CHUGWATER — Mayor Carol Ash reported that it is nearing the end of her term and reminded everyone present that people will be able to sign up for offices, as there will be three positions coming open:  one being the mayor, but also two councilmember openings.

“I only say this now because we are going to go through a lot in the coming months; there are a lot of moving parts including the water study and the special tax. Things are just not as easy as it would appear. We have spent a lot of time dealing with the water commission and working on behalf of getting the town’s proposals accepted.” Mayor Ash encouraged everyone present to please vote on the following day. “Things get horrendously expensive when water is leaking; and some of those have gone unnoticed for a long time,” the mayor added. “We can’t have town development if we don’t have water.” 

Updating systems, ordinances

Ash also noted that the town was having new computers installed in the maintenance shop and town hall. In addition, there is a proposal for getting town council meetings available online. “There is no bid in place quite yet for this expense,” said Ash. Online bill pay for water is also a current project, and the hope is to have that in place by the end of the month, according to Ash. As it turned out, both Propositions 1 and 3 were passed in November 7th’s special election. 

Old ordinances are being reviewed and compared to get them updated; according to some state statutes some are so old they serve no current purpose in the governance or operation of the town. Ash encouraged everyone to get involved in that process. “Once the election is over, I really want to give the next people on this council a jump start,” concluded Ash.

Public records access fees

Town attorney Eric Jones reported on a resolution being drawn for the way public records are accessed and any attending fees that may be associated with access. 

“There is a resolution standard in relation to public records,” said Jones, “it’s just that Chugwater has not had one in place. I have studied practices of towns like LaGrange, Lingle, and communities in Converse County for a baseline expectation to establish fees and costs for the reproduction of public records.” 

According to Jones the fees are not meant for the inspection itself, but the time, resources, and materials required for reproduction. “The time it takes to make the copies should be borne by the person or entity requesting the copies, not by the town,” he added. Jones went on to explain that there is a growing trend in the nation for requests of municipalities’ public records, and these requests will only grow in number in the foreseeable future. “We can begin by creating a resolution number if we base it on today’s date,” said Jones. 

Ash agreed that the reproduction resolution could be numbered by the date in question, being 11.06.23.  Ash explained that establishing a resolution now was a good beginning while the town government determines how much time and detail it takes for the clerk to carry out the requests. 

“If it takes an enormous amount of time and material, it may require the addition of another person in the office,” said Ash. Jones added that part of the reason for a higher frequency of public records requests, especially for data mining in the political arena, was due to the upcoming election in 2024. 

Further discussion ensued for quite some time regarding fair or justifiable reproduction fees, the strain it might imply on the town clerk and town overall, and what a fair rate would be. When asked if the city was being overburdened with reproduction requests, Town Clerk Linda Webster stated that when there is a request for a large quantity of records, it is very time consuming, especially if archived records are requested. 

 Jones reiterated that the fee was determined partially based on the staffing situation in the Town Hall office. Councilmember John Burns felt fees could be viewed as punitive, and his hope was to encourage people to be involved in the town’s government, not to be discouraged from it. Additional ideas from both the council and the public ensued. Currently, the rate per copy is one dollar per page.

Correction

It came to this writer’s attention that Cathy Wilson-Suazo was inadvertently yet incorrectly represented in last week’s issue regarding the Chugwater Town Council meeting. Wilson-Suazo is in no way affiliated with the Chugwater Community Center, the Services for Seniors programs, nor is she affiliated with the health inspector. Wilson-Suazo approached the town council last week to read a letter that senior residents had written to the council regarding kitchen issues. Additionally, Wilson-Suazo did not deliver the health inspector’s results to the council and mayor, but the document was a copy of the afore-mentioned letter. Apologies for any confusion this may have caused our readers.

Heritage Proclamation

Proclamation was made that November was Native American Heritage Month in the town of Chugwater. This is a nationwide effort to educate and celebrate Native American culture and historic contributions by sponsoring special events, programs, or ceremonies in the community. Mayor Ash stated that she felt it would be neat if the schools were aware of special celebrations of this kind.