It was a year of tough decisions for the Sweetwater County Commissioners.
In March, the Commissioners were faced with a packed room of residents all waiting for their turn to voice support or opposition to U.S. Representative Liz Cheney’s proposed Wilderness Study Area bill, which would release Wyoming’s WSAs.
With a 3-2 vote, the Commissioners approved a motion for a full release of all 13 WSAs, including the three areas that run into other counties. Commissioners Wally Johnson, Don Van Matre and John Kolb voted in favor, while Commissioners Randy Wendling and Reid West voted against it.
Also in March, the Commissioners didn’t sign a contract with Castle Rock Hospital District to provide the district with $81,000. The Commissioners were divided on whether or not to enter into a contract with CRHD after the board raised issues with having to publish their salaries in the newspaper several months ago.
Commissioners Wendling and Johnson voted in favor of the contract, while Commissioners West, Van Matre and Kolb voted against. At a later meeting and after speaking with CRHD representatives, the Commissioners approved the contract.
In May, the Commissioners decided the Sweetwater County Assessor’s Office no longer needed the chief deputy position and would open up a new position called chief appraiser. This new position is similar to other county positions. This was the first department to go through the change. In other departments, when the chief deputies leave, those positions will be eliminated and changed into a different county position. Those positions are paid $85,000 and eliminating those will save the county money.
In July, the Commissioners almost prevented the lodging tax from making it onto the ballot for voters to decide. The problem the Commissioners had was with the wording of the resolution which stated, “the continuation of the existing county-wide 3 percent lodging tax, with an increase of 1 percent.” The Commissioners didn’t like that is was an all-or-nothing resolution, however, once they realized it wouldn’t go on the ballot without their consent, they made a motion and voted on it. Commissioner Johnson was the only no vote stating he didn’t want it increased.
In July, the Commissioners along with other state dignitaries opened the Sweetwater County Justice Center. The county funded a $22 million project to build a new court facility to combine the two circuit courts, which included a $3.8 million allocation from the Wyoming Legislature.
The new court facility includes space for two courts, as well as space for the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office, Sweetwater County Attorney’s Office and the public defenders’ office.
In August, the Commissioners found out the county was going to receive about $2.37 million due to a tax error. They 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 and is something that doesn’t happen very often.
Also during 2018, the Commissioners decided to take all of the county’s money out of the Bank of the West and put in into a more oil, gas and coal friendly bank, which county treasurer Robb Slaughter determined to be Commerce Bank. This all took place after Bank of the West put the following statement on its 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-fired power plants that are not actively involved in the energy transition.”
After a few months of debate, the Commissioners decided not to support the Southwest Wyoming Regional Airport commercial terminal without a guarantee that it will receive federal grant funding.
It was a 3-2 vote against the motion. Commissioners Wendling and West voted in favor, while Commissioners Wally Johnson, Don Van Matre and John Kolb voted against. The original request was $711,111, but was reduced to $133,333 in an effort to decrease the amount needed. The reason for moving forward with the design phase was to put the airport ahead of other airports seeking federal funds.
The Commissioners also approved a conditional use permit for Sweetwater Solar LLC for a utility scale solar energy project for three to 3o years. The property is located on Bureau of Land Management, Rock Springs Grazing Association, BLM/BOR transmission line land and is located along Highway 372 about 7 1/2 miles northwest of the intersection of Interstate 80 and Peru Hill. The land is currently zoned agriculture and will be constructed on about 638 acres and will be completed by the end of 2018 or beginning of 2019.
The Commissioners wrapped up the year by showing its continued support for the Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County by approving a $1 million budget amendment so the hospital can complete a central plant upgrade.
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