Cornella submits resignation as District Court Clerk

At the November 7 Hot Springs County Commissioners board meeting, after an executive session, the commissioners announced they accepted the resignation of District Court Clerk Terri Cornella, effective November 30.

Cornella is an elected official and therefore, to make the process for appointment of elected officials easier, the day after the elected official’s last day a letter is sent to the party of registration when the official was elected. The party has 15 days from the date of the letter from the Commissioners to submit the names of three persons qualified to hold the vacated office. Within five days of receiving the three names, the Commissioners shall fill the vacancy by appointment of one of three.

The appointed candidate’s term of office ends on the first Monday in January 2025. Because of the date of vacation, candidates for this office will run for election in 2024 and take office on the first Monday of January 2025. The successful candidate will only serve two years and the office will again be up for election in 2026 for a four-year term.

They also announced the resignation of the Extension Office’s administrative assistant Tanya Johnson.

The commissioners voted and passed the approval of the AP Warrant Register for $634,368.90 with a portion on hold to pay back to WYDOT pending some approval. Payroll was $198,116,31. There were also two recusal warrants for both Chairman Tom Ryan and Commissioner Phil Scheel.

Brian Clarkson of Ardurra gave the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) update and said that they published the remaining county road 2-foot contours and digital elevation models to the HSC-AGOL account. They reviewed the files once published for quality assurance and quality control. They also digitized and attributed records for Land Use Change for files completed 2006-2001. Also, they continued training analysts on the HSC GIS services work.

Regarding anticipated work for the next period, Ardurra will continue drawing and attributing land-use change tracts and adding new land-use change tracts to the Land-Use Change Lookup App. They will upload county road topo elevation rasters and contour lines to ArcGIS Online and begin developing county road topo online applications.

Additionally, they will begin work on NextGen 911 laters and gather and process publicly available data. They will work with the sheriff and county assessor to obtain the existing address point layer and append data to the new data model. They will continue to provide support for online applications and obtain additional county road easement/ right-of-way documents from Cody Stewart, begin mapping descriptions, and add to the Road & Bridge Department application.

Nate Messenger gave the FBO report and said they had 130 total recorded operations, which included two air ambulances, and four overnight aircraft. There were two requests for hangar space, including a King Air C90 and a Mooney M20J. Regarding fuel sales, they sold 1758.14 gallons of Avgas and 782.97 gallons of jet fuel.

Messenger added, “October proved to be a large drop in activity. We had about half the traffic of the previous month.” Also, Messenger said, “I had to replace the interstitial monitor sensor in the Avgas tank. It gave an erroneous warning. There is a recall of the filters we

just installed in the month of September. We are required to monitor the nozzle screen and differential pressure until replacements become available.”

Additionally, Messenger said that Chris Schmeltzer with CB Equipment out of Powell delivered the lease tractor. Messenger added, “I am going to remove the relay panel from the runway 23 PAPI box and send it to Airside Solutions in Auburn, Washington for troubleshooting. Brad Basse with Jadeco and I have been working on it, and can’t seem to narrow down why it won’t function. I believe they can hook it up to a set of PAPI boxes and find what is causing the problem.”

Shane Rankin gave the Road & Bridge report and said that October was normal in their activities. They wrapped up their inspection of plows

and sanders and they have sand ready to go for snowfall. They also cleaned up manure at the fairgrounds and completed mowing and blading. Rankin also reported that he completed the LPA training, which will have to be repeated every three years.

Rankin and the commissioners held a lengthy discussion about the need to replace a patch truck. There are no used vehicles available or parts and the cost to replace their 1978 model is $103,000 for the chassis and $151,000 for a single 30-ton axle truck. Chairman Ryan asked Rankin to investigate how other countries handle the hot patching and see if outsourcing might work. The commissioners were concerned about the high cost and the limited amount of time of its use.

The commissioners voted and passed the approval of two requests for Right Way Permits, No. 2023-0006 and 2023-0007, with Kirby Ditch Irrigation Districts, all expenses paid.

Chairman Tom Ryan also gave a Black Mountain Road update and said they are waiting to start advertising bidding on the project, pending the BLM review of the environmental impact of the gravel pit and they need to address some easement issues.

John Dorman gave the Maintenance report and said they are waiting on parts for the generator pad. Additionally, they are 90% done with setting up the remote automation system for the Annex building. The physical part of the building is done and running on the new system.

Dorman also said they have some valves they are working on, with some of the hot water valves being bad, causing some rooms to have different temperatures. They are in the process of getting parts for those.

Stephanie Conrad gave the Emergency Management report and said that she was busy with the evacuation drill at the Middle School and provided feedback to the staff there, including helping teacher Aimee Kay with the event. Conrad also attended a WOS conference in Casper for coordinators.

Also, Conrad provided the Senior Center with 48 preparedness buckets that contained items such as hand warmers, can openers, blankets, water bottles, and other important things. Conrad wants to put together another 75 preparedness buckets for the seniors participating in the Meals on Wheel program, which would cost about $1,200. Conrad is working on spreading the word about the buckets program.

Conrad and the commissioners held a discussion about the Code Red Quote for the three-year term and the costs involved comparing it to a single-year term. The three-year term is $7,379.61 each year and would not raise prices for the three program and would save about $2,500. A single-year term is $7,768 and would add 8.2% every year. The commissioners voted and passed the approval to authorize Conrad to sign the contract for a three-year term with Code Red.

The commissioners voted and passed the approval of the Grant Agreement with Wyoming Homeland Security for a total of $60,476 with a county match of $30,238. This funding is for Conrad’s Emergency management position, which is full-time. For Hot Springs County, Conrad is the first time the position was full-time. The previous manager, Bill Gordon, was a part-time position.

Conrad and the commissioners also held a discussion about a vehicle from the Sheriff’s Office that might be used for the emergency management office. The commissioners will speak with Sheriff Jerimie Kraushaar about the idea.

Barb Rice gave the Youth Alternatives update and said they have 17 juveniles in total, including 11 males and six females. They have 18 total in the classroom. Virtual training with Central Wyoming College has been ongoing, where they have implemented enrollment in a quarterly system.

Rice also discussed with the commissioners about the Alive! at 25 program and how Rice is seeking a trained instructor. Additionally, Rice reported that her students have been helping with the food drive program where they walked around and hung 1,000 bags for donations. Rice and her students will help with the coming craft fair with setup and tear down and with the coming community Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners for serving, deliveries, eat-ins, and pickups.

Bo Bowman gave the Planner report and said that the Land Use Planning Commission met on October 18, where they provided a recommendation for the HSC commissioners for a subdivision application. This will be on the next agenda.

The Natural Resources Planning Committee met on October 11 but did not hold a formal meeting, as there were only four attendees.

Also, Bowman reported he sent out a cease and desist letter to a property that showed some activity. Copies of these letters will be given to the commissioners.

Additionally, as a separate matter, Bowman said there is a property owner north of town that has some ag operations going on that he described as “intensive” and that he will be looking into it.

Tricia McPhie gave the Prevention and Public Health update and said the Prevention Committee has created subcommittees now trying to get more focus on community involvement. Those include suicide prevention, youth use prevention, such as vaping, alcohol, and marijuana, and adult substance use prevention, which includes overconsumption of tobacco and opioids. These subcommittees are in the process of being created.

McPhie provided an update on the Sources of Strength program, where peer training was done last month. The middle school is now in its fourth year in the program. The high school is in its fifth year.

Also, Prevention gave out five new TIPS training vouchers that were requested in the community for October. They also gave out the prevention tool kit that has an ID scanner, wristbands, the signs that you must be 21 to purchase alcohol, and a best practice manual.

McPhie said that speaker Josh Verner will come to the county on Friday, November 17 to give a presentation on trauma events for youth and how to support them. Verner will meet both the middle school and high school students and then the staff in the afternoon. There will also be a community event at the middle school commons area at 5:30 p.m.

McPhie also said that Hot Springs County was chosen as one of three counties for grants as a self-healing community. Safe Haven will be a fiscal agent for the grant funding.

Kathy Sorensen, representing the Hot Springs Conservation District, presented a request to the commissioners for the Cottonwood/Grass Creek Watershed Improvement District Dissolution. Sorensen reported that they wanted to put in a reservoir, but a study was done and found it would not work due to the ground being similar to Anchor Dam and would not hold the water. Sorensen presented a findings of facts document and the dissolution request. There would be a 30-day period for comments and then, after that, the dissolution would be complete. The commissioners voted and passed the approval to move forward with the dissolution.

Sorensen and the commissioners also discussed that one of the reasons the board chose to dissolve was due the mandatory training from the state audit office and its time commitment. Sorenen added, “I have a board member on my conservation district that is really wanting to not be on the board because of the training requirements.” The commissioners suggested talking to their legislators about the matter.

Les Culliton and the commissioners held a discussion about the Hot Springs County ADA Intake Restroom about its costs. After some research, Culliton said that the new shower could cost an additional $25,000 above the original $1,500 cost. However, Culliton said that it might go into the $30,000 range. This expense would be due to cutting several layers of concrete to make room for an inmate in a wheelchair. County Attorney Jill Logan will look into the matter.

In other business, the commissioners voted and passed the approval the Grant Agreement with Wyoming Homeland Security for $15,000 for the Sheriff’s Office; the ratification of the Owl Creek Water District Support Letter; the Black Mountain Road Request for Payment #16 for $46,369.33; the approval of the Big Horn Basin Nature and

Discovery Center RFR #15 for $513.65; the ratification of the Black Mountain Road Project CATEX Revisions; the HSG Pavement Maintenance Change Order #2 Decreasing the Contract Amount by $13.20; the approval of RFR #3 HSG Pavement Maintenance for $27,206.87; the approval of RFR #4 HSG Pavement Maintenance for $7,272.03; and the appointment of Kelly Owen to the Natural Resources Planning Commission.