Roads and money tops meeting

Goshen County Commissioners

Floyd Brandt
Posted 4/20/18

Commissioner and Chairman Carl Rupp opened the April 17 Goshen County Commissioner meeting to a full room of residents wanting to talk about roads.

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Roads and money tops meeting

Goshen County Commissioners

Posted

TORRINGTON – Commissioner and Chairman Carl Rupp opened the April 17 Goshen County Commissioner meeting to a full room of residents wanting to talk about roads. 

The Road and Bridge report brought local residents to the meeting for answers about their roads and the condition that they are in. Supervisor Jerry Hort gave a review about the projects that are currently under construction, followed by questions. 

Residents who live on road 74T began to voice their concerns about the condition of the road. The shoulders of the road needed to be lowered for drainage, high sides keeping the water from rain and snow melt on the road making it soft. The owners who use the road to get to their homes were asking the commission to grade the ditches and improve the road by putting gravel on the road. 

Supervisor Hort explained to the residents the county would not be able to put the gravel on the road this year and would put it on project list for next year, but that county crews would be able to grade the shoulders and ditches to help with drainage. 

“We have a couple issues that we are talking about and it all boils down to money,” Wolski said. “When Carl (Rupp) talked about the Consensus Block Grant, that money went away. That means we have to put capital improvements on the back burner until we get some money. 

“By statute, the county has to have a balanced budget,” he said. “We cannot go in the hole and do the job, we have to pay as we go.”  

The repair of County Road 57 also came into question for repair by Karen Johnson, but legal issues of the road not being properly petitioned to the county. County Surveyor Bob Taylor said the county wants to have the legal issued taken care of so there will not be any liability issues with operating on someone’s property. 

“The way it was created 100 years ago was less formal, now it is the process of getting the road into compliance by petitioning the county,” Deputy Civil Attorney Dana Lent said, “It’s just a letter, it is the best way to do it, the best process to follow.”

In other business:

Undersheriff Jeremy Wardell told the commissioner’s the continued use of the Goshen County Detention Center by neighboring cities and counties is paying for itself. The number of detainees is constantly changing, with one of the biggest user of the detention center is Scottsbluff. 

“I guess we are lucky in that we have plenty of room, other places are always behind,” Wardell said. “A lot of the jails are adding cells and the day they open they’re already behind. We can have 30 detainees in the morning and by the time I go home at night we have 50 detainees.” 

The county detention center had billed out $50,000 at the end of March for inmate
housing.

• Chairman Rupp directed the discussion to Consensus Block Grants how funding had changed for Goshen County, including a $2 million consensus block grant from the state of Wyoming covering two years. The money from the block grant would be divided up to the different Goshen County districts.

“We knew we would have that money,” Chairman Rupp explained. 

When the state fell on a slowing economy the commissioners decided to stop the Consensus Block Grant and the counties state wide lost around $75 million. The grant money was used to fund many of the special districts – including Fire, Road and Bridge projects. The town of Yoder, for example, got $35,000; Fort Laramie $49,000; La Grange $86,000. 

 “It was a very good project from the state but now it has all gone away,” Rupp said. “Now the county is faced with aging equipment and a lot more projects that need to be completed.” 

The county must find the money to replace that from the block grant, leaving the commissioners searching for grants that can cover the lost $1 million per year. 

“We need to apply early and often because grants are really critical to our survival,” Rupp said. The Chairman went on to say he has no problem with the department heads applying for grants, but as commissioners they need to know what grants they are applying for.

Commissioner Wally Wolski told the board they can apply for grants with the Economic Development Progress Program, 21 Century which is new to the community and the USDA to get funds for a new van for 4-H.

“Sometimes, we need to apply for a bunch of little (grants) to get a big one,” Wolski said.

Commissioner John Ellis agreed: “It is pretty black and white we don’t have any source of income from the state anymore.” 

• The county treasurer’s office submitted a request to hire a replacement for a clerk that is leaving for a new position in Torrington.