WHEATLAND – During the monthly meeting of county department heads prior to the commissioner’s meeting last Tuesday, Platte County sheriff David Russell reported there has been an “uptick in immigrant arrests,” so there are more federal inmates utilizing the county’s detention center. He also said two road deputy positions are being filled on a staggered basis by transferring two detention deputies, allowing ample training time for the first one prior to the second one going on patrol. “There is a possibility for a lateral fill for the third patrol position,” the sheriff added.
Russell also said there are currently three open positions in the detention center the department is looking to fill. Referring to the difficulty of finding qualified candidates willing to work in law enforcement, the sheriff stated representatives of the department will be attending the UW career fair in April. He did say he is not, but it is difficult to recruit individuals to small-town Wyoming because the dollar signs look better in Colorado. He said while the starting wage for a Colorado police officer can be $140,000 per year, candidates don’t always do a cost-of-living comparison.

County assessor
County assessor Dannette Eppel reported she is following multiple bills in the legislature which would directly affect her job and the property tax structures in Platte County. “It’s hard to keep track of [all the bills], and probably hard for them (the legislature) to see overall where we are and the end product we will get,” she added.
Some of the bills she is most concerned with are HB328, HB279, HB282, SF67, SF69, and SF177.
Assessor Eppel gave a rough estimate of a potential $450,000 revenue loss from taxes actually collected that could be coming to the county from property taxes – if the bills go through in the form they were in at the time of the Feb. 4 meeting of commissioners. Additionally, special districts and fire districts would also see losses in revenue. For instance, fire district 1F could see a deficit of $36,500, and the town of Wheatland just shy of $109,000.
“Things keep changing, and we want tax relief, but we need to see what that does to the services we expect on a daily basis,” Eppel warned.

Circuit, district court
Circuit court chief clerk Heather Stigell said she is also following three bills affecting court systems, and admitted they are not easy to track. Aside from that task, annual jury pool notices will be sent out March 1st, and e-filing will be fully online by August.
“It’s exciting and scary at the same time,” Steigell said. “Judge [Nathaniel] Hibben volunteered his courts to be the first to try them out.”
The state is working to revamp pro se forms for people who do not have a lawyer to be able to access and fill out online (such as for small claims). Then they do not have to go through the clerks at the courthouse to receive or submit the forms.
Annual jury pool notices will be sent out in March for both circuit and district courts. County clerk of court Mona McAuley said there will be 450 jurors in the pool. There are two jury trials set for February. She also reported a record number of 29 passport applications were obtained in January from the district court office.
McAuley said she is also following SF0075 and HB120.
Public health

Public Health nurse manager Penny Simonton said public health is working with the Services for Seniors to host diabetic education and health classes. Also, the Platte County Community Family Resource Center is now open. The center is a newly established hub for people to find resources available in the county.
Julie Worthington is hard at work helping locals fill out forms and applications, Simonton said. “She is super busy. I’m surprised how busy she is.” Simonton added an invitation for people to stop by to see what the family resource center can do for them by visiting 1560 Johnston Street, Suite B.
The public health budget was projected to have a $150,000 revenue by June, and Simonton said she is pleased to report that goal has currently been exceeded.
Commissioner Ian Jolovich pointed out, that could be “a measure to show the services you provide are useful to the people in the community.”

Camp Guernsey
Deputy base operations commander, Lt. Col. LaQuendin Counts of Camp Guernsey, told commissioners the base operations commander Robby Cain was transferred to the Cheyenne office. Counts will take his position as base operations commander. In a report of activities, Camp Guernsey is in its slow season for training, but to maximize the time, they are working on obtaining more firefighting equipment which will benefit the camp and surrounding areas.