TORRINGTON – The Goshen County Commission met promptly at 9 a.m. Tuesday morning for the mandatory bi-weekly discussion of current events, concerns, and upcoming happenings relevant to all county citizens.

Present at the meeting was commission chairman Michael McNamee along with fellow commissioners Justin Burkart and Aaron P. Walsh.

Additionally present was county clerk Mary Feagler.

After what many county residents described as an immensely concerning weekend regarding a very dangerous wildfire within county confines, chairman McNamee promptly addressed the audacious efforts by all local fire departments as well as the Goshen Emergency Management Team.

As the chairman began, this last weekend proved to be a dangerous challenge for all firefighters who worked to contain the fire; resulting in the hospitalization of one individual due to smoke inhalation.

“For those of you who were not here, Saturday was rough in Goshen County,” McNamee said. “In regard to the fires and our local fire district’s response, first of all, an enormously big thanks to all the firefighters who kept it contained. Second of all our best wishes go out to the firefighter who was hospitalized due to smoke inhalation.”

Chairman McNamee reminded all county residents, despite a perception of excitement coming with being a firefighter, this latest wildfire proved every local volunteer courageously put themselves in harm’s way to ensure the safety of others.

With this, every county resident is strongly urged to understand and appreciate the recent fire ban currently in place.

“Every time they go out on a call like that, they are putting their health and sometimes lives in jeopardy,” McNamee continued. “We want to give a big thank you to all who served in that capacity. On the heels of our fire ban during the last meeting, it would be diligent in making sure we don’t do anything to further a volatile situation considering how dry with are with weather conditions. We definitely welcomed the rain last night. If you happen to have a rain dance, by all means, it is more than welcome.”

Notably the meeting moved forward with the discussion of the upcoming Goshen County Fair scheduled to begin July 27 and will run through August 4.

All residents are encouraged to come out during the week and enjoy the festivities, vendors, and each lively event offered to the public, according to the commissioners. 

“It’s always an exciting time for the people of Goshen County,” McNamee continued. “I would encourage you to seek out the schedule, come out and take part. We as commissioners hear the concerns of what we can do to make the fair bigger and better. I think one of the biggest things is for people to come out and take part in it. It may look different than when we were kids. However, it’s still important to come out and support the vendors.”

Additionally, county fairgrounds general manager, Stephanie Bumguardner, spoke before the commission on both the excitement of perhaps the county’s biggest event, as well as other things sure to come once it reaches its completion.

“The big dog is definitely the fair,” Bumguardner began. “We have some very large events which give us a two-week window to do some projects in the area. We are building layouts and doing everything to get ready for the next couple of weeks. The Fair Board continues to be challenged, and we want to showcase excellence based on agriculture and share it with our community. Some want bigger and better things in comparison to Frontier Days. With that, I ask everyone in the community to just be very patient. There are things coming and this current Board is very active. But, things can’t happen overnight without funding and without support from the community.”

Bumguardner pointed out much-appreciated help from one very important local entity. One which both Bumguardner and the commission believe deserves far more support and recognition as Goshen moves forward in the upcoming months.

“On the logistics side we notice things most people don’t,” Bumguardner explained. “I would really like to thank the people of Torrington, but nobody thinks about TDS. Every year on a specific day they come with all the extra dumpsters. They just bring them. They don’t charge us; they just bring them. They help line up the parade and get it going. Now who cleans up the parade when it’s finished? All the horse manure and candy wrappers? That’s the City of Torrington, and I want to thank them for that.”

Finally, the commission had an in-depth discussion just prior to approving the County Resolution 2024-08-Retirement Cap.

Each commissioner gave an impartial take on the purpose of the resolution, and what it means for county employees in the future.

“As we went through our budget session, one of the topics of conversation is what we are going to do and how we are going to continue to fund as this increase going on now. It will become a further issue, and an even bigger issue to our budget moving forward. This is the reason for this resolution which will cap those contributions. It is certainly something we would want any employee of Goshen County to know. We are not trying to cheat employees or to be cheap about it, but with continued increase in cost it’s going to become very imperative we cap this and protect Goshen County as we move forward with those retirement contributions.”

“The hardest thing with our budget is, can we afford it this year? Absolutely.” Burkart added. “Next year, we don’t know. The year after that, who knows? With the state unbalanced right now with their funding streams and what things look like with property tax, we have some unknowns in there. Some big unknowns. Financially we are sitting fine today. We don’t want to put ourselves in a position this year or even next year where we have to reel some things in because we overextended. Things we can provide for our budget are solid, and we can provide the services we have always been able to provide at a high level. This sets us up for providing those services and [employee] raises without fear of having to retract.”

“That is one of our biggest fears,” Walsh concluded. “It’s the sustainability of what our county can provide for us. I don’t want to get too deep as far as legislation as it sounds great for voters to reduce their property tax, but that’s how we pay our bills. It’s a hard fact, but to have our county we need income. It’s hard to understand unless you sit in these seats. More or less sometimes it looks good, but it doesn’t work on the other end of it.”

The commission motioned to approve the 2024-08 Retirement Cap, which was then seconded and accepted.

“We want to see our county employees survive,” McNamee finished. Our biggest concern is contributions which seem to keep going up into that retirement plan, and the other concern once again is the sustainability of our budget. In the next year or even five years, how do we present a budget which is sustainable? Those are factors going into it. Our main point is we would like to give a huge thank you to all the employees of Goshen County. We wish we could do more; we wish this is something we could offer again and hopefully, something we can sustain and do moving forward.”

The meeting was adjourned shortly before 12 p.m. and will reconvene at 9 a.m. at the Goshen County Courthouse on August 6.