Serving the Platte Valley since 1888
Serving the Platte Valley since 1888
Sorted by date Results 1325 - 1349 of 5184
The subject of wind energy taxes is blowing into the Wyoming Legislature again. On December 17, the Revenue Committee is meeting to discuss legislation for a new tax on wind energy. Kara Choquette, Director of Communications and Government Relations for Power Company of Wyoming (PCW) LLC, is opposed to a new wind tax because she fears it will hurt areas where wind projects are being built and planned. Choquette points out her company's business model is completely different...
State winners were named during the 2020 Wyoming Make it With Wool competition, Sunday, December 6, in Laramie. Due to COVID-19, there was no in-person modeling of garments. Contestants submitted 39 entries from 12 districts across the state. The top two junior and senior entries are selected for the state contest, said Carol Macy, state contest director. Judging was at the University of Wyoming's Cliff and Martha Hansen Teaching Arena near Laramie. First place in the senior...
The Hanna Town Council met at 6:30 p.m. on December 8 at the Hanna Town Hall for their regularly scheduled meeting. Council members Jayson Nordquist, Sam Sikes and Mayor Lois Buchanan were present in person and council member Linda Schisel was in attendance by phone. Councilmember Tracy Fowler was absent. Buchanan started with the High Country Joint Powers Board (see Hanna Landfill Closed on page 1 of the December 9 Saratoga Sun). She informed the council that the landfill...
The Upper Platte River Solid Waste Disposal District (UPRSWDD) met on December 2 at the Platte Valley Community Center to discuss ongoing matters involving the landfill. After site reports and discussion of ongoing billing issues, the board met with Mayor Pro-Tem Bob Keel to address the James Childress report. The report was criticized in the town council meeting the day before, and this trend continued to the landfill board meeting. Keel started by discussing Childress’s o...
During their final meeting of 2020, the Saratoga Planning Commission discussed a variety of topics ranging from the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Town of Saratoga and Carbon County to the final authority of special use permits. Three of the four current members of the planning commission were in attendance on December 8 and, even while addressing continued concerns from Ellie Dana-Raymer regarding the new Memorial Hospital of Carbon County (MHCC) clinic, the...
Less than a month after multiple county health officers requested approval of mask mandates, Governor Mark Gordon has approved a state-wide health order requiring the use of masks in public places effective today. Along with requiring the use of face coverings, changes to current health orders issued by the governor reduces the operating time of bars and restaurants. Similar to many of the recent health orders issued by county health officers in recent weeks, the state-wide... Full story
After nearly 30 years working for the Town of Saratoga, Suzie Cox submitted her letter of resignation to the Saratoga Town Council effective December 31. Cox, who has served as town clerk since 2005 and was initially hired in 1994, submitted her letter prior to the December 1 meeting of the governing body. “It has been my pleasure to have served in many capacities and as Clerk for the Town of Saratoga. I have worked for the Town of Saratoga since November of 1994,” wrote Cox...
With only one meeting remaining in 2020, it would appear that the Saratoga Town Council will move into the New Year without someone in the mayor’s seat despite solicited input from council members-elect Creed James and Ben Spaulding. While the two provided their opinion on the vacancy, two different motions to appoint to the seat died due to lack of a second. Though the mayoral vacancy has been discussed repeatedly since the initial resignation of Mayor John Zeiger on A...
The Upper Platte River Solid Waste Disposal District (UPRSWDD) met on December 2 at the Platte Valley Community Center in order to discuss ongoing matters involving the landfill. Following the site reports, the board decided to talk and finalize what they were going to do about the past due accounts. Over the past few months, the district has been struggling with people failing to pay their dues on time, with some not paying for over four months. To begin, Ellie Dana-Raymer...
The Saratoga Sun will remain the official publication of the Board of Carbon County Commissioners (BOCCC) following their December 1 meeting. This marks the first time in recent history that the Sun has been the official publication for the governing body of the county two years in a row. Last year, when the BOCCC had named the Saratoga Sun their official publication for the 2020 calendar year, it marked the first time that the newspaper had been selected to publish the...
Back in the beginning of June, there was serious concern that the Hanna landfill, run by the High Country Joint Powers Board (HCJPB), was in danger of not being ready for closure. Trash piled high throughout the dump during that time and it did not look feasible that all the trash could be buried in time to meet the deadline for closing the dump in accordance to Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) requirements. The closure had been in the works for over a decade. It was...
“After the investigation and reading the documentation … it’s the finding of my office that there is no criminal conduct. So, we have declined criminal charges.” It has been more than a year since the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office seized a hard drive used by Saratoga Town Clerk Suzie Cox from Saratoga Town Hall. On December 1, Carbon County Attorney Ashley Mayfield-Davis appeared before the Saratoga Town Council to inform them that the investigation into the hard drive was...
Leslie Birge has spent the majority of her life in Carbon County, mostly in the town of Hanna. "I might have been born in Texas, but I was raised here in Hanna," Birge said. "My father worked for a gas company and I went to Hanna Elementary and finished at Hanna High School." After graduating, Birge went to work for the Hanna Housing Board and then the Hanna Senior Center. She married before she was 21, and she started a family. Birge has two daughters, Audrianna and Andraya....
The Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) Board of Trustees received a number of updates during their November 16 meeting, one of which was from Robin Brown, district special education director. According to Brown, the district had approximately 101 students enrolled in special education across all disability categories. Additionally, there were six students who had transferred to the district from out-of-state that were undergoing evaluations for Individual Education...
When the Wyoming Department of Education (WDE) announced the closure of schools statewide due to concerns over the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, school districts were asked to develop an Adaptive Learning Plan just a few weeks after to help finish out the school year. The administrative and curriculum staff of Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) worked quickly to put such a plan in place to facilitate the continued education of students from home. As August...
On November 23, six days after Carbon County Health Officer Wayne Couch announced a county-wide mask mandate, the executive committee of the Carbon County Republican Party issued a letter of concern addressed to the Board of Carbon County Commissioners (BOCCC). As was reported previously (see “All the dents we can get” on page 1 of the November 25 Saratoga Sun), Couch joined the BOCCC via phone during their November 17 meeting to discuss a mask mandate. What was first bel...
The Carbon County Visitors Council had to change their meeting from Sinclair Town Hall to meet virtually due to concerns of COVID-19. The meeting started at 10:31 on November 18. The agenda and minutes from the regularly scheduled meeting on October 10 were quickly approved. The next order of business was going over and approving the 2021 Budget Amendment that incorporated $270,428.06 of Cares Act Relief Funding (CARF) received for the purpose of marketing and promoting...
In response to rising cases of COVID-19 and increasing strains on medical facilities, Governor Mark Gordon announced additional statewide measures to help slow the spread of COVID-19, ease the pressure on Wyoming’s healthcare system and preserve the viability of the state’s economy. The new health orders issued by the State Health Officer yook effect on November 24. There are no business closures included in the new orders. They reduce the size of indoor and outdoor gatherings. These are part of a series of measures the sta...
The Board of Carbon County Commissioners (BOCCC) is in the process of developing a draft Natural Resource Management Plan (NRMP) for the county. The County has hired Y2 Consultants and Falen Law Offices to work with a County appointed steering committee to develop the NRMP following the guidelines set forth by the Wyoming Governor’s Office and the Wyoming County Commissioner’s Association. The County is developing this Plan as a tool which allows a local government to have a substantive impact on federal decisions, pla...
During the November 17 meeting of the Board of Carbon County Commissioners (BOCCC), the commissioners approved a road use agreement between Carbon County and Brush Creek Ranch for a section of Carbon County Road 504. The approval of the document comes a week after the commissioners balked at a request from the luxury ranch to place a gate on the south end of the county road. Carbon County Road 504 is just one of many roads that, while accessible during the summer, is not...
The Carbon County Council of Governments (CCCOG) met at 6:30 p.m by Zoom on November 18. The municipalities represented were Baggs, Dixon, Elk Mountain, Rawlins, Riverside and Saratoga. Chairman Morgan Irene started the meeting by having all in the conference introduce themselves. After introductions, the voting members from the municipalities identified themselves. Once the voting members identified themselves, the council approved the agenda and the minutes from the...
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department has released the Platte Valley Mule Deer Migration Corridor Draft Biological Risk and Opportunity Assessment. The document provides an overview of the conservation challenges and opportunities along the 80 miles in south-central Wyoming that make up one of the most crucial pathways in the state for spring and fall mule deer movements. The public is invited to review the draft and submit comments. The Platte Valley Migration Corridor has...
“I understand people have expressed concerns about their civil liberties. I get that, I understand that. On the other hand, this is a public health emergency. The last one of these major pandemics like this was over 100 years ago. We’re not planning on this lasting forever, I don’t expect the public to tolerate it forever.” On November 17, Carbon County was one of nine counties in Wyoming that instituted a mask mandate following approval by State Health Officer Alexia Harrist...
Saratoga’s mayoral vacancy is no closer to being filled, despite council members-elect Ben Spaulding and Creed James being given two weeks to meet with sitting members of Saratoga Town Council. While Saratoga’s governing body was supposed to meet on November 17, and potentially appoint someone as mayor, the meeting ended up being canceled due to lack of a quorum. The announcement of the cancellation came at approximately noon the day of the meeting in an email from Sar...
