A pretty sweet appointment

The Town of Saratoga has finally filled a vital position in town hall as Mayor Creed James appointed a new town clerk on March 16.

Since the resignation of former town clerk Suzie Cox effective December 31, 2020, the Saratoga Town Council has contracted Pam Paulson, former Town of Hanna treasurer, to aid treasurer Sammy Flohr and assistant clerk/treasurer Brenda Mistelske.

Along with appointing a new clerk, the Saratoga Town Council also discussed a new repeater for the Saratoga Police Department and were informed about increases in landing fees at Shively Airfield.

Isn’t That Sweet?

As has been previously reported by the Saratoga Sun, the Town of Saratoga has been without a town clerk since Cox resigned at the end of 2020. Though there had been discussion about contracting Cox to aid Flohr and Mistelske until the position was filled, the governing body ultimately contracted Paulson at a rate of $50 per hour. 

While the initial contract had put Paulson’s time at 10 hours per week, various discoveries in regards to Caselle, the accounting software used by the Town of Saratoga, necessitated an increase in the amount of time spent by Paulson in town hall.

After advertising through the Wyoming Association of Municipalities Clerks and Treasurers (WAMCAT), the governing body had received a number of applicants for the open position.

“We ended up having a total of six applicants for the position. We conducted interviews last week,” said Mayor Creed James. “We had a number of really good candidates (and) we brought two back in that were exceptional for second round interviews at a special meeting held last night. Both candidates were very impressive and I think both of them would do a great job.”

James then stated that he wanted to appoint Marie Christen. A motion was made by Councilmember Ben Spaulding and passed unanimously.

Christen is well known in the Valley. She currently serves as the Town of Saratoga’s representative on the South Central Wyoming Emergency Medical Services Joint Powers Board but is also known as Sweet Marie, co-owner of both Sweet Marie’s Bakeshop and Sweet Marie’s Mercantile with her husband, Tyler Christen.

The bake shop opened on August 3, 2012 and the mercantile opened in June 2018.

Could you Repeat That?

Under a report from the Saratoga Police Department, Police Chief Ken Lehr informed the Saratoga Town Council of ongoing equipment issues that affected the police department and the Saratoga Volunteer Fire Department.

“We have a repeater that failed and, right now, we’re kind of bandaging the situation. CommTech’s supposed to be here in the morning,” said Lehr. “They’re going to go up and see if they can repair it again.”

With budget workshops on the horizon, Lehr said that his department would need to contact somebody with Carbon County to determine who was responsible for replacing the repeater. In just the past months, however, the repeater had failed two separate times while the fire department was on a call.

Spaulding asked Lehr if it was too late to look for grants to cover the cost of a new repeater. Lehr responded that T. Christen was currently looking into grants. James added that a potential grant source was the Wyoming Department of Homeland Security.

Lehr stated that his department would try to keep the repeater functional until they could either obtain a grant to replace it or find out who was responsible to replace it. Spaulding added that if it is on the Town of Saratoga, they would need to work quickly to find grants to help with the cost.

It’s Gonna Cost You

For nearly three years, aircraft landing at Saratoga’s Shively Airfield have had to pay landing fees depending on the size of their aircraft. Originally implemented by the former Saratoga Airport Board, landing fees charged for jets was $75 and landing fees for turboprops was $50.

Councilmember D’Ron Campbell, who is the new council representative to the Saratoga Airport Advisory Board, informed the governing body that the advisory board had discussed increasing landing fees and putting them into ordinance form.

According to Campbell, the new landing fees would be broken down into four categories:

•$50 for turbine, single engine aircraft and helicopters

•$75 for small jets and twin turbines

•$100 for midsize jets

•$200 for large jets

•$300 for heavy jets.

Campbell stated that she was unfamiliar with the process of writing an ordinance, to which Councilmember Jon Nelson offered his help, adding that the increase in landing fees were a discussion during his time as council representative to the Saratoga Airport Advisory Board.

The next meeting of the Saratoga Town Council will be at 6 p.m. on April 6 at Saratoga Town Hall.