Maverik awarded bid for Smelterville property

WALLACE — Top Gun may be in theaters, but Maverik is headed to Smelterville.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Shoshone Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) approved a $2,160,000 bid from gas station company Maverik Inc. concerning a parcel of county-owned property in Smelterville.

The property, Parcel No. O31500040010, which sits directly adjacent to the eastbound Interstate 90 offramp in Smelterville along Commerce Drive — has acted as the county’s west end gravel repository and material laydown — now appears to be the future site of one of the popular franchise’s fuel stations and convenience store.

Questions over the bidding process arose last week when the BOCC awarded the bid to local company Beamis Property Management (BPM), the primary gasoline provider in Shoshone County.

Initially, the bidding period was set to end on Friday, May 27, at 9 a.m. (the date which had been advertised in the Shoshone News-Press) — but according to the BOCC, the representatives from Maverik Inc. believed that they had through the end of the business day on Friday to place their bid.

Upon hearing of what had transpired, Maverik’s representatives formally protested the decision — resulting in the BOCC rescinding the awarded bid, and reopening the bidding process until noon on Tuesday, May 31.

BOCC chairman Mike Fitzgerald explained that nothing nefarious resulted in them reopening the bidding, but that it was more the understanding that there had been miscommunication between their office and Maverik’s representation.

Maverik’s $2.1 million bid was over $300,000 more than the next highest that it received from BPM, who had also been interested in putting a fuel station in the budding business district of the small bedroom community.

After the bidding period closed on Tuesday, the BOCC debated the merits of both entities and their bids, including weighing the benefits of staying with a local company, the services that would be provided, and overall fit for the community.

After deliberation, the decision was made to go with the bigger bid.

Smelterville has been without a gas station for several years since the closing of the truck stop more than a decade ago.

The location is a prime one as several new businesses have planted roots in the same vicinity over the past two decades — something Fitzgerald hopes to see continue.

“I think they’re going to do well there,” Fitzgerald said. “Smelterville deserves this, they’re ripe for growth. We’re hoping that Maverik’s plan to build a new travel center enhances the existing retail establishments and attracts even more businesses to the Smelterville area.”

Maverik began almost a century ago after founder Reuel Call began building his gas station empire in Wyoming in 1928.

Now based in Utah, and 94 years and almost 400 locations later, Maverik will be making its next home in the Silver Valley.

As of right now, the timetable for any building and opening is unknown as several other steps must be completed — including finalizing the buyer/seller agreement, a site inspection, and many other minutiae that comes with a purchase such as this one.

Once finalized, the county will be moving their stockpiled materials to another county-owned property in Government Gulch.