Candidates answer lightning round questions

The Hot Springs County Republican Party hosted a candidate forum on June 25 at the Annex building. The room was packed with standing room only. Jean Skelton moderated the questions and answers section for the invited Legislative candidates and Hot Springs County Commissioner candidates.

Last week, we featured part one of the four county commissioner candidate questions, answers and discussion.

This article features part two of the county commissioner candidate portion of the forum. Next week, we will feature the Legislative candidates portion.

Commissioner Phil Scheel is running for reelection with Bob Aguair, Mike Chimenti and Joe Martinez also running for the single available seat.

Skelton lead the candidates through a lightning round of short answer questions. Then the candidates were given the opportunity to give their campaign speech.

Also, at the end there were three questions directed specifically to commissioner Phil Scheel.

Answers to the lightening round questions include:

Should our elections be controlled by local, state or federal authorities?

All four said local.

Should we implement policies to reduce climate change, reduce energy usage and increase renewable energy production?

Yes, Phil. All others, no.

Do you support measures to prevent gun violence?

All answered, Yes.

Including universal background checks, restrictions on assault weapons and preserving gun free zones? All answered, No.

Where do governmental leaders derive their authority from?

Phil Scheel replied. “Through elections and the Constitution of Wyoming.”

All the others said, “People.”

Is liberty divisible from economic freedom? Or, can you separate liberty from economic freedom?

Phil Scheel replied, “They are very complementary.”

All the others said, “No”

Should the government fund child care?

Phil Scheel replied, “Maybe.”

All the others said, “No.”

Do you support equitable distribution of funding to share mineral royalties and severance with Wyoming counties and municipalities? Or, Should we put all the money into one big pot and then equitably distribute it out to all of the counties?

Phil Scheel replied, “Maybe.”

The others said, “No.”

Do you support government funding for school choice?

Bob Aguiar and Mike Chienti replied, “Yes.”

Joe Martinz and Phil Scheel replied, “No.”

Agree or disagree. The new transfer station is a good idea.

Mike Chimenti and Phil Scheel said, “Yes.”

Joe Martinze said, “It depends.”

Bob Aguiar said, “no.”

What is one area of growth that we need to see in Hot Springs County?

Phil Scheel replied, “College campus presence in Hot Springs County.”

All the others replied, “Local businesses.”

Do you agree with the newly formed Water Joint Powers Board?

Phil Scheel replied, “Yes.”

Bob Aguair and Mike Chiment replied, “No.”

Joe Martinez replied, “I don’t know because I don’t know enough about that one.”

In one word, what is the most important issue for the county for the next four years?

Phil Scheel replied, “Economic development.”

All the others said, “Growth.”

Skelton then said, “A recent story said Wyoming may be entitled to receive up to $3.2 billion from the partisan infrastructure bill. What projects do the commissioners candidates believe Hot Springs County should apply for use of such infrastructure funds?”

Joe Martinez replied, “You have to look at Roads & Bridge, water, electrical, and even phones nowadays because phones are such a huge part of our life. People complain about going to this area and dont have phone service. Like the canyon for example. I don’t think they have any phone service of any kind in the canyon. We have to make sure and look at what are the needs of our community, and prioritize because  if we have growth in certain areas of the community that they need water, then we have to work to get water out their direction. And Road & Bridge, looking at the structures of the bridges, are they in good condition? What’s their lifespan and which ones have higher priority and need to be replaced because of their age level. Roads? I mean, there are so many county roads. I don’t even know how many of them are dirt roads in all honesty. But maintenance of the roads, even the dirt roads, is critical for people to get to and from town for work, for business, ag use, semis going up and down these roads as well. And it was a lot of wear and tear, but we have to make sure that we’re able to maintain this.”

Phil Scheel replied, “I think Joe’s idea of spending large amounts of money, one time money, kind of things on infrastructure is super important. We’ve been working ever since I was elected eight years ago on trying to find a way to rebuild the county portion of Black Mountain Road. We’ve been working on that for two years before I was elected. For ten years we’ve been trying to come up with some money to rebuild Black Mountain Road to get some road money from WYDOT every year, to take care of our roads as well as. But, we don’t have $7 million, and we haven’t had $7 million to work on this road. So after a bunch of grants and all kinds of things, we actually have a plan to redo two thirds of Black Mountain Road in the county of course and keep it paved. We have an option of grinding it up, and we can maintain it with a blade but that’s a whole other circumstance. Infrastructure is a really good idea. Road & Bridge projects, water infrastructure projects. One time money should be spent on something that’s going to be for a long time.”

Bob Aguiar replied, “I believe the primary issue is especially with everyone living in the county who knows about their water restrictions. I would say water would be the number one issue in our community right now. And I don’t know if the proposal by the water special board of putting a well out of Lysite or working on our own facility to enhance our own facility, I would say let’s take the facility we have now and enhance it. Let’s get the water where it needs to be.”

Mike Chimenti replied, “I agree, I think water is the most important infrastructure, and I think that’s something we need to look at with this one time money. Everybody has complained about how our water tastes. If you look at our old water lines in this town, you know why our water tastes that way. It’s not because of what comes out of the water plant. It’s what’s running through the water lines. Now, the city just did a redo on the street down here on Richards. They replaced the water and sewer lines and everything that was the infrastructure there, and then put the black top up on top. Those are all brand new water lines. If you go into Town hall and way back to the mayor’s office and look at those pipes, he’s got on the shelf, you’ll know why our water tastes the way it does. It’s not from the water that comes through the water plant. It’s what runs through those pipes. So infrastructure is a big deal. That’s something we need to really take a look at with this one time money and see if we can do something with that. Now, I’m with Phil. I’ve lived here a long time. Black Mountain secondary has been a deathtrap. That needs to be fixed. And the only way to do that in this one town is with that one time money. Because you can’t budget it. Because we would budget for forever to fix that road. Take this one grant money and fix that road. There’s a lot of use for that Black Mountain Secondary as well as going to Grass Creek or Hamilton Dome. Those areas need to be looked at. That’s where that one time money needs to go.”

Skelton then asked the candidates to speak about their campaigns.

Phil Scheel said, “I have enjoyed being county commissioner. I would like the opportunity again. I’m involved with the community. I own a business in town. We owned another business, my wife and I and a really young couple. We had a mercantile for a little bit. Starting a restaurant business in the middle of Covid wasn’t good at timing. But if you’ve eaten at the One Eyed Buffalo new restaurant. That was some of what we did as far as economic development, with our own money in Thermopolis. Jen and Binky did a bunch of extra things and they have an amazing, unique, business as well. I own a business in town here. I get out. I go around to a lot of rural areas delivering home residential propane and really, I connected mostly with the rural people when I first moved to town. And then I was involved with the chamber of commerce on the board of directors, and after that many years, Rotarian. It’s a service organization, the largest service organization in the world. Thermopolis has an amazing Rotary Club. Helped put on the PRCA Rodeo for years. I was part of the group that started the FFA alumni in Thermopolis, and was very proud of that. My kids are now in the Big Springs FFA and Thermopolis FFA. I make myself available. My office is at 527 Warren Street. I’m driving a big blue truck. It’s got my name on the side. Tumbleweed Propane. You got something to talk to me about? Just stop by, waving me down. I will be more than happy to take some time to converse with you folks. I like this job. I like to represent people. I love this community. I want to continue to make it the best place to live and work.”

Bob Aguair said, “I’ve been in the community now for about 12 years, moved here, and I worked in Worland as a human resource manager and retired from that position. And I spent a tremendous amount of time right now working with children. That’s why I love working with kids. I’m really concerned about their future and concerned about this town. Concerned about what the kids do when they graduate high school. Do they all leave, or are they going to stick around? Are we going to have a business or a future for them in our community, and that’s why I want to be involved as a county commissioner. I also am on the Predator Management board in the county and have been on that for quite a few years. I am currently the state committeeman for the Republican Party, and I’ve been very involved with the Republican Party for quite a long time, and I’m a little more vocal than I probably should be when going after school board issues. But once again, like I say, my love is for the children. And if I believe I’m fighting for the children, there is no stopping me. That’s who I am.”

Mike Chimenti said, “I’m a Wyoming native. Spent 50 plus years of my life in Thermopolis. When I was in high school, I came to Thermopolis to the rodeo club and I told my mother then when I was in high school that I’m moving to Thermopolis and staying here the rest of my life. And when I said that, I told her, I said, I’m going to support Thermopolis. Because Thermopolis is going to be home. I came here, first a guard at the bank First National Bank after it was robbed from the bank burned down here on the corner where the Bicentennial park is. And then I guarded First National Bank until I was hired on the police department, and then I spent 43 years in law enforcement here, serving this community. I’m also on the board at Senior Citizen Housing and Canyon Village over in East Thermopolis. I’m on the Golden Age board at the Senior Citizens center. I was on the original board that moved our mental health center, where it is now. We started out a little building over here on Broadway. Then it moved to an old barn that was remodeled, moved to a house on Warren Street. And then we built the new building down here. I was part of that. I was part of the committees that were for remodeling and construction over the new high school and our new middle school. I was part of all of those committees. This community has given to me, and I want to give back. That’s in my blood. My dad was the same way. And when you start something, you finish it. And to me, you know, I’m from getting up there in age, but like a lot of us are, you know, I’m not done giving yet. I’m not giving up yet. I want to give until I can’t give anymore. I love this community of people. I’ve alway have. That’s why I made Thermopolis my home. I raised my girls here. I met my wife here. We came to stay.”

Joe Martinez said, “Most importantly, I’ve really got to thank God for everything that he’s given me. I’ve got a beautiful wife, beautiful kids. Living in a wonderful community. Most importantly, thanks to him. I do think that there are some things that I want to kind of focus on a little bit as your commissioner. We have an old airport that is not getting utilized. And there’s been conversations on what to do with it, on whether or not to build a hotel or resort or something out there that can be utilized for those purposes, which, you know, hotel rooms in this town are absolutely needed. Another thing is selling property  and it’s something that’s just sitting up there. It’s not being really utilized, and it needs to be utilized. Or we just need to get rid of it. One of the two. The landfill that was mentioned earlier, when you have a limited lifespan on your current landfill. I mean, it was brought up several years ago that the lifespan was running out. They were given a timeline and had to move forward with getting a new landfill. Of course that’s not really on the commissioners, that’s on the town. But the commissioners need to work with the city in order to move forward with that and do what’s best for our community, and see what our options really are. And there was a period of time there where the commissioners were not working or coming to the table with our city council, in order to really make sure that they were doing what was best for you. Commissioners do give money to the town for the use of the landfill. And I think that’s something that they need to be involved in quite a bit. The fairgrounds have facilities that are degrading. They’re old buildings. The main building the community uses has roof leaks and they’ve been working for over five years to try and get those roof leaks fixed. Anybody who goes in uses the facility shouldn’t have to sign a waiver that they know that there’s leaky roofs to make sure that you don’t set things in certain locations. Those fair buildings, the grounds themselves bring a lot of business into Thermopolis. They help us and actually help other businesses throughout the winter months. We have to make sure we maintain those, provide the best facilities that we can so that people want to continue to come into this community for their various events, because it’s a nice draw. And we need a safe community for our kids. There’s drugs in our community that really need more attention. And I think it needs to be taken care of.”

Finally Skelton had some questions for Commissioner Phil Scheel that came from the audience written on some papers. The first question was, “Did you ever communicate with anyone about taking Save the Tipi signs down on personal property?”

Scheel replied, “Yes.”

Skelton then asked, “Have you ever voted in opposition to Tom Ryan? And what’s going to happen with the old airport property?”

Scheel replied, “In relation to the first one,  I am my own man. I don’t do everything that the chairman recommends. I was chairman for a couple of years in the last eight years. So I do vote against Tom Ryan occasionally.

As far as what’s going on in the old airport property, Commissioner Galovich, Commissioner Ryan, Connie Guntley, we wrote a business council grant. We were awarded $1.3 million from the Wyoming Business Council to add some infrastructure and grind up the asphalt on the old runway. We’re going to use that asphalt to help rebuild Black Mountain Road. So that’s a win-win. We applied with WYDOT to approve the construction of a new access road. So the only way up there isn’t up the switchbacks of death just straight north of town. Because of the shooting sports complex, Thermopolis wrote a great plan for that, but it did not make the top three cut, that were going to be included in our proposal and were used in the airport for the shooting complex. The task force at the state level decided not to place that here. So, along with that $1.3 million business grant money, they also offered us another $50,000 to do a feasibility study to help us determine what might be the best thing here. Joe mentioned that a motel or convention center is something that we have kicked around. Motel rooms are needed. I’m super excited about the new things coming to the state park. In that regard, thanks a lot to the legislators. We are rolling out RFPs for consultants to do a feasibility study on the old airport property and soon Road & Bridge will be building the new access road so we can get the material ground up to Black Mountain Road. And after the feasibility study, we intend to hire some kind of marketing company, to help advertise that that is either for sale or for lease. I think it’s one of the most amazing, pristine parts of the county, and it’s just a quarter of a mile right there. I think we definitely have a plan for something, something awesome is going to be happening there, which is public money. So it’s not like we’re just going to throw a little here and throw a little there. When the feasibility study involves hiring some marketing consultant to help us come up with the highest and best use.”