ROCK SPRINGS (WNE) — Sweetwater County will no longer be gunning for a proposed $10 million state shooting complex.

Island Richards, county commissioner, attended a Recreation Facilities Committee meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 28. During the meeting, members of the committee discussed the state shooting sports facility and their request for a letter of interest from local communities.

Richards has been actively attending the state task force meetings as it tries to determine where the facility should be located.

“After a lot of consideration, my recommendation to our committee was to not continue to pursue the state complex,” said Richards during the Sweetwater County commission’s board meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 5. “I think the direction they have gone is simply unworkable for Sweetwater County, and I don’t think there’s any reasonable way that we could accommodate what they’re looking for.”

Richards told Rocket Miner that early on in the process, he was contacted by several people voicing their support for locating the complex in Sweetwater County.

“Everyone said they loved the idea, but that seemed to me to be the end of the support,” he said. “When I asked those same people if they would be interested in being a member of the task force, or an organizing committee, no one was interested.”

He further explained that as he had traveled the state attending task force meetings, he saw huge support coming from shooting sports organizations in other communities who were engaged in the process and doing whatever they could to be involved.

Senate File 169 allowed the state to form a task force that could spend up to three years planning out the details of a state shooting complex, including its size, scope and location. The bill also set aside $10 million for the complex.  A decision regarding its location has yet to be made.