The County Commissioners’ meeting was called to order September 1, 2020 at 9:02 a.m. with Chairman Patrick H. Wade, Vice-Chair John Midkiff, Commissioner Elaine Griffith, and County Clerk Becky L. Freeman, present.
Chairman Wade led the group in the pledge of allegiance.
Public Hearing- Chairman Wade called the public hearing to order to receive public comment on a Change of Zoning application submitted by Vistabeam on land owned by Barth and Velvet Dorwart. Mrs. Dorwart was present and said while she was in favor of this cell phone tower being constructed, she was displeased that no one had contacted her about the change of zoning. She was informed that the lack of communication is between Vistabeam and the landowners.
She had concerns about people coming on their land, and was also concerned about being taxed on the tower. Commissioner Griffith said she would not. Lastly, she agreed that a more definitive legal description of the land should be required even though she is aware of where the tower will go, the application does not specify the exact location.
Chairman Wade contacted Vistabeam by phone to get the complete legal description and further information. A representative with Vistabeam confirmed the area to be used. Chairman Wade explained that the latitude and longitude points were insufficient to serve as a legal description for this purpose.
There being no further comments, Chairman Wade closed the public hearing and reconvened the regular session.
Road & Bridge- Road and Bridge Foreman Fred Thomas joined the meeting. BenchMark of Torrington representatives met with the Commissioners and Mr. Thomas to discuss a change order on the 2020 Spring Road Rehabilitation Project.
2020 Road Rehabilitation Project Change Order #1- A change order to the 2020 Road Rehabilitation Project was presented for approval. Vice-Chairman Midkiff moved to sign Change Order No. 1 for $217,142.40, bringing the contract price to $347,496.40. Commissioner Griffith seconded, motion carried. This change will result in an increase to the estimated quantity for Base Bid A, Bid Item #4: Road Grading, and the addition of new Bid Item #7 to Base Bid A “Haul and place Owner-Supplied Aggregate (3”) Boner Road – C.O. No. 1”, #8 to Base Bid A “Haul and place Owner-Supplied Aggregate (3”) Hat Creek Road – C.O. No. 1”, #8a to Base Bid A “Haul and place Owner-Supplied Aggregate (3”) Hat Creek Road – C.O. No. 1”.
State Land Road Easements- BenchMark is still working on them and had no new findings to report.
Foreman Thomas said there was nothing new to report on the status of the Ruffing Pit and the group discussed working out the details for some fall road projects.
Neil Holmes met with the Commissioners to update them on the Fairgrounds Auditorium projects.
He said that Casper Tin is waiting for the platform to arrive on which the new generator will set. He said the new generator should be here around September 28.
Elected Officials & Department Heads- Sheriff Cary Gill said their breathalyzer is reaching its end of life, and they are searching for one they could borrow. He said the cost of a new one is around $8,000.00. He said they are also advertising for a new detention officer.
Treasurer Keri Thompson said tax notices went out last week, and they are working on gathering items for the auditors and completing year-end reports.
Clerk of Court Chrisanna Lund said there were five new criminal cases. She noted there was an issue with the air conditioning, but she has H & H Electric working on it.
Regional Public Health Nursing Supervisor Dr. Melanie Pearce discussed the prevention program and said that the new prevention specialist Katie Krein is doing very well and working well with the School Resource Officer Stream.
She discussed COVID and said there was a meeting scheduled with the school to talk about surveillance for COVID.
Dr. Pearce stated she would also like to do a Flu shot/COVID testing drive-through.
Extension Educator Denise E. Smith said that she and others at the Extension Office continue to meet with County Health Officer Dr. Joleen Falkenburg, Dr. Melanie Pearce, and Emergency Management Coordinator James Santistevan to discuss events occurring at the fairgrounds.
She noted that 4H Fridays would be starting again in person on September 18, and that record books are due on Friday. They continue to do Facebook Live classes on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Emergency Management Coordinator James Santistevan said that ComTech had installed a new radio in his pickup, and he is still waiting on the handheld radios to arrive. He noted that there would be a THIRA meeting on September 16 at the fairgrounds.
He and the Commissioners discussed what would be the best use of the generator being replaced at the fairgrounds. He is still waiting to hear from Homeland Security on the grant for internet upgrades at the fairgrounds.
Commissioner Griffith discussed the CARES Act grants for which the County applied.
Executive Session- Vice-Chairman Midkiff moved to enter into Executive Session with Sheriff Gill at 10:54 a.m. to discuss personnel issues. Commissioner Griffith seconded, motion carried. Vice-Chairman Midkiff moved to reconvene the regular session at 11:07 a.m. Commissioner Griffith seconded, motion carried.
The Commissioners agreed to split the cost of a new dumpster for the Library with the Town of Lusk.
Ratify 24-Hour Catering Permit- Commissioner Griffith moved to ratify a 24-Hour Catering Permit for Spirits to sell alcoholic beverages at John Graham’s Coyote Days Banquet held August 22, 2020. Vice-Chairman Midkiff seconded, motion carried.
Petitions to Cross County Road- Vice-Chairman Midkiff moved to approve the Petition of Bruce Kilmer to trench the unimproved portion of Stage Road to install a livestock water pipeline. Commissioner Griffith seconded, motion carried. Vice-Chairman Midkiff moved to approve a Petition of the Town of Lusk to cross Fourth Avenue in the Niobrara Park Addition to lay and construct a water service line to a home. Commissioner Griffith seconded, motion carried.
Sealed Bids for County Vehicles- The Commissioners received bids from Marvin Hammer on the 1997 Chevrolet Suburban for $526.78 and the 2007 Ford Explorer for $526.78.
Commissioner Griffith moved to accept both bids from Marvin Hammer for the above vehicles. Vice-Chairman Midkiff seconded, motion carried.
Commissioner Griffith moved to sign the construction contract with Anderson Carpets for $65,120.47 for work to be done at the fairgrounds. Vice-Chairman Midkiff seconded, motion carried.
County Attorney- County Attorney Anne Wasserburger met with the Commissioners and discussed the Guardian Ad Litem contract. She feels it will be less expensive to work under the GAL contract than with individual attorneys.
She would like to make a few revisions on the contract before the Commissioners sign it.
The Commissioners authorized Attorney Wasserburger to move forward on the GAL contract.
The Commissioners dicussed Vistabeam’s change of zoning application with Attorney Wasserburger’s who recommended to deny it as submitted due to an incomplete legal description and no acreage amounts noted.
Commissioner Griffith moved to deny the change of zoning for Vistabeam due to an incomplete legal description and lack of the amount of acreage on land owned by Barth and Velvet Dorwart. Vice-Chairman Midkiff seconded, motion carried.
Erica Potter stopped in and said that the Casper Housing Authority Board is going to be here on Friday, September 4, 2020. She wanted to let the Commissioners know that they could meet with the Board at 11:00 or join the Lusk Town Council meeting at 1:00 p.m.
Consent Agenda- Commissioner Griffith moved to approve the consent agenda. Vice-Chairman Midkiff seconded, motion carried. Items on the consent agenda were the minutes of the August 17, 2020 meeting and receipts for August from the County Clerk for $4,662.04, the Public Health Nurse for $481.47, and the Clerk of District Court for $795.50.
Payroll and the following vouchers were approved for payment: 7837.58 Aflac Insurance; 88.35 Allbright's True Value Hardware; 274.30 Alsco; 1823.05 BenchMark of Torrington P.C.; 89.02 Benzel Pest Control, Inc.; 65.53 Black Hills Chemical & Janitorial; 233.94 Black Hills Energy; 17616.00 Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming; 746.89 Body Builders Body Shop; 173.57 Boldon Welding & Repair, LLC.; 777.44 C & H Tire & Trailer Repair, LLC.; 418.00 Canon Financial Services, Inc.; 1384.40 Century Link; 84.27 Century Link Business Services; 200.00 CNA Surety; 439.80 Coast to Coast Solutions; 684.99 Connecting Point Computer Centers; 100.00 Cory Wilcox; 129.28 Creative Product Source, Inc.; 3750.00 Crook County; 16.82 D. C. Drilling LLC.; 1576.00 Dale's Tire & Retreading, Inc.; 35.13 Decker's Market; 1123.90 Delta Dental of Wyoming; 430.68 Denise E. Smith; 1000.00 Dennis C. Meier; 771.48 Dept. of Workforce Services; 1000.00 Double A Properties, LLC.; 20000.00 Dr. Joleen Falkenburg; 208.08 Election Systems & Software, Inc.; 1553.00 Falen Law Offices, LLC.; 2362.14 Flame Engineering, Inc.; 160.80 Frank Parts Company; 225.00 Fritz's Septic; 1300.00 Geographic Innovations; 18285.00 Great-West Trust Company, LLC.; 103.00 GreatAmerica Financial Svcs.; 455.00 Honey Badger Towing & Recovery, LLC.; 169.92 Intab; 6800.00 Jameson Cleaning & Maintenance, LLC.; 33.35 Janette Starck; 61209.87 JW Services, LLC.; 122.23 Katie Krein; 556.40 Kellie Chichester; 421.40 Long Building Technologies, Inc.; 2597.08 Lusk Herald; 730.00 Lusk/Niobrara Ambulance Service; 4741.17 MasterCard; 43.24 McKesson Medical Surgical; 960.00 NCIC Inmate Communications; 819.00 New Jersey Family Support Payment Center; 849.59 Niobrara County Circuit Court; 23741.66 Niobrara County Hospital District; 1725.00 Niobrara County Library; 75.06 Niobrara County Public Health; 10.00 Niobrara County Rural Fire District; 46.56 Niobrara County Sheriff's Office; 35.05 Niobrara County Treasurer; 50.57 Niobrara Electric Association; 1141.97 On Target Ammunition, LLC.; 10000.00 Porter, Muirhead, Cornia, & Howard; 1282.14 Schindler Elevator Corporation; 6075.00 Sun Ridge Systems, Inc.; 170.55 Swanson Services Corp.; 100.00 Sylvestri Customization; 366.68 Team Laboratory Chemical, LLC.; 154.50 Thomson Reuters-West; 139.02 Torrington Office Supply; 2686.61 Town Of Lusk; 4500.00 Traci Bruegger; 82.69 Tyler Technologies; 579.66 Valley Motor Supply; 378.07 Verizon Wireless; 400.34 Vision Service Plan - (Wy); 530.34 Visionary Broadband; 3500.00 Warehouse Twenty One; 216.00 WEBT; 8726.84 Westco; 1745.94 Whitaker Oil; 228.85 Wyoming Lawn Sprinklers; 110.00 Wyoming Livestock Roundup; 1227.72 Wyoming Machinery Company; 200.00 Wyoming Network, Inc.; 790.80 Wyoming Signs, LLC.; 5290.73 Wyoming Women's Center; 129.78 Xerox Corporation;
ACCOUNTS PAYABLE: 244013.82
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned.
NIOBRARA COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Patrick H. Wade, Chairman
Attest:
Becky L. Freeman, Clerk
Public Notice No. 5509. Published in The Lusk Herald on September 23, 2020.
