TORRINGTON – The Torrington City Council met on Tuesday, Jan. 19, and hired Catherine “Kate” Steinbock to their vacant council member seat.
Mayor Randy Adams said there were five applicants for the vacant seat and he interviewed three of them. Adams chose Steinbock because of the many perspectives she brings to the council.
“She [Steinbock] provides us with the broadest community perspective,” Adams said. “She is a woman, she has youth on her side and is a parent with children in this school system.”
After Adams announced Steinbock would be filling the empty seat, he wanted to take time to thank the electrical workers for their hard work last week during the windstorms that knocked out power to many people in Torrington.
During the outage, electrical workers provided quick temporary repairs to get the power back on for those who lost it. Adams said those workers will be returning this week to make the repairs permanent.
Besides the electrical workers, Adams also wanted to thank the community for providing support to the workers and to thank the other community departments for their help.
“We want to thank those businesses and private citizens who brought coffee and food to our workers,” Adams said. “Our city of Torrington Police Department, Fire Department, the girls at the dispatch center and our street department need to be commended for their efforts.”
The Wyoming state legislature opened on Jan. 12 and will be meeting virtually until the pandemic restrictions allow them to meet in person.
Adams said the legislature is working with at least a $750 million shortfall in an attempt to balance the budget. He expects the legislature will reject most efforts to increase revenues and expects a cut in direct distributions.
“We’re expecting at least a 5% cut, maybe more before they finish,” Adams said.
With the pandemic still having an effect across the country, Adams wanted to thank the people for their continued mask wearing and hand washing to help slow the spread of the coronavirus.
As of yesterday, the Goshen County Public Health report stated there were 47 lab confirmed positive cases and thus far this past year the county has totaled 19 related deaths to the virus.
People have been getting their coronavirus vaccine in the county and Adams expects the second doses of vaccines to be completed by the end of February.
“Citizens 70 and over are now receiving their first shots,” Adams said. “They will continue receiving the second shots until late into February.”
Adams wanted to remind the community to keep up their efforts against the virus and to remain safe and that we will all get through this.
The first action item of the night was the approval of the appointment of Steinbock, which was approved unanimously.
After the approval, Torrington City Attorney James Eddington swore Steinbock into her role as councilwoman.
The second item was the unanimous approval of Adams’s appointments. Adams appointed Councilman Richard Patterson to the Police Department Committee and Steinbock to the Industrial Park Committee.
Adams also appointed James Eddington and Jeffrey Harkins indefinitely to the Performance Evaluation Committee. Patterson, Darrin Yates and Amy Haas were also appointed to the Performance Evaluation Committee until Dec. 31, 2021.
Councilman Ted Kinney spoke before the end of the meeting and wanted to give thanks and congratulations to Points West Community Bank for providing 115 years of service to the city of Torrington.
“We should congratulate Points West Community Bank for their years of service here to our community,” Kinney said.
Before Adams adjourned the meeting, Patterson wanted to echo the thanks Adams gave to the electricians and various city departments in the community for all their hard work during last week’s windstorms.
The next meeting of the Torrington City Council will be Tuesday, Feb. 2, at Torrington City Hall. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m.
