Settling in

The Hanna council met at 6 p.m. on Jan. 8 at the Hanna Town Hall with mayor Tony Poulos and council members Bob Patton, Pat Gregory, Traci Fowler and Linda Schisel in attendance.

It was business as usual with the call to order, pledge of allegiance, roll call, approval of the agenda and approval of Dec. 11 meeting minutes.

Once this was all accomplished, Poulos gave the oath of office to new council member Sammy Sikes and re-elected council member Fowler. He next gave the oath of office to the new mayor Lois Buchanan.

When Buchanan finished her oath, Poulos and Gregory stepped down from the council and the new administration took over.

Several audience members shouted out thanks to Poulos and Gregory as they made their departure.

Buchanan gave thanks for the support she has received since being elected.

"I would like to take some time to thank everybody for allowing me to be in this position to serve you," Buchanan said. "I hope I will still be able to say that some months down the road and not walk out of here with tomatoes all over me."

She said an open door policy was want she wanted to implement.

"I want to hear from the people," Buchanan said. "I am here to work with the people."

Buchanan said she would make appointments at the next scheduled town council.

Ann Calvert, Hanna town clerk, said that High Country Joint Powers Board had a resignation from Adam Waxweiler, the landfill operator, and Calvert, who was the bookkeeper for the board, also gave notice.

Public works director Larry Korkow said he had been off for a month, but that all seemed well.

"They have been plowing snow and getting streets cleared," Korkow said.

Buchanan said the report from David Sutter, the chief water operator, indicated usage was stable and the same as last month.

Craig Kopasz, of Engineering Associates, said the water project in Elmo was complete. He said the leakage on South Jefferson Street was being looked at. The leak is in a pipe that will be fixed in the summer.

Hanna Marshall Jeff Neimark said notifications had been given out for parking in snow removal areas. He said one of the offenders had ignored the notification and had to be told the vehicle was going to be towed. There was compliance afterwards.

"Once there was compliance public works was notified and the snow was removed that had built up," Neimark said. "The build up is usually snow and ice making it much more difficult to remove. This is why vehicles need to be removed during the snow in a timely fashion."

He said they were working with the Red Cross to get fire alarms in houses that needed them. Neimark said volunteers were needed Red Cross training for emergency situations. He said he hoped a class could be formed and added that classes are free.

Neimark said for the year of 2018 there were 431 calls for service.

Hanna Recreation Center Director Vivian Gonzales said the pool was functioning properly and the temperature was at 80 degrees.

She added lifeguards were taking their exams.

King Coal Days have been set for July 27-28.

Pam Paulson, town treasurer and member on the museum board, said the Lincoln Highway Memorial was put on hold until the weather got better.

The board and department reports were approved and then the financials were approved minutes later.

Michael Zedicker, Hanna resident said he was going to move his operations of Groot Internet Services to Rawlins so a zoning variance was not needed for his residence.

Resolution 2019-495, a resolution approving the proposition for imposition of the 1 percent specific purpose sales and use excise tax in Carbon County was approved. The proposition will be placed on the ballot at an election to be held May 7.

The council approved the resignation of parks and recreation board member Timothy Born. Afterwards Zedicker and Bunny Umberger were approved to be on the parks and recreation board.

The council elected to have a workshop for the FCC order on small wireless facilities that is going into effect Jan. 14.

The council approved the signature change for the town bank account card, taking Poulos off and putting Buchanan on.

Buchanan said she was planning to go the Wyoming Association of Municipalities meeting on Feb. 22 in Cheyenne and Patton was approved to be alternate voting delegate.

Several residents told the mayor a citizen had a bale of alfalfa in their front yard that deer were feeding on.

"It is a serious problem when there are nine deer just hanging around the front yard and the senior center can't get through to deliver food," Donna Pipher, senior center director said.

Neimark said he had been researching on how to approach the problem because the bale is not illegal to be where it is and technically it is incidental the deer are feeding off the bale. He said he will approach the resident in the near future to try and resolve the situation.

The next scheduled town council meeting is at 6 p.m on Feb. 12 at the Hanna Town Hall.