County wraps 2022

The Sweetwater County Board of County Commissioners finished up their business for the year during Tuesday’s meeting, which was also the last meeting for three of the current commissioners.

During the meeting, the commissioners renewed fire protection agreements, approved a new jail security and surveillance system project and raised the salary for the Deputy County Coroner.

Fire protection agreements extended

All five commissioners voted unanimously to renew fire protection agreements with Sweetwater County Fire District No. 1, Green River Fire Department and Wamsutter Fire Department. The agreements were first established when the commissioners voted to dissolve the county fire department in May.

“This is a win-win, folks,” Sweetwater County Fire Warden Jim Zimmerman told the commissioners. “Everybody’s in agreement with it. It’s going smoothly.”

There were only a few “minor verbiage changes” to the existing contracts, according to Zimmerman.

“The biggest change was everybody agreed they would like it to go from a calendar year to a fiscal year,” he explained.

This will extend the agreement for 18 months, through the end of June 2024. The Green River Fire Department said they would like to have automatic two-year renewals for the next five terms, expressing their desire to keep working with the county on fire protection for the next decade.

The Green River Fire Department took the agreement to the Green River City Council at Tuesday night’s meeting. The council approved the agreement unanimously as well.

Detention center security upgrade

Another major item of business during Tuesday’s county commission meeting was the approval of an upgrade to the detention center’s security and video surveillance system.

In October the board was presented with proposals from companies to perform these upgrades. A group of lieutenants from the detention facility as well as County IT Director Tim Knight and County Purchasing Manager Marty Dernovich looked into the proposals and selected Kubl Group as the contractor they want to work with.

“I think one point of confusion for some when this project was discussed earlier during a commission meeting is the mistaken belief that our detention center is a brand-new facility,” Sheriff John Grossnickle explained in a county press release. “While the justice center is new, the jail has been here for over 20 years now.”

“The framework for the jail’s existing security and video surveillance system is native to the first few years after the beginning of operations at the facility,” Knight said in the press release. “Many of the system’s components are at least 15 years old, and technical support for the original system is no longer available.”

The project will cost $951,722 and will be funded with American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. The goal is to have the upgrades done by June 30. The commissioners unanimously approved the upgrade.

Deputy County Coroner Salary

During their executive session, the commissioners discussed the salary of the Deputy County Coroner. When they returned to the public meeting, the commissioners took action and raised the Deputy County Coroner’s salary from the current rate of $55,250 annually to $78,930.48 annually “in accordance with Sweetwater County’s compensation plan, including step increases and cost of living adjustments, effective January 2023.” The change was approved unanimously.

The last meeting

Chairman Jeff Smith, Commissioner Roy Lloyd and Commissioner Randy “Doc” Wendling will not be returning as commissioners in the new year, and will be replaced by newly-elected commissioners Robb Slaughter, Island Richards and Keaton West.

Throughout Tuesday’s meeting, several people thanked the outgoing commissioners and the board as a whole for their service and the work they’ve accomplished.

“I’m thankful for the time we’ve spent together and the work we’ve done,” Chairman Smith said in a county press release. “I look forward to following along as a fellow county resident as the new board continues to move the county forward. I expect we’ll see great things for years to come.”