Council provides status update on policy review, body cam footage

At the February 6 Thermopolis Town Council meeting held at Town Hall during citizen participation, Tonya Petty presented herself to the council and said, “Months ago, after the special prosecutor’s report came out, you stated that policies and procedures were being reviewed by an outside source. Is that a correct statement? Was that to update and improve upon them or just to review them for that specific case?”

Mayor Adam Estenson replied, “Seeing that the review is still in place, we’re not going to comment on anything on that just yet. That’s still ongoing.”

Petty asked, “Okay. So it has not been completed?”

Mayor Estenson replied, “No.” 

Petty continued and asked, “Okay. So then were any measures going to be taken by the board to update the policies and procedures and perhaps maybe add a clarifying policy for the police department that if you act illegally or unlawfully, that you should be terminated, effective immediately?”

Mayor Estenson replied, “What I will state on that is that we constantly review policies and procedures throughout the town and if it’s warranted, it comes out of that review that’s ongoing, then. And then we would do so. But like I said, that has not come back yet. We’re still a work in progress.”

Next, Jason Bowman presented himself to the council and said, “I’m just curious about when the body cam footage was going to be released. You know, we’ve talked about it prior. It’s been mentioned that maybe last month it would be out. I’d like to know if you can give us an update on when it would be released, how we’re going to access it, those types of things.”

Mayor Estenson asked Town Attorney Marshall Keller, “What’s your comfort level with giving an update on the status of that?”

Keller replied, “We have gone through a couple of them by now, and I expect those will be issued here soon. Unfortunately, we will not be able to do all of them at once like we had planned because there’s just been such a huge request for information on multiple incidents. So it’s going to be coming soon, I believe, and I’m not sure the exact release date, but I know we’re already working with people and are going to be setting up the access for the public to gain access to all electronically.”

Bowman asked, “How will that information be brought forward to us? Like, how will we know when it will be published?”

Mayor Estenson replied, “We still have to officially have that decision from the council. But my wish at this point is that it will move to our official paper record, which is the Thermopolis Independent Record. One thing is that we want to make sure we’re setting precedence for any other subsequent releases that we have to do so that we’re not reinventing this all the time. We’re putting a lot of work into making sure that it’s all done correctly as well. We’ve not lost sight of it, trust me.”

Keller added, “Unfortunately, we’re not going to be able to get it all at once. It’s going to be coming out trickling.”

Bowman asked, “I guess I’m confused as to why is that from editing or?”

Keller replied, “Well, each one has to be reviewed under statutory requirements where there is information that we cannot release. You can go into the statutes for that, and that includes things like HIPAA violations and personnel files that aren’t necessarily pertinent as well as people that are involved in current investigations. And so some of that stuff does have to be redacted. Like blurring out faces, license plates, ID cards, all that stuff. And that takes time.”

Mayor Estenson said, “It’s tedious. And there have been quite a number of incidents that have been requested. But as opposed to just continuing to wait till everything’s done, we’re going to just start. So we’re coming.”

Kim Bartlett, representing the Hot Springs County Democrat party, presented an invitation to their nonpartisan community dinner “Mid-Winter Blues Bash”. The event’s focus will be mental health and their speaker will be Ralph Neider-Westerman of Wyoming Lifeline 988 from Greybull.

Next, Town Attorney Marshall Keller presented for its second reading the new ordinance for parking restrictions for the Farmer’s Market, which is located on 5th Street between Broadway and Warren Streets. Keller said there was one change made, which was to define specific days between June 1 and October 15. The council voted and passed the ordinance in its second reading. There will be a third reading in the next town council meeting and if it passes at that time, it will become part of the town code once published in the Independent Record.

Under codes, Assistant to the Mayor Jim Jeunehomme presented a request for a right of way for a fence at 434 Mondell. The fencing material will be rod iron at 48 inches. Jeunehomme said, “There’s nothing in the ordinance that would restrict us from putting that there.” He also said regarding the arbor gate entrance that it isn’t considered a structure but more deco. The council voted and passed the approval of the request for a right of way.

Under administration, Mayor Estenson said that he and Town Attorney Keller are looking into the possibility of creating a planning commission to handle recommendations for items such as fence right of ways and other similar zoning matters. The planning commission would be populated by an appointed board of citizens. 

Council member Rachel Hughes also had a discussion about the town’s website and its town codes publication. The revised version is from 2021 and Hughes asked how often it was updated. Assistant to the Mayor Jim Jeunehomme replied, “Approximately every ten years.” After further discussion, the council explored the idea to have the town website have additional information for more recent ordinances published there. At this time, the newer ordinances are only available for viewing in a book at town hall or to call Jeunehomme for inquiry.