We’re going to put those on smart switches so we can control it from our tech booth (on the theater floor) so we don’t have to run up and down each time. Big-time innovation.”

Expensive But Original

When they bought the Cody Theatre, Ryan and Liz Fernandez committed to keeping it as close to its original condition. It’s not the most fiscally-sound way of running their business, and nobody’s more aware of that — and fine with it — than them.

“We committed to bringing it back,” Ryan said. “That’s one thing Liz and I are notorious for. It can be really stupid and not very cost-effective, but it’s truly keeping the integrity of the space.”

The theater’s swamp cooler is part of that integrity. Ryan said they’re considering many upgrades and improvements for the facility, but the swamp cooler won’t be on the list until it has to be.

“We don’t have upgrade plans for it,” he said. “We realize that after 100 years of use, it might need to get upgraded. But I think as long as the AC unit continues to work, it’s a pretty cool thing to have.”

Future Performance

When they bought the Cody Theatre, Ryan and Liz Fernandez knew they needed a new business model.

They’ve spent the last five years making significant upgrades to raise the caliber of the historic movie theatre as a performing arts venue.

Liz was ready to embrace the Cody Theatre’s full potential for live performance. She founded the Rocky Mountain Dance Theatre and Rocky Mountain School of the Arts in 1997, along with her mother, Cindi.

“I think it’s important to have a venue that is dedicated to the performing arts in Cody,” Liz said. “We have performing venues, but they are used for many different types of things. I think it’s important to have a venue that doesn’t have to compete with all the other things that need a performing space as well.”

Since 2016, the Cody Theatre has been the home of “The Wild West Spectacular,” an original musical created by Liz and Cindi. The summer production, featuring actors from across the United States, is in its ninth consecutive season with performances six nights a week from late June through mid-August.

In Fall 2021, The Cody Theatre Co. debuted as an in-house theatre company staging at least two live theatre productions each year. The venue is also available for festivals and one-night-only engagements like the Yellowstone Songwriter Festival held each August.

“It has opened a lot of doors for us,” Liz said. “We can promote artistic work our students because we have a space that’s always available for them to use and to develop in a way that works for what we’re doing.”

Back To The Past

Ryan said all future upgrades to the Cody Theatre will prioritize preserving the existing space. Even if it makes renovations more costly and maintenance more difficult, it’s all for the benefit of the space’s historical integrity.

“It’s really important to preserve what was and is the Cody Theatre,” he said. “We could take apart everything we’ve done since we bought it, and ultimately have the original theater in in its entirety.”

That includes the historic swamp cooler, which might be working harder and better than ever before, will be maintained as part of the facility’s future. It’s one of the coolest aspects of the personal and professional goal of retaining everything that makes the Cody Theatre unique.

“We’ve all had some really great moments in this theatre in our lives,” Ryan said. “A lot of us watched our first movies here. I saw ‘Rocky II’ and ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ in this theater. My first kiss with Liz was in this theater. So, it was important for us to preserve everything, from the neon lights to the art deco interior and all the great things that come with this theater. We didn’t want it to go away.”

Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.