Getting down to business in 2023

Government business for the new year got underway when returning incumbents and newly elected officials got to work this week during the Board of County Commissioners meeting Tuesday morning and Green River City Council meeting Tuesday night.

County Commission

"It is a new year and we are excited," Commissioner Mary Thoman said at the beginning of Tuesday's meeting of the Board of County Commissioners.

The board met for the first time in 2023 on Jan. 3, which was also the first meeting for three new commissioners - Keaton West, Island Richards, and Robb Slaughter.

All three commissioners were sworn in to their positions during a ceremony Tuesday morning when Sweetwater County's new elected officials were sworn in by the Honorable Judge Richard Lavery of District Court.

At the beginning of the commission meeting, the commissioners voted unanimously to make Keaton West the new board chairman, with West abstaining from the vote.

"I appreciate that vote of confidence, but I would like to just mention that it's going to take all of us," West said after being made chairman. "I look forward to the five of us working together as a team to sort through the issues of the county and move it forward together. I'll lean on you as you lean on me and we can each utilize our strengths and personalities to the betterment of the county."

During the first meeting of the year, the board addressed a few items of business. The commissioners approved the consent agenda which included requests to replace vacant positions in the County Clerk's office and Detention Center; approved a Planning and Zoning resolution requiring changes to access points for a subdivision north of Rock Springs; heard county resident comments and concerns from Chris Blake regarding allowing firearms at the county courthouse and from Wyoming Senator John Kolb about working together in the future; heard an update on the Colorado River Basin from Brian Seppie of the Joint Powers Water Board; discussed looking into the possibility of no longer paying for an ad to list county phone numbers in the phone book; reappointed Randy Laughter and Travis Baker to the Weed and Pest Board; and designated the Green River Star as the county's newspaper of record for 2023.

The commissioners also discussed small changes they would like to potentially make, including possibilities like changing the commission meeting starting time to 9 a.m., having commissioner comments at the beginning of the meeting instead of the end, and bringing back liaison duties for the commissioners.

All three new commissioners also expressed their thanks to former commissioners Jeff Smith, Randy "Doc" Wendling and Roy Lloyd for the work they did, and expressed their excitement to work with the current board.

"I'm excited to get started," Slaughter said. "It's really nice to be able to sit down and actually feel like we can learn and we can start working together. I'm excited about this group. I think it's going to be a very good group to work with, and I think we'll do a good job for Sweetwater County."

City Council

The Green River City Council meeting started with elected council members Pete Rust, Ronald Williams, Michael Shutran and Gary Killpack taking the oath of office, led by the Honorable Judge Jason Petri of Green River Municipal Court. Rust, Shutran and Killpack were returning to their seats on the council, with Williams taking over the Ward I council seat previously filled by Jim Zimmerman.

Council Member George Jost was unanimously elected as Council President for the year of 2023, and Council Member Mike Shutran was elected as Council Vice President for the year of 2023 with a majority vote.

During the first meeting of the year, the council also made a proclamation recognizing Human Trafficking Prevention Month; appointed Council Member Gary Killpack and Council Member George Jost to the Finance Committee for 2023; and approved a resolution officially establishing and designating bank depositories for the City of Green River, which must be done every year according to Wyoming state statutes.

Green River Police Chief Tom Jarvie was filling in for Reed Clevenger as acting city administrator during the meeting.

During their comments at the end of the meeting, all of the council members welcomed Councilman Williams to the council.

"Welcome to the council," Councilman George Jost told Williams. "Have a good time. There will be a lot going on here in the next few months, so you'll be busy."