Changes coming to Medicine Bow

The Medicine Bow Town Council met on December 13 at the Medicine Bow Community Hall, with all council members and Mayor Sharon Biamon present.

After the agenda and minutes from the regularly scheduled meeting of November 8 were approved, Town Clerk/Treasurer Karen Heath read the bills to be ratified. Biamon said she would like a printout of the credit card statement and petty cash book pages when asked to pay those bills. The council approved the financials.

Braeden Hyde of Sunrise Engineering addressed the council and requested permission to re-engineer the roads to reconfigure the cost to something the town could afford. Acting Fire Chief Robert Maddox said to make sure they would be able to hold the weight of the fire truck and water tender. Maddox didn’t want to see the roads disintegrate in a year or two if they weren’t designed for the weight. Councilmember Cynthia Chace asked Maddox to weigh the trucks and let Sunrise know. Hyde requested the council approve a work order for $153,600 for the re-engineering, which the council did.

Heath said, pursuant to the Wyoming Statutes, all banks wishing to be considered for municipal depositories were required to request to do so. RNB State Bank and the Bank of Commerce had both applied. She added UniWyo Federal Credit Union was only a pass-through for payroll and wasn’t required to apply. The Council approved both banks as town depositories.

Public Works Director Charlie George told the council he was retiring December 19, but was taking vacation until his retirement. The mayor and council thanked him for his 16 years of service.

Biamon informed the council the Town had received a letter with complaints against the town marshal. She said she had reviewed the body cam footage and none of what was in the letter was corroborated. She had intended to reply to the letter, but discovered the correspondent was appealing his case. She said it was better not to respond until that was settled.

Marshal Dave Redding said there had been 114 citations totaling $28,696 in December, and the year-end total was $236,076. There had been 1,014 calls this year and over 1,200 the prior year.

Medicine Bow Museum Director Sharon Biamon said there had been a tree lighting at the museum. She indicated no kids came, only adults. According to Biamon, only the bottom half of the tree lit up and public works was working to find the reason. She thinks the problem may have been the high winds breaking the lines.

Biamon said elections had been held for the Medicine Bow Fire Department and she wished to appoint Robert Maddox as Fire Chief. The council unanimously approved the appointment. She added any actions taken by the prior department chief and administration prior to November 12, 2021 would not be the responsibility of nor reflect upon the new administration. Maddox said the department had had 41 calls this year and had 15 active members with more coming. The department had escorted Santa Claus to the Medicine Bow Elementary School on December 7, and will work more with the school for other events and programs.

South Central Wyoming EMS (SCWEMS) Representative Cindy Papisan introduced the new chairman, Carey Lake. She said they had received four AED units (anti-fibrillation) for SCWEMS through the Hensley Foundation. Papison indicated everyone she was coming into contact with was impressed with the new ambulance director, Stayton Mosley. Lake said they had a new board and they needed more EMTs and drivers. A new EMT class was starting January 4, and would take place in Hanna via video. Classes lasted four to six months, and it was a basic EMT class.

Lake added he would now be the provider for the Medicine Bow Rural Health Care Clinic and would be there four days a week.

Planning and Zoning Commissioner Sharon Biamon said the board was waiting on the council to do something about derelict vehicles on the west side. Redding said letters had been sent out but Heath indicated the letters hadn’t been sent because many of the addresses were wrong and descriptions for vehicles had to be included. Heath will ride along with Redding to get the correct information.

The next meeting of the Medicine Bow Town Council will be at 7 p.m. on January 10 at the Medicine Bow Community Hall.