WHEATLAND — While everyone takes a breath after the special election, reports from the County Treasurer are positive with a five-month collections total exceeding an average of $330,000 per month. According to County Treasurer Kristi Rietz, October itself proved to be a good collections month.

“This is great to report, but the last five months were really interesting,” she said. While the report did not take into account a full fiscal year of ups and downs, the first five-month period was very positive. Rietz also added the auditor was on site and everything was going well so far.  

Elections

County Clerk Malcolm Ervin reported that costs for the special election were reasonable, as printing costs were down. “Publication costs are always high,” Ervin said. Historically, and including the special election, Ervin explained notices were advertised in two county papers. “There is a requirement to publish election information in at least one primary paper,” Ervin said.

“We typically go with both the Record-Times and the Guernsey Gazette, but it is very expensive; the 2024 election could cost us around $2,000 if we publish in both – we have gotten complaints that there is not adequate notice. I do not want to discontinue publishing in the Gazette,” Ervin continued, “do you discontinue one and continue with the other? We don’t want to give the impression there is something to hide by advertising it less.”

Shockley stated as long as the county abided by the requirement, that should be adequate. Ervin went on the explain some cuts were made in other places, such as not assigning as many election judges as in the past. “We had to cut some past judges due to eyesight restrictions,” he said. “Identification and other information can be very small, and any difficulty in reading or transcribing that information can really slow down the process.”

Ervin also explained that Chugwater, Glendo, and Guernsey polling personnel were reduced to the bare minimum. “This seemed to work fine,” he added, “and we plan to do the same for the 2024 election. I would like to add how neat it was to see two new U.S. citizens voting for the first time.” 

Road & Bridge

Some discussion ensued regarding accessible parking bids at the courthouse and the precise location of the Laramie River Road and Johnson Road intersections, which is currently unclear in spite of survey reports. The Antelope Gap Road and Deer Creek Road alterations will be underway as a landowner has signed a notice granting a right-of-way. Once the petition is officially received by the county, a public hearing will be scheduled. 

Building Maintenance

The county maintenance department never has a shortage of issues to attend to and department head Jim DeWitt was very happy that a new generator was up and running in the jail. “The generator is working great, it’s nice to hear that thing running and we only had to have the power out for 20 minutes; very minimal,” DeWitt said. “We do have a portable generator on hand just in case,” he added. 

Other projects surrounding the jail will include some major plumbing
issues, welding, and concrete step reforming, according to DeWitt. “When we address the plumbing, we will have to shut off the water to the entire jail for a while.” 

DeWitt added that the stairs going to the basement on the west side of the library were causing some problems as some elderly patrons were having difficulty seeing the steps. “I don’t know if we need to illuminate the steps, or have more obvious signs there, but we do need to address that,” DeWitt said.

Work at the fairgrounds appears to be progressing well as barn door repairs should be wrapped up in the next week or so. DeWitt added that it was suggested to the Fair Board that restrooms should be added to the exhibit hall. “The board is looking into that. We believe that these would be on the exterior of the building but with interior access,” he explained. “The north end would make the most sense as it is closer to water and sewer access.” 

Platte County Grants Opportunities

Meredith Sopko, Anna Edwards, and Lisa Smith of MC2 Collaborative joined the meeting remotely, giving their update on grant work they are doing for Platte County.  Sopko and her team have identified several grant opportunities that would be appropriate for Platte County. “Platte County can apply for bridge, emergency services alert system(s), and Phase 2 of courthouse renovation,” Sopko said. “There are state and federal grants to apply for, and we will continue to work closely with Malcolm Ervin to further understand proposed projects and get those prioritized.”  Sopko went on to explain several of the grants could be appropriate for multiple projects. 

Edwards added the majority of requests would be due in early 2024, or in the spring of 2024, and the team would continue to identify grant opportunities as they become available. “We are so excited Malcolm has submitted concepts for thriving communities and if these are accepted, we will do the application before January,” Edwards said. She echoed multiple projects could fall under the grants MC2 Collaborative is exploring, explaining that MC2 researches grants that are a good fit for concepts presented by the county. 

Sopko added the entire process would be collaborative with Platte County as most grants have matching dollar components.

Commissioner chairman Shockley asked if there were private foundations or grants available. “We have lots of regional and national foundations for private funding. Meredith is really great at finding private dollars, and we are currently finishing up a funding index for Malcolm, which is a list of grant funding including private foundations,” Edwards said.

Conversely, PCED director Tracy DeRyk added she had still not heard back from the Wyoming Intertie representative regarding the direct- and indirect-impact grant monies that the company had recommended and approved Platte County applying for. According to DeRyk, applications have already been submitted according to the Wyoming Intertie deadlines. “I will be following up with their contact person,” DeRyk said.

Technology Updates

 Jordan Ham, Wyologic IT specialist explained the timeline of installation of new computers for the Platte County Library system. Platte County Library director Julie Henion stated there are 11 computers that need replaced county-wide. “There are six in Wheatland, which include the card catalog and public access terminals, two in Guernsey, one in Glendo, and one in Chugwater,” Henion said. Henion added that these computers were just barely hanging on. Ham explained bringing all computers online and integrated into the system while also installing hardware at each location would take a bit of time, but realistically predicted a finish date of late February.