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*Editor's Note* An earlier version of this article listed the time of the workshop as 5 p.m. on August 13. In the days the following the meeting, the time was changed to 4:30 p.m. This article has been updated to reflect those changes. The recently accepted Fiscal Year 2018/2019 was just one of many topics of discussion for the Saratoga Town Council during their August 4 meeting. With Councilmember Bob Keel in attendance, Councilmember Jon Nelson initiated discussion on how the governing body...
The council chambers in Saratoga Town Hall once again served as the battleground for Councilmember Jon Nelson’s continued pursuit for answers in regards to the Town of Saratoga’s finances. During the August 4 meeting of the Saratoga Town Council, Nelson reiterated his request for material from town hall and questions in regards to discrepancies between amounts approved by the council and amounts expended by the Town of Saratoga. Additionally, questions surrounded the timeline in which material s...
Moving forward, the Saratoga Town Council will meet an hour later than they have in recent years. The change in time comes following a failed attempt at an ordinance to change the meeting date of the governing body. In addition to changing the time of the town council meetings, the council appointed one of two remaining candidates to the open seat for the remainder of 2020. Time Change On the agenda, under Town Hall, was the first reading of Ordinance 858. The only information provided on the...
At the July 21 meeting of the Saratoga Town Council, the governing body voted 3-0 to officially accept the audit of Fiscal Year 2019/2020 by new auditors Carver, Florek and James (CFJ). Councilmember Bob Keel was not in attendance. As was previously reported (see “Audit accepted, questions remain” on page 1 of the July 29 Saratoga Sun), Councilmember Jon Nelson asked Councilmember Judy Welton and Mayor John Zeiger how they proposed to address some of the findings in the audit. Both Welton and Ze...
UPDATE: Following an executive session in which two candidates, D'Ron Campbell and Michelle Cook, were interviewed the Saratoga Town Council voted unanimously to appoint Campbell to the seat left open by the passing of Councilmember Steve Wilcoxson. Glee Johnson, according to Mayor John Zeiger, had withdrawn her letter of interest prior to the meeting. More than a month since Mayor John Zeiger announced that three candidates for the open seat on the Saratoga Town Council would be interviewed,...
In the past two weeks, Carbon County has seen a continued increase of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) as tourists pour into the state and parents prepare to resume school. According to local health officials, the number of confirmed cases since the pandemic began has reached 61 with 26 of those having recovered. There are currently 35 active cases of COVID-19 within Carbon County. In addition to the 61 total confirmed cases, there have also been six non-local COVID cases. Of... Full story
A special meeting of the Riverside Town Council was held on July 28, 2020 to revisit the liquor license for the Mangy Moose since the Wyoming Liquor Commission informed the Council that it is not possible to issue a license for a term of three months. At the beginning of the meeting there was discussion regarding a letter that had been recently written to the Riverside Town Council which council member Ed Golden found offensive. He reminded the audience that the position of council member is...
The Planning Commission meeting on July 14, 2020 started with a public hearing regarding the horses on Robert Smith’s property where he runs a bed and breakfast. There had been a nuisance complaint from one of the neighbors who was in attendance citing dust problems and issues with the expansion of the on going business. The Smiths rebutted that the complaint was in retribution for their own complaint to the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) regarding an illegal gravel pit. They went on...
The Hanna Town Council, the High Country Joint Powers Board (HCJPB) and Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) representative Craig McComie met at 6:30 p.m. on July 29 at the Hanna Recreation Center gym to talk to the residents of Hanna about the landfill closure and dumpsters. The Hanna landfill, which served the towns of Elk Mountain, Hanna and Medicine Bow, was closed at the end of June. Currently the towns of Elk Mountain and Medicine Bow have dumpsters throughout their towns for...
At their July 21 meeting, the Saratoga Town Council formally accepted the Fiscal Year 2018/2019 audit from Carver, Florek and James (CFJ) as the 2020/2021 fiscal year begins. Along with the highly anticipated document came additional questions from Councilmember Jon Nelson in regards to the town’s finances. Councilmember Bob Keel was not in attendance as he was “tied up at work” according to Mayor John Zeiger. More or Less? The release of the audit followed the 3-1 approval of a repre...
After an extended public hearing and 30 day protest period that saw no written protest, the proposed Saratoga-Ryan Park Museum District will be heading to the ballot in November. During the July 20 meeting of the Board of Carbon County Commissioners (BOCCC), the commissioners voted unanimously to approve Resolution No. 2020-31 which directed Carbon County Clerk Gwynn Bartlett to place the question on the ballot. “As you recall, you had your public hearing for the proposed Saratoga-Ryan Park M...
With the primary election rapidly approaching and the United States still dealing with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), absentee voting has taken center stage this election cycle. At the July 20 meeting of the Board of Carbon County Commissioners (BOCCC), Carbon County Clerk Gwynn Bartlett provided the board with an update on ballots. According to Bartlett, her office had sent out a total of 1,744 requested absentee ballots and 529 had been received as of the day of the meeting. “As I told y...
Trash talk was no small part of the July 21 meeting of the Saratoga Town Council as the governing body addressed excess refuse near the municipal swimming pool and repeated violations at Family Dollar. Swimming in Trash Under a report from the Saratoga Police Department, Chief Ken Lehr informed the council that trash cans and dumpsters placed around the municipal swimming pool, Hobo Pool and boat ramp were all being overfilled. “Can’t keep up with the garbage down there. I don’t know if you’v...
The Hanna Town Council met at 6:30 p.m. on July 15 at the Hanna Town Hall. All council members were in attendance along with mayor Lois Buchanan. The agenda and minutes from the June 9 regularly scheduled meeting and the special meeting held on June 23 were approved in a quick manner. Buchanan told the council that the High Country Joint Powers Board (HCJPB) at their last meeting decided to go to with last year’s budget as a blue print for this year’s budget. She asked Ann Calvert, Hanna Tow...
COVID-19 took its toll on the Carbon County Council of Governments’ (CCCOG) meetings for the past four months. The last time the board met was in Rawlins on January 15. CCCOG meets every two months and the March and May meetings were not held due to restrictions set by the state. The meeting was started at 6:30 p.m. on July 15 at the Baggs Community Center. All but Hanna and Medicine Bow had municipalities represented at the meeting. After introductions of attendees, the board approved the a...
Carbon County is seeing the highest spike in cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) since the pandemic began and a little over two weeks since the July 4 weekend. According to Carbon County Public Health, 11 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the last six days. Jacquelin Wells, public information officer for the Carbon County COVID-19 Incident Management Team, confirmed to the Saratoga Sun that there had been previous cases either in the Valley or connected to the Valley. Additionally,... Full story
Three months after the resignation of Katrina Nuhn from the Town of Encampment’s Department of Public Works, the Encampment Town Council hired a new employee at their rescheduled July 14 meeting. The governing body also approved a pay increase for town employees, the disbursement of funds from the One Percent Specific Purpose Sales and Use Tax (6th penny tax), the transfer of excess funds and ended late fee suspensions. New Employee At the April 9 meeting of the Encampment Town Council, Nuhn h...
The majority of discussion at the Riverside Town Council meeting on July 16, 2020 centered around the question of whether or not to renew the liquor license for the Mangy Moose. Many were in attendance to see the out come of the Council’s decision. There was not an open seat in the room. The Mangy Moose was purchased last year by JoElla and Desi Vacher. They had obtained one of the two liquor licenses available for the Town of Riverside. The Mangy Moose then sat for 11 months before opening. Acc...
At the Carbon County Courthouse in Rawlins, both the District Court and Circuit Court have gone nearly five months without having a jury trial. That is about to change starting the first week in August as a backlog of criminal and civil cases approach their deadline. "In Wyoming, there's a statutory right to a speedy trial within 180 days of the arraignment and we have run into the instance, because we have continued cases since March, now we're up on people who even charged in March are at...
by Mike Armstrong The Carbon County Visitor Council (CCVC) met at 10 a.m. on July 15 at the Cottontree Inn in Rawlins. This is the second meeting held this summer where the board met in person. Social distancing was still practiced. All board members were present with the exception of the Medicine Bow representative. Rawlins still has no representative. The agenda and minutes from the regularly scheduled meeting held on June 24 were quickly approved. The annual elections for officers of the...
The Town of Saratoga and other entities in Carbon County will be receiving their first payouts from the 2019 Specific Purpose Sales and Excise Tax (6th penny tax) totaling $1.5 million. At their July 7 meeting, the Saratoga Town Council read and adopted resolution 2020-09 which authorized the Carbon County treasurer to distribute $1,524,249.26 to “sponsoring entities” while depositing $2 million in an escrow account. “We had a meeting July 1 up at Rawlins and had a number of items that came befo...
Carbon County Public Health will be facing budget cuts from the State level even as they prepare for a potential increase in cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Cuts to Public Health During the July 7 meeting of the Board of Carbon County Commissioners (BOCCC), Nurse Manager Amanda Brown informed the commissioners that a memo had been received from the State of Wyoming warning of budget cuts of up to 20 percent. “They have notified us that there will be budget reductions to our MCH (...
When the members of the Saratoga Town Council will convene for their next meeting, it will be in the renamed Steve Wilcoxson Town Council Chambers. On July 7, the council unanimously approved Resolution 2020-08, renaming the council chambers in honor of the late Steve Wilcoxson. Wilcoxson passed away on May 29 in a boating accident on the North Platte River. At the time of his passing, he was serving on the Saratoga Town Council. Elected in 2016 following a write-in campaign during the general...
The Saratoga-Carbon County Impact Joint Powers Board (SCCIJPB) met with two attorneys from Corthell and King, the Laramie based law firm selected last month by the SCCIJPB, during their July 8 meeting. At the same meeting, the reappointments of Chairman Richard Raymer and board member Roger Cox were confirmed and the election of officers was held. Corthell and King As was reported previously (see “Water, sewer board engages with attorney” on page 12 of the June 17 Saratoga Sun), members of the...
The Town of Saratoga is one step closer to completing their audit of Fiscal Year 2018/2019 following approval of a representation letter to Carver, Florek and James (CFJ) at the July 7 meeting. The letter was approved on a 3-1 vote, with Councilmember Jon Nelson voting against. As was reported previously (see “Bubble gum, duct tape and pickles” on page 1 of the July 1 Saratoga Sun), third-party accountant James Childress urged the Saratoga Town Council to sign the representation letter from CFJ...