Winter's coming but air conditioning is on their minds

Carbon County Clerk, Gwynn Bartlett, presented three individuals names to the Commissioners for employee recognition at the October 4 meeting of Carbon County Commissioners. Tracy Newbrough, will have 15 years on October 8; Deb Fall will have 10 years on October 9 and Taylor Miller will have 5 years October 26. All of these individuals work at the Sheriff’s office.

Brenda Hernandez appeared before the Commissioners requesting an extension of hours for alcohol sales. They are having an event and they want the event to continue until 1 a.m. They do have a private security team and bar dispenser. They have contacted the City of Rawlins. Commissioner John Johnson also recommended that they contact the Sheriff’s office and the Rawlins Police Department as well.A motion was made and approved to allow the extension.

Emergency Management Coordinator, Lenny Layman asked for the Commissioners opinion to extend contracts from a yearly basis to three year contract. AlertSense and the Salamander-I.D. card system, has been a yearly contract. Layman would like to extend the contract to a two to three year contract. This would lock in discounted rates.

The Commissioners asked if they went to a three year contract would they then get hit with a 15% increase. Layman said he had asked and although there would be an increase it would not be as high as that. The Commissioners agree to the three year contracts. Layman will bring them back to the Commissioners in November once all the grants are completed.

Layman reported that two weeks ago several of town of Cheyenne Water Department staff as well as some county employees toured the Hog Park/Little Snake Collection system.

Layman also reported that they toured the Hanna site where Abandoned Mine Land (AML)/DEQ are working to mitigate hazardous and environmentally threatening conditions associated with mine sites.

There was debate on whether to open a county road that is currently closed due to possible collapse from underground mines. Road and Bridge Superintendent, Kandis Fritz will contact the engineer for his opinion on opening the road.

Loretta Hanson of Victim/Witness office submitted a contract between the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office–Division of Victim Services for FY2023 for Services to Victims of Crime, for signature.

Hanson also said that October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. She said that they are going to be partnering with their nonprofit to bring attention to this crime.

Road and Bridge Superintendent, Kandis Fritz presented the financing options that Bartlett found for the Motor Grader financing. Bartlett recommended going with RNB State Bank.

Fritz submitted a Road Use Agreement for the D1 Segment of Gateway West Transmission line project, 38.5 miles in Carbon County with 12.8 miles of county roads will be impacted. Bonding is being put in place. Attorney Davis has looked over the agreement.

Mike Newbrough, Buildings and Grounds, presented his research on the generators for the County buildings. It was determined that the generators at the Jeffrey Center and the one at County Fire Department will not work for the County buildings as they hoped. The purpose of the generators would be to maintain power during a power outage.

The problem is, they would not be able to run the air conditioners.

Layman stated he was concerned about the health PODS that are stored in the basement of Jeffrey Center. The PODS weigh approximately 300 pounds and include healthcare supplies that can provide seamless access and inventory of medical equipment, personal protective equipment to the hospital and other institutions.

Layman asked Newbrough reach out to have the elevator tested. Commissioner Johnson suggested they need to form a plan if the power is out. How they can get the PODS out of the basement?

Concern was also expressed by Director Matt Webster of the IT department regarding the possible failure of the air conditioning system. The IT closets, where the electronics are kept, have to be kept at lower temperatures to maintain operations.

The Sheriff’s office recently had that issue.

Newbrough will bring estimates and more information to the Commissioners at another meeting.

Webster also reported that the Saratoga Police Department is now online with the upgraded Spillman and will be tied in with the County records. This will allow the police department to access warrant, protection orders and other information.

The next Commissioners meeting will be October 18, 2022 at 2 pm in Sinclair.