Then there were five

Saratoga Town Council At A Glance

Appoint of Legal Counsel

• Mayor Creed James appointed Sundahl, Powers, Kapp & Martin as legal counsel with unanimous approval from town council.

Saratoga Town Clerk

• Town council approved contract of $50 per hour at 10 hours per week for Pam Paulsen to aid treasurer and assistant clerk/treasurer.

Department of Public Works

• Two payments of $25,900 to Bob Ruwart Motors for two new trucks for the water and sewer department using impact assistance funds approved.

Planning Commission

• Lindy Glode and Theresa Ramsey-Manly appointed to the Saratoga Planning Commission.

• Two seats remain open.

Airport Advisory Board

• Sage Civil Engineering approved to submit four Wyoming Department of Transportation applications for; moving entrance approach, temporary construction approach, treated water encroachment and sewer encroachment.

Appointments

• Keel: Platte Valley Medical Board, Platte Valley Community Center Joint Powers Board and liaison to the Upper Platte River Solid Waste Disposal District.

• Nelson: Department of Public Works, the Saratoga-Carbon County Impact Joint Powers Board and voting member for the Carbon County Council of Governments.

• Spaulding: mayor pro-tem, representative to the Saratoga Recreation Commission and the Saratoga Recreation Department.

• Saratoga Town Council will return to 6 p.m. meetings.

All five seats of Saratoga’s governing body are now filled following the January 19 meeting of the Saratoga Town Council. With a complete council, Mayor Creed James announced his appointments for boards and commissions.

The 5th Council Member

Following the appointment of James to the mayor vacancy on January 5 (see “Saratoga finds its Creed” on page 1 of the January 13 Saratoga Sun), a vacancy was declared in the council seat James had been elected to on November 4.

With a deadline of January 15, the governing body interviewed three potential candidates in a 45 minute executive session near the beginning of the meeting. The candidates included D’Ron Campbell, who had previously served from August to December 2020 after being appointed to the late Councilmember Steve Wilcoxson’s seat, Ron Hutchins and Marty Blake.

When the governing body returned from executive session, Councilmember Ben Spaulding made a motion to appoint Campbell to the vacancy. The motion, which was seconded by Councilmember Jon Nelson, passed unanimously.

“I would just like to say, I think it’s important that we had people that were willing to come and participate and I appreciate that. It’s something that, even if you don’t get this appointment to this town council seat, there’s still plenty of things that can be done to help,” said Councilmember Bob Keel. “I felt like the candidates were great and I think any one of you three would be a really good spot up here sitting right next to me.”

“The time commitment that comes with being up here is something that opened our (James and Spaulding) eyes the last two weeks and for you guys to throw your hat in the ring, we really do appreciate it,” added James.

After being sworn in by James, Campbell returned to the council, marking only one meeting in which she was not serving on the governing body. While James had originally been elected to a four year position, Campbell will serve in the vacancy until the 2022 General Election when the seat will appear on the ballot as a two-year unexpired term.

With James filling in the remaining two years of the mayoral term and the seats held by Nelson and Keel up for election in 2022 as well, the seat currently held by Spaulding will be the only one not to appear on the ballot.

Board Appointments

Appointments to board and commissions are announced each year and, with a nearly entirely new council, some changes were expected. The first change announced by James was that of who would serve as mayor pro-tem. While Keel was appointed to the position following the passing of Wilcoxson by former mayor John Zeiger, Keel had offered to resign to allow James to make his own appointment.

When James asked Keel if his offer was still available, the latter stated that it was. Spaulding was then appointed to the position of mayor pro-tem.

“I think everyone needs to understand what Bob did for this town for the last four or five months,” said James. “A lot of work, a lot of time, a lot of effort and I really, really appreciate that, Bob.”

The next meeting of the Saratoga Town Council will be at 6 p.m. on February 2 at Saratoga Town Hall.