TORRINGTON – The Goshen County Commissioners dedicated a significant portion of the August 6 meeting to express gratitude to the county fair board and staff and the crews battling the Pleasant Valley Fire.

Chairman Michael McNamee opened by thanking each of the people involved in planning and running the 2024 Goshen County Fair that took place from July 27 to August 4. The fair board, county employees and volunteers came together throughout what McNamee called a “long week” to make the fair a success.

“It truly is a village that comes together to put this on,” McNamee added.

McNamee then praised the efforts of various agencies and first responders working to contain the large wildland fire between Fort Laramie and Guernsey. McNamee and Mary Feagler, Goshen County Clerk, attended a community meeting in Guernsey on Saturday regarding the fire. 

McNamee recognized the “communication, coordination and work” between Goshen County Fire Warden and Emergency Management Coordinator Thomas Bozeman and his counterpart in Platte County.

“The different agencies (at the community meeting) said it was phenomenal to watch the two counties come together and work as they did on battling that fire,” McNamee said. “From top to bottom – all of the volunteers up there, the different volunteer fire departments, members of road and bridge that went up and helped on it – it was a total effort.”

Bozeman readily stepped into his role as both fire warden and emergency management coordinator, McNamee said. Firefighters from each agency on the scene also rose to the challenge, and McNamee offered thanks to the volunteers and prayers for injured firefighters.

“The last number that I heard was over 27,000 acres burned in that fire,” McNamee said. “It could have been maybe twice that were it not for the communications and the work done at that level, not to mention all the firefighters and their efforts.”

Goshen County Road and Bridge played a “pivotal” role in suppressing the fire by working around the clock the previous week to build containment lines, McNamee added.

The road and bridge department worked for 36 straight hours at one point, said commissioner Justin Burkart.

On Tuesday morning, agencies were “coordinating efforts” to reach 100 percent containment on the fire and transition into the reclamation process, McNamee said.

New road and bridge superintendent received 

Only two days into his new position, the new county road and bridge superintendent Chris Stoddard attended Tuesday’s meeting with his first report.

“We are glad to have you on board as our new superintendent,” McNamee said to Stoddard.

Commissioners interviewed three candidates for the superintendent job, including Stoddard, McNamee said. Stoddard possessed considerable knowledge of Goshen County as a lifelong resident and expressed a desire to improve relationships with residents, McNamee said.

McNamee encouraged people in the county to reach out to the road and bridge department with questions, comments and concerns for Stoddard.

Stoddard planned to travel across the county to inspect roads and visit with folks.

“I started yesterday getting out and looking at some roads and will continue to do that over the next several weeks and get an idea of what we have,” Stoddard said. “If I don’t know what’s broken, I can’t fix it.”

Stoddard organized his first meeting with employees at the county shop on Monday and emphasized the need to keep communication open with his staff and “give them an ear to hear their concerns and ideas.”

Stoddard expressed his need for a “small amount of time” to study the ins and outs of the road and bridge department before beginning any projects.

“The residents in the county are going to be great people to bounce (ideas) off of,” Stoddard said. “For our rural people, (county) roads are our lifelines. I live out in the middle of nowhere – about as far as you can get. Those roads are lifelines. It’s important that our roads are good because when they’re needed, they’re needed right now.”

In other commissioners’ news

The county clerk’s office was “super busy” with the primary election, Feagler reported to commissioners. Monday was the last day for voters to register and make address changes without taking out an absentee ballot, Feagler added.

The primary election is Tuesday, August 20 and early voting is underway, Feagler said. Approximately 350 people had requested ballots or voted in the clerk’s office to date, Feagler told commissioners.

Goshen County Assessor Debbi Surratt presented commissioners with a summary of budgets submitted by 36 entities that have opted to levy taxes. Surratt combed over each summary to ensure the budgets were within the requirements of what an entity can levy. 

The budget summaries are posted online for the public and McNamee thanked Surratt for the work her department put into making the process transparent.

Before adjournment, the commissioners reminded the public that their second August meeting will take place on Wednesday, August 21 rather than the preceding Tuesday due to the primary election on August 20.