TORRINGTON – On Monday afternoon, Eric Boyer called the weekly meeting of the Torrington Rotary Club to order. Members of the club gathered at Cottonwood County Club for their Monday lunch. 

“As we gather here today in fellowship and service, we give pause for the thanks for the many blessings we have in our lives during Women’s History Month,” Boyer began. “We especially give gratitude for the countless women past and present to have shaped our communities, our world and our Rotary family through their courage, leadership and compassion. May we be inspired by their example to serve with integrity, inclusion and purpose. Guide us in our discussions and actions today that they may uplift and empower us all,” Boyer concluded which was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and the Rotary Four-Way Test. 

Boyer then asked guests at the meeting to introduce themselves where fellow Scottsbluff/Gering Rotarians, Audrey Murphy and Megan Hayward greeted the club.

“We are here on behalf of our Rotary Gold event,” Murphy said. “We were going to see if anybody was interested. We have tickets both to the event as well as we are doing a raffle.”

Both Murphy and Hayward attended the Shamrock Shindig event held earlier this month. 

Boyer then moved on to announcements where club president, Michele Ogburn submitted a couple of club announcements for the board. Ogburn’s report reminded the club the speaker for the March 31 meeting would be Dick Vandel. Vandel will be covering World War II POW camps in Goshen County. Boyer continued with the list of speakers for upcoming meetings.

Boyer moved on to other Rotarian formalities before John Maier of the club introduced the speaker of the meeting, City of Torrington Mayor, Herb Doby. 

“He was born and raised in Goshen County. He’s a third generation Goshen County resident on both sides of his family. His paternal grandparents homesteaded in the Goshen Hole area near Lone Tree Canyon,” Maier began. “He’s been an attorney since 1984.”

“I appreciate you all being here on this windy, windy day. If you have lived long enough in Wyoming, you know that there’s somebody observing the weather. One thing I remember seeing is, the weather in Wyoming is this, ‘It’s either blowing like hell or it’s getting ready to blow like hell,’ and that’s pretty observant,” Doby said. “The City of Torrington is very grateful for all that you guys do for the city.  A recent note is the $40,000 grant. We appreciate that. All the work on the walking path and all the other things that you’re about to do for the City of Torrington.”

Doby explained the Torrington Rotary Club did a great job of meeting their goal to do humanitarian things and improve civic life.

“I’m almost 71. I’m not afraid of that number. I have 65 years of conscious memory of this town and country. I remember back to those days. There are some people, Todd (Peterson) and John (Maier) being one, and I’m sure there are others here, Cactus (Covello) that I say, ‘I don’t remember not knowing them.’ We all went to school together and I literally don’t remember not knowing half of them,” Doby said. “That’s my background here. Again, I have memories of how it used to be, how it is now and what we all hope it’s going to be.”

Doby explained when he was younger, the town was about 4,200 people and it is now 6,500 people. Doby noted there wasn’t much change in the county population through the years other than a shift from farms and ranches into towns. 

“Those, speaking of taxes, John  [Maier] was asking me about property tax cut and the effect it was going to have on the city and such. That’s been a big topic. I’m old enough, I was actually an adult or at least in high school, in pre-severance tax days. A lot of people never lived that,” Doby said. “Those days, and I’ll say it this way, we didn’t have anything. Because if you had any amenities with your city or county it came out of somebody’s back pocket. Farmers weren’t doing that well. They did well in the 70s but, when I was a kid, farm folks were poor.”

“They dealt with not-so-good roads. They didn’t have any amenities because they couldn’t afford them. We didn’t have grants and loans and all the things that we have now days that have come about, not just due to the severance tax but along with it in the last 50 years,” Doby said. 

While in college, Doby worked for the city for two summers. 

“Those were pre-OSHA days for the most part. I tell people the city really was kept together with duct tape and bailing wire. It just was. Ball fields, we had Jirdon Ball Field. That was built when I was a little kid. It has lights and the Legion played there, Babe Ruth and then our team got behind the Little League and we had a little field just north of the old Safeway – This That ‘N Then Some. It was rocky as can be. Chicken wire for a backstop and corn cribbing for an outfield fence,” Doby explained. “But that’s the kind of thing we had in those days. We didn’t have any money coming from Cheyenne or through the severance tax.” 

Doby explained he is often asked why the city’s baler is down by the river to which Doby noted it was put there over 50 years ago. 

“Because that’s where the city dump was and then the EPA came in and 1975 and said, ‘You can’t have your city dump that close to the river.’ So, those in charge in those days developed the landfill out there and that’s why the new baler that we hope to get in a couple of year’s will be out near the landfill. People want to know why don’t you put it right back there? Well, we had a reason for being there 50 years ago. We no longer have a reason,” Doby explained.

“I think that it’s difficult to understand yourself, your family, or any entity unless you know something about the past, how you got to the present, and where you might want to go in the future,” Doby said. “So, the present. Modern life is complicated. I think everybody in here will attest to that. I don’t live as simply as I’d like to. It’s almost impossible not to live with some complexity.” 

Doby then moved on to a brief explanation of the city council. 

“We have four councilmen. Wayne Deahl, Dennis Kelly, Rick Warren and Shane Victorin, okay? I’m the mayor. Those guys understand their duty as councilmen and that’s to protect the health, safety and welfare of our citizens and our residents. Police powers are given. The police powers aren’t necessarily the police like the chief here,” Doby said pointing to City of Torrington Police Chief, Matt Johnson, in the audience. “It’s the health, safety and welfare of the public. Under our original system of the constitution, the police powers were in the states, not in the national government and then that shifted down from states down to the local levels with the police powers. That’s why we do the things we do,” Doby explained. 

Doby further noted the town worked like a machine explaining unless a person is on the inside they don’t see how complex the city is. Doby also explained he had many conversations with Randy Adams his predecessor before taking office.

“Two things stuck in my mind from talking to Randy and Randy would say, ‘Don’t take what you hear personally,’ so I work on that,” Doby acknowledged. “He would also say, he’d point out – trust those women. They know what they’re doing. They know what they’re talking about and they do. I’ve been blessed with very experienced and knowledgeable staff.”

Doby went on to explain the water department employees who do the reverse osmosis process for the City of Torrington have been well trained. He further noted the crew attends constant continued education. 

“I just tell people, ‘We’re doing what we’re supposed to. Your lights turn on, your toilet flushes and your faucets come on. And you don’t really notice it,’” Doby explained. “It’s when you notice it that something’s probably wrong.”

Doby noted he was very proud of the city’s sanitization employees and he explained how lucky the community is to have trash pickup. 

“This baler project is key to this city. That bailer that’s down there is well over 50 years old. It’s a miracle that it hasn’t completely crashed,” Doby said. “Those guys that work with it for so many years, they’re able to keep it running. They’re able to manufacture parts to keep it running.”

“Our system is such that trash is delivered to the bailer. The bailer is baled, covered in plastic and then transported to the landfill,” Doby explained. “That’s the best way to bury trash. It’s orderly, it consumes less space.” 

Doby continued through each branch of the town’s employees noting there were 100 employed for the city and after a brief question and answer session, Boyer adjourned the meeting.