Twenty-four hours to go

Update (01/03/2022, 9:37 p.m.) During the January 3 regular meeting of the Rawlins City Council, both Dirty Boyz Sanitation and Wyoming Waste Connections had their hauler licenses approved from January 3, 2023 to December 31, 2023.

With the snow piling up during the most recent winter storm and municipal waste threatening to pile up in the New Year, the Rawlins City Council held an emergency meeting on January 2.

The end result was a 24-hour emergency extension of municipal waste hauler licenses for both Dirty Boyz Sanitation and Wyoming Waste Connections.

Some Rawlins residents questioned the timing of the emergency meeting on social media. Prior to the announcement of the emergency meeting, the City of Rawlins had extended its no unnecessary travel advisory and the emergency meeting came just one day before the first regular meeting of the New Year. Announcement of the emergency meeting also came just minutes before it was to begin at 5 p.m.

“The City Council will hold an emergency meeting on January 2, 2023, at 5:00 PM to discuss Municipal Haulers Licenses at City Hall, 521 W. Cedar, Rawlins,” read the post. “Any actions taken at emergency sessions must be ratified by vote of the Council at the following regular council meeting.”

Per Wyoming State Statute 16-4-404(d), a governing body may call an emergency meeting “on matters of serious immediate concern to take temporary action without notice.” Any action taken at an emergency meeting must be ratified within 48 hours at an open public meeting unless the emergency continues to exist after 48 hours. In such a case, the governing body can ratify any action taken at the next regularly scheduled meeting but no later than 30 days after the date of the emergency action.

An emergency meeting is different from a special meeting, as defined by Wyoming State Statute 16-4-44(b). A special meeting may be called by the presiding officer of the governing body—such as the mayor—by giving “verbal, electronic or written notice of the meeting” to each member of the governing body and each newspaper, radio and television station. The notice must specify the time and the place of the special meeting, the business to be transacted and must be issued at least 8 hours in advance.

In a social media post by the City of Rawlins Government announcing the emergency meeting, an update as of 8:30 p.m. further clarified the reason for the meeting.

“Tonight's Emergency Council Meeting was coordinated with Dirty Boyz, Wyoming Waste, and the City of Rawlins to allow for discussion regarding the Municipal Waste Haulers Licenses prior to the Regular Council meeting on Tuesday, January 3rd at 7:30,” read the update to the post. “Tonight's meeting allowed all involved parties a dedicated time to discuss and prepare for proposed actions at the regular meeting. There was no action taken at this emergency meeting other than to grant both Dirty Boyz and Wyoming Waste a 24-hour temporary hauling license.”

Discussion of both haulers’ licenses will be on the agenda for the January 3 meeting. At the December 20 meeting, the Rawlins City Council voted 4-2-1 to table the haulers license application for Wyoming Waste Connections and a motion to approve the same application for Dirty Boyz failed by a vote of 2-4-1.