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It’s still up in the air as to whether or not the county will support the airport moving forward on a commercial terminal study. After a lengthy discussion at the Sweetwater County Commissioners meeting Tuesday, the Commissioners decided to table making a decision on whether or not to spend $711,111 for a study for the commercial terminal modernization program at the Southwest Wyoming Regional Airport. At first, the resolution to fund the project looked like it might die due to a lack of a m...
A lot of money was spent by candidates prior to the August Primary Election. As their campaigns progress, candidates are required to report the contributions they made and received to their campaign as well as their expenditures. Of those spending money on campaigns, Matthew Jackman, a candidate for mayor of Rock Springs, spent the most, claiming more than $19,000 in expenditures in his failed election bid. While no one else surpassed the $10,000 mark, many candidates for Sweetwater County...
The airport director is seeking financial support from the Sweetwater County Commission and city of Rock Springs to pursue grant money for the design phase of the airport’s commercial terminal. Devon Brubaker, Southwest Wyoming Regional Airport director, said all of this is coming out of a decision made by the U.S. Congress in March to provide supplemental appropriations of $1 billion in additional federal discretionary funding for airport infrastructure improvements. The Federal Aviation A...
Moving the backup dispatch center in Rock Springs to a new home at the Sweetwater County Justice Center could be costly for the Sweetwater County Combined Communications Joint Powers Board. The board’s backup dispatch center is located at 731 C Street in Rock Springs, the former home of the Rock Springs Circuit Court and Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office. The center is the only group using the building after the county moved offices from the building to the newer justice center between Roc...
Eight candidates have filed to seek election to the Sweetwater County School District No. 2 Board of Trustees. Three positions are up for election with incumbents John Malone and Robin Steiss seeking re-election. Joining Malone and Steiss in the race are Don Adams, Rachelle Morris, Elonna Owens, Daniel Stanton, Ashley Castillon and David Munoz. Board member Ann Rudoff announced she would not be seeking re-election. For Western Wyoming Community College’s board of trustees, three candidates h...
In the end, all the signs and balloons didn’t help John Kolb get elected to a third term. Kolb was fourth overall in the Republican Primary for Sweetwater County Commissioner, being defeated Jeffery Smith, Roy Lloyd and his co-commissioner Randy Wendling. Kolb only performed better than Allan Jarnagin. Wendling led the field by more than 1,000 votes, amassing 3,163. The division between second and third place was a very slim margin for Lloyd and Smith. Smith received 2,072 votes while 2,029 v...
Sweetwater County will no longer send depositories to Bank of the West starting Oct. 1. During the Sweetwater County Commissioners meeting Tuesday morning, the commissioners voted unanimously to remove Bank of the West from its list of depositories starting Oct. 1. The commissioners stated they needed to make a statement against Bank of the West’s views. About two weeks ago, Bank of the West stated on its website blog.bankofthewest.com/change, “We will no longer do business with companies who...
While Sweetwater County voters sided with Foster Friess in the Republican Primary Election, GOP voters across the state decided State Treasurer Mark Gordon would be their choice for Governor of Wyoming. Gordon will take on Democrat Mary Throne in the General Election. Throne defeated Kenneth Casner, Michael Allen Green and Rex Wilde for the Democratic nomination. Friess earned 1,692 votes in Sweetwater County, Gordon earned 1,217 votes, with Sam Galeotos receiving 1,028 votes, Harriet Hageman...
One Sweetwater County organization is trying to spread the word about how human trafficking and sex exploitation can happen in Wyoming and even in this county. For Christal Martin, founder and executive director of Sweetwater Against Trafficking, the fight to stop this from happening to other children is personal. About one year ago, Martin’s 12-year-old daughter was sexually exploited with a chat website that her daughter could access on her phone called Chatous. While the site seems p...
A new transmission line project cutting through southwest Wyoming will bring workers to the area, as well as impact funding to four counties. Last week, representatives of various local governments and agencies met to discuss their plan to claim a piece of the $7.9 million in impact funds the Gateway West Transmission Line project will bring. In total, county agencies seek $4.1 million. Construction on the transmission project is scheduled to start in April and will connect the Jim Bridger...
The Sweetwater County Commissioners aren’t the only ones upset with Bank of the West’s announcement to not fund certain oil-and-gas industry businesses. U.S. Sen. John Barrasso and Wyoming Treasurer Mark Gordon have added pressure on the bank over its corporate announcement. The two, along with the county commissioners, considered the bank’s corporate stance of not doing business with companies engaged in drilling shale for oil and gas, or mining or burning coal in power plants. The bank will...
Sweetwater County is going to receive about $2.37 million due to a tax error. In July, the Sweetwater County Commissioners were notified by the Department of Revenue that a Sweetwater County vendor mistakenly reported its taxes to Natrona County instead of Sweetwater County. The error was discovered during a regular audit. Kim Lovett, administrator of the Excise Tax Division of the Department of Revenue, said in a previous interview an audit on a Sweewater County vendor, which will remain...
The Sweetwater County Commissioners feel as though Bank of the West Corporate has waged war against them when it declared it would no longer support certain businesses in the oil and gas and coal industries. According to Bank of the West’s website blog.bankofthewest.com/change, “We will no longer do business with companies whose main activity is exploring, producing, distributing, marketing or trading oil and gas from shale and/or tar sands. “We will no longer finance coal mines or coal-...
Several large wildfires started in Sweetwater County, burning thousands of acres of land. According to Sweetwater County Fire Warden Mike Bournazian, multiple wildfires were reported Saturday, starting at about 11:30 a.m., and continued into the early evening. Firefighters from throughout the county and the Wyoming Bureau of Land Management responded to the blazes quickly after they were reported, but conditions worked against their efforts. “But due to the extremely hot, dry and windy w...
A tax error will give Sweetwater County about $2.37 million, but how it will be divided among the towns and cities is still unclear. During a recent Sweetwater County Commissioners meeting, county treasurer Robb Slaughter informed the commission the county will be receiving additional tax money because of a tax error. Slaughter said the Department of Revenue informed him that a Sweetwater County vendor mistakenly reported its taxes to Natrona County instead of Sweetwater County. The error,...
Governor Matt Mead made an appearance in Sweetwater County last week to celebrate the completion of several Sweetwater County facilities. Mead flew to Southwest Wyoming Regional Airport near Rock Springs Wednesday and was present for a ribbon cutting on its new general aviation and hangar complex. According to Devon Brubaker, airport manager, nearly all of the funding for the complex came from state and federal sources, which totaled $5.78 million. The only local expenditures made by the airport...
In an unexpected move by the Sweetwater County Commissioners, the commissioners almost defeated the lodging tax initiative by not acting at all. Initially when the resolution was reviewed, chairman Reid West asked for a motion twice, no one would make a motion and the resolution died because the commission failed to act on it. However, after a short recess and realizing the initiative would die and not be placed on the general election ballot if they failed to act on a resolution, the...
Concerns continue to grow regarding proposed oil and gas leases the Bureau of Land Management intends to sell in the Greater Little Mountain area. Large portions of the area were listed in a fourth quarter lease proposal released by the BLM earlier this year. For Joshua Coursey, Muley Fanatics Foundation CEO in Green River, protecting the Greater Little Mountain Area comes down to wanting to promote a healthy game population in the area, as well as preserving some of the few places in...
A Republican member of the Wyoming House seeks election as the next Wyoming State Auditor. Nathan Winters, a pastor from Thermopolis, wants to provide efficient and transparent service in the State Auditor’s Office. He has served in the Wyoming Legislature since 2013 in House District 28. The district encompasses the entirety of Hot Springs County, as well as parts of Park, Big Horn and Fremont counties. “I know what it means to represent small communities,” Winters said. While the state audit...
A Rock Springs man accused of attempting to commit human trafficking had all charges against him dismissed. In the case against Guadalupe J. Chavez-Arellano, 54, the state sent motion to dismiss without prejudice to Third District Court Judge Richard Lavery, which he granted. The charges being dismissed are solicitation to commit human trafficking in the first degree, attempt to commit human trafficking in the first degree, attempt to commit sexual servitude of a minor and attempt to commit sexu...
Motorists will not only have to move over for emergency responder vehicles, but official vehicles. The new move over law, which went into effect July 1, requires motorists to move over for maintenance, construction and utility workers in addition to emergency responders like the Wyoming Highway Patrol, Stephanie Harsha, Wyoming Department of Transportation District 3 public relations specialist, said. "Basically, it requires motorists to do what they currently do when encountering an emergency v...
The owner of the Fish Bowl Restaurant and Bowling Center wants to become the next Sweetwater County Assessor. Perri Rubeck, a Republican, thinks changes need to be made in local government and in the assessor’s office. “The assessor’s office consists of a handful of dedicated and talented employees with a hierarchy of an office manger, chief deputy and the currently appointed assessor,” he said in his campaign announcement. “Having owned and operated a number of businesses I am sure there is no need for this much management and taxpayer...
An oil and gas lease auction set to start July 11 has members of the Wyoming Outdoor Council concerned about possible drilling in sensitive areas located in Sweetwater County. An auction hosted by the Wyoming Office of State Lands and Investments lists 187 parcels throughout the state, consisting of 65,422 acres of land. More than 29,000 acres of that land is within Sweetwater County. One parcel, labeled Parcel 166, is primarily within the Sand Dunes Wilderness Study Area, with the exclusion of...
