WHEATLAND – With representatives of the sheriff’s department unable to attend last week’s commissioner’s meeting, Platte County Clerk reported some changes that are upcoming for the detention center.
“The sheriff did get approval for an increased rate on federal marshal inmates and transports,” Ervin said.
Currently Federal Marshall inmates are paid $73 per day and transports are paid $32. When the new contract goes into effect, the county will be paid $93 per federal marshal inmate and $48 per transport, Ervin reported.
Ervin said with the historic federal marshal “holds” in the detention center, the increase could add around $200,000 more revenue for the county.

Platte County Emergency Management
With spring weather, there is also an increase in the need to be vigilant for the potential of storm threats. Emergency management coordinator Tony Krotz said he had a meeting with meteorologists with the weather service out of Cheyenne the end of March, and “it’s not looking promising: it’s going to be dry this summer,” he warned commissioners. Inquiring into the possibilities of a weather spotter’s class, Krotz was told the weather service is no longer doing local classes – they do national classes, but they are no longer customized to the local counties.
Krotz is also working to verify whether the courthouse and library basements can be used as tornado shelters.
A takeaway for Krotz from his participation in the Kids Fair was the need to coordinate with other providers – like the Red Cross of Wyoming – to set up CPR classes open to the public. “I found out at the Kids Fair, there are a lot of people who want to learn CPR,” Krotz said.
He also found out many people want to have a CERT (community emergency response team) program operational in the county again. “There’s a lot of talk about some of these things, but I really need some volunteers in there who can help,” Krotz said.
Krotz reported there will be a full-scale dam exercise conducted by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) later this year, which will include participation from multiple counties. He said the BLM is attempting to get ahead of the planned release of the water being held by the failing LaPrele Dam, prompting a training exercise which will be held at either Camp Guernsey or at the Agriplex.
As emergency management coordinator, Krotz was involved in providing security for U.S. Representative Harriet Hageman during her town hall in March. He said the event went well in Wheatland, and some changes were made to the location of the event after seeing issues crop up at other town halls prior to the Wheatland town hall. “We changed the venue and used the auditorium where we were able to have more control,” Krotz said.
There were some questions from commissioners about the proposed NextEra Energy wind farm at Chugwater. Platte County Road and Bridge supervisor Chris Bookout and Doug Dumont said they had a meeting the following day to discuss the project, and Krotz said needed to ask a few questions of the project manager as well in regard to emergency response planning, so it was decided the trio would be attending the meeting to have more clear answers.
Lastly, Krotz, as Platte County’s fire warden, said he was meeting with all the fire chiefs in the county this week to discuss the upcoming year.

Planning and Zoning

Commissioners approved the request for a special use permit waiver for Mountain West Technologies to put up 10 permanent broadband towers across the county which Mountain West representative BJ Axford said would increase high speed internet capabilities in rural areas in Platte County – including South Guernsey Road and Grayrocks Road. The two metal towers will have solar panels to provide on-site power.
The wooden poles (like a utility pole) will be 30 – 60’ high, and the metal ones will be 100 – 150’ high. The project will have a minimum of visual impact and a small footprint, said county planner Doug Dumont. The reason for the special use permit is because the project, which is federally funded, must be completed by October 31, 2025.
Since Moutain West has already obtained landowner permission and there is a tight timeframe for the company to meet the federally-set deadline, the commissioner’s approval of the waiver request was on the condition Mountain West pay the base $400 special use permit fee, and either make sure the towers follow current regulations on setbacks or obtain a waiver from adjacent landowners who could potentially – in a worst-case-scenario –have the tower fall on their property. The company must also remove the towers if they are no longer in use and notify the commissioners if there are any changes.
“I think those are very reasonable conditions,” Axford said.

Road and Bridge
Road and bridge supervisor Chris Bookout reported to commissioners his crew cleared the Festo Lake drainage outlet and added gravel to Ayers Road which was getting dangerously soft last month. He said the road firmed up well, and he’s keeping an eye on Brookside Road in case it, too, starts getting soft. It may need the same treatment as the road near Festo Lake. “As dry as it is, there is a lot of water on Brookside,” Bookout said.
The two new snowplows are ready to be used whenever the area receives any snow. The addition to the fleet is welcome to replace some older snowplows. Bookout said he is thankful for their functionality, but also for the flexibility it gives his department. He told commissioners he’d like to sell one of the older plows which had been purchased from a state auction years ago, and keep one of the extra older snowplows as a backup in case one of the other two older plows still being used breaks down.
Road and bridge has replaced a cattle guard at TY Basin road near Chugwater, conducted more tree trimming at Goodrich Road, placed the county’s old reclaimer on consignment with CAT, purchased two truck mounted brooms which Bookout said will enable the county crews to do a better job cleaning gravel and debris while doing road projects, and replaced 20 road name signs (anyone wanting old signs with “patina” can contact road and bridge for one of the many they have on hand.)
Bookout expressed his appreciation for the gravel mine at Fish Creek, as they’ve said they will give one mile’s worth of gravel to the county. ACC is giving some gravel from the Finnerty Pitt at a discounted price which Bookout would like to use in several needy areas near Chugwater. Bookout said the location is convenient, saving money since the gravel won’t need to be hauled very far. WYDOT is also giving millings to the county from its 16th Street Reconstruction Project free of cost, since the county will be hauling the material offsite for them.
“Some people like millings – some don’t. I think it’s good especially when it’s mixed with gravel,” Bookout said.
Bookout said he was working with the sheriff to make a list of recommendations for the commissioners to change speed limits on some sections of county roads. A law passed in Wyoming (W.S. 31-5-303(f)) has granted commissioners the ability to adjust speed limits on unpaved roads without a full road speed study, Bookout explained.
Currently unmarked county roads are 55 MPH, but in some sections, “if we reduce the speed limit, it will increase safety on some stretches of road,” Bookout explained. He added, the county has some speed limit signs it can use but there will be some that will need to be purchased so the changes can be posted.

Chamber of Commerce
Platte County Chamber of Commerce CEO Tresha Cancino reminded commissioners and those attending the meeting, the chamber works to keep community events on their Facebook page. She also said the Chamber is doing strategic planning with the state chamber of commerce which will result in some changes in membership tiers, etc. The Chamber is also continuing to plan for the 2026 cycling race, Tour de Platte, which will take place to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The Tour de Platte will be encompassing each community in Platte County, and additional volunteers to help plan the event are welcome.

Cancino concluded her report, complimenting the commissioners and councilmembers throughout Platte County. “People should come to these meetings and see what you do. You guys and the councils do a lot for us. I’ve seen that as I’ve attended all these meetings [since becoming CEO of the Chamber.]. You guys have a hard job, and you do a lot. People should see that.”

Other Business
After looking at two bids for striping some of the county’s paved roads, commissioners instructed Bookout to contact the companies placing the bids, and request they re-submit their bid with measurements and numbers lining up with what was requested by the county in the announcement for the bid, since it was difficult to interpret or compare the numbers as presented. A decision on the striping will be made at the April 15 commissioners meeting.
Commissioners approved a request for a county-licensed liquor establishment (Top Club Beverage) to temporarily sell alcohol outside the Platte County licensing jurisdiction which is not outside Platte County (at an event at the Agriplex inside the city limits of Wheatland).
An amendment was approved for a federal preparedness and response grant benefitting Platte County Public Health, which originally only paid for the salary and benefits for an employee to oversee health preparedness and response in the county. Through negotiations by county public health nurse Penny Simonton, an additional $20,000 was added to the grant to fund training and necessary items to be able to actually do the work to complete the tasks required of the position.
Audit
Commissioners heard an in-person report of the 2023-2024 fiscal year from the county’s auditor, Paul Stille of Leo Riley & Co. The conclusion of the audit is there are no issues with Platte County’s financial books for the previous fiscal year, nor are there any adjustments needing to be made.

Change to health insurance
Before adjouring, commissioners discussed and weighed their options for action after viewing a report from the county’s employee pool insurance provider, Blue Cross Blue Shield which will have a 2% increase in costs to provide service. The commissioners unanimously approved a motion to remove the middle ($2,500) tier and change the county/employee premium cost sharing from a 91/9 split to a 90/10 split (county will pay 90 percent and employee will pay 10 percent of the monthly premium).
In his recommendation to commissioners, clerk Ervin said, “It’s a hard thing for me to recommend doing this (adding 1% more to the employee’s premium share), because it will reduce their wages – it will reduce my wages, too – but I don’t think a 10% share is bad.”
In discussion, chairman Steve Shockley said, “It also beats inflation. If the county gets $15,000 back into the budget, is it worth a ($35) decrease in wages?”
Commissioner Ian Jolovich said, “I think this is still far lower (cost of insurance) than anywhere else. I don’t think it’s unreasonable, but I’m not set on it. If we don’t change anything there’s still going to be a $5 less (because of the 2% premium increase from the insurance pool) so if we make the change (to a 10% share), it would add $30 on top of that.”
Shockley concluded, “We already know we have to cut in the budget, and it’s going to be in a lot of small places, and if we do nothing, their checks are going to go down anyway. If we remain status-quo, eventually we will have to cut positions.”
The commissioners agreed to change to a 90/10 split for the county insurance program.