TORRINGTON – Mayor Randy Adams recognized Goshen HELP Executive Director Kyle Borger as Torrington’s community hero at Tuesday night’s regular meeting of the Torrington City Council.
Borger is the founder of Goshen HELP, an organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for people in need by empowering them to become more self-sufficient.
Borger graduated from Northwest Nazarene College in 1992 with a bachelor’s degree in religious education. He has served Torrington’s Family Church of the Nazarene as a pastor since June 2014, and previously as a supply pastor and an associate pastor for the Nazarene Church in Cody.
Borger started and continues to run Goshen HELP, an organization that provides food bank and food pantry services and helps clients with finances, setting a budget, addressing budgeting problems and setting up action plans with measurable outcomes.
Goshen HELP serves Carbon, Niobrara, Crook, Washakie, Goshen and Weston Counties by providing local solutions to local problems, according to Borger. The organization offers numerous services to approximately 50,000 people throughout the six-county area. Goshen HELP uses grants, local donations and partnerships with outside agencies to achieve their organizational mission.
“We need to learn how to properly love our neighbors so that we can be a better community,” said Borger.
Goshen HELP is located at 1933 Main Street in Torrington and is open from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Contact Goshen HELP by visiting their location on Main Street, calling them at (307) 532-0269 or emailing them at goshenhelp@gmail.com.
The council also proclaimed the month of November as Epilepsy Awareness Month. According to the proclamation, “epilepsy is a neurological disorder producing brief disturbances in the normal electrical functions of the brain that temporarily affects a person’s consciousness, bodily movements and/or sensations.”
Also, in the proclamation, Adams calls upon all citizens to wear purple on the third Wednesday of November to support all people who fight epilepsy and bring awareness of the disorder.
The council added a last-minute amendment to the agenda, adding Resolution No. 2020-15, “Imagine a Day Without Water.” The resolution recognized Oct. 21, 2020 as the annual national day of advocacy to educate the public about why water is an essential and invaluable resource. This resolution was written to highlight the importance of access to reliable, clean water and the need for water infrastructure investments necessary to maintain and rebuild these vital systems.
Tom Troxel, Torrington’s water utility supervisor, thanked the council for acknowledging the resolution and realizing how critical it is for Torrington’s water infrastructure to be funded and replaced. Troxel said there is a lot of infrastructure that is nearing 100 years old and he hopes to be able to get more in the future.
Troxel noted that there is nearly $22 million worth of repair needed to the current system.
The council approved the second reading of both ordinance 3.04.045.A and 3.04.022. The ordinances would allow the city of Torrington to collect revenue whenever someone hooks up city utilities, specifically city water and sewer.
Adams said the revenue generated would allow the city to pay for repairs and services to the water and sewage systems.
In other business, Adams informed the attendees of three candidates running for seats on the council: Richard Patterson, Dennis Kelly and Eric Sharp. Of the three candidates running, only two will be sworn in.
Adams also discussed the two ballot propositions and the proposed constitutional amendment. He expressed the importance of the continuation of the 5th penny tax, also known as the 1% sales and use tax, and the county lodging tax. The 5th penny tax continues to provide much needed services to the city, county and other municipalities within Goshen County.
The county lodging tax is paid by travelers who stay at local hotels and lodging establishments at a rate of 4%. Local citizens do not pay this tax.
Adams explained Amendment A is a century-old statute that was created when most communities did not have sewer systems. He added the city of Torrington and municipalities across the state are in favor of the amendment.
Amendment A would remove a constitutionally mandated debt cap for municipal sewer projects, thus allowing municipalities to take on large-scale sewer projects.
Councilwoman Deanna Hill reminded citizens that Sunday, Nov. 1, is the ending of daylight savings time and everyone will need to set their clocks back at 2 a.m. She and Councilman Bill Law also asked that everyone watch out for children, adults and families throughout next week as they celebrate the Halloween holiday.
