Carbon County Commissioners prepare for Spring melt off

Road and Bridge

Road and Bridge Manager Kandis Fritz gave the commissioners a breakdown of the the winter costs accrued by Carbon County Road and Bridge including fuel from December of 2022, through March 2023, the total expenditures were $152,155.72. The yearly fuel budget for Road and Bridge is $220,000.00. This year with overtime and comp time payout from January 1 to March 17, 2023 the staff accrued 1,947 hours of overtime. The cost for overtime totaled $53,438.91.  

Fritz told the commissioners that the contractor services from Locke Trucking and F&S Trucking were hired by the county to come and blow snow at Seminoe Road due to the County Road and Bridge blowers and loaders being out of service came to a total cost of $5,608.80. F&S Trucking (blower and loader) and Brian O’Conner (tractor) helped out in the Elk Mountain area. The cost for Brian O’Conner was $12,535.00 and the total amount for F&S Trucking was $11,197.63. The total in Elk Mountain mainly on the Pass Creek Road was $23,732.63. This cost was split with Saratoga. In the Saratoga area, Rod’s Backhoe Services worked on Jack Creek, North Spring Creek, 504 Hay Creek, and the Saratoga side of Patch Creek with a dozer and blower. That cost was $23,795.00. There is anticipation of one more invoice coming in from the Elk Mountain area. The grand total as of now for contract services is $53,136.43.  The entire amount spent this winter is $258,731.06.  

County Road 205 had plans to have gravel put on the road this year but this will be delayed due to road and bridge being over budget from the snow removal this last winter.

Carbon County Emergency Management

Carbon County Emergency Management (CCEM) Director Lenny Layman reported that a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the town of Medicine Bow and CCEM to use the county owned sandbagger machine was approved by the commissioners. The current plan is for the sandbagger machine to go to Medicine Bow then to Baggs and lastly to Saratoga. The sandbagger machine was transported to Medicine Bow Tuesday afternoon. The tentative plan is to get the sandbagging machine at the beginning of the following week depending on the availability of a trailer to transport the sandbagger to Baggs. Then the same MOU will be brought to the commissioners to approve. Once approved Baggs will begin filling sandbags. The same procedure will be followed to send the bagger to Saratoga.

Little Snake River Emergency Medical Services

Mark Meyer representing Little Snake River Emergency Medical Services (EMS) invited the Commissioners to the annual disaster training at their station. There will be 29 first year medical students from Rocky Vista Medical School helping facilitate disaster training program. This training is held the first weekend of June beginning on June 2, at 1 p.m. continuing through Sunday. The disaster training will simulate real life situations including car accidents, explosions, and school shootings.  It will take place in various locations in Baggs, but will begin at the school.  

Carbon County Library

Maria Wenzel, Carbon County Library Executive Director gave the 2022 annual report to the commissioners. There were 50,000 visits to the Rawlins library and 60,000 checked out items.  There are over 110,000 items in the library collection.  With over 1,000 programs (cultural, educational, and recreational)  available to the public for all ages, attendance has been great. Over 9,900 people participated in the library programs. The library is also providing blood pressure health kits for patients to checkout. There are a total of 20 kits in the system.  

Carbon County Sheriff

Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken explained the presence of the Security Threat Assessment Committee that has been visiting Carbon County School District #1.  The sheriff’s office has a memorandum of understand with CCSD#1 in calibration with the school resource officer that has increased the sheriff’s office involvement with the district schools. The security threat assessment committee has been completed. The committee is trained to be a comprehensive security threat assessment guideline. This means if someone hears a student threaten to shoot up the school, the committee locates that student and conducts an interview with the student and family members to determine the level of threat. A comprehensive plan is then put into place that could include potential suspension or expulsion. This covers other types of threats and violence within the schools as well.

Bakken asked for patrol rifles in this year's budget. Bakken said that M16 A1’s are what the sheriff's office currently has and they are concerned about them firing on fully automatic. The goal is to get new guns to mitigate liability and increase public safety. Baked told the commissioner, the deputies are not comfortable using fully automatic weapons unless with a specialized trained team. There will be a demo on Monday, April 17 at the Rawlins Outdoor Range from 12 to 1 pm. There will be a demonstration of the proposed firearms the sheriff’s office is looking at purchasing. They are AR-15s with a suppressor and a shortened barrel. The M16-A1’s will also be demonstrated to show a comparison between the two weapons. The Commissioners were invited to attend

Carbon County Fairgrounds

Building and Grounds Supervisor Mike Newbrough presented the need to update the electrical system update on the pig barn to improve the wiring and bring more power to the building. A contract with Zumbrennen Electric Company was approved by commissioners for the amount of $35,993.55.  

Planning and Development 

Sara Brugger, the director of Planning and Zoning presented two proposals for the Carbon County land use plan that will be reviewed.  The commissioners will interview the two contractors by zoom. 

Wyoming State Statute 317 change subdivision fence requirements was passed and will take effect on July 1. This adds a provision in subdivision regulations in the county which does require subdivision fencing along the perimeter of all subdivisions unless all adjacent landowners agree that you do not need a fence.  There are three subdivision case files all in the Saratoga area that won’t be impacted as long as the board of county commissioners make a decision on those case files in June. 

Attorney Davis presented an agreement for consideration to the commissioners.This is the opioid agreement OneWyo two opioid settlement memorandum of agreement with the state of Wyoming and the other local entities around the state in regards to what the funds can be used for. Commissioners agreed to authorizing the OneWyo two opioid settlement agreement.

The next meeting of the Carbon County Board of Commissioners is May 2 at the Carbon Building-Courthouse Annex in Rawlins, WY