LINGLE – The Lingle Town Council met at the community center Wednesday evening for the discussion the agenda for the evening.

Present at the meeting was Lingle Mayor Micah Foster as well as council members Tabitha Lambert, Kathy Willhelm, and Shelly Duncan.

Lingle resident, Jeff Jerome, was officially sworn in as a town councilmember, taking the place of now former councilmember Jackie Hill.

One notable item for the evening involved Go Goshen staff and representative, C.J. Bohl, introducing an enlightening proposition involving a traveling music group. The group presumably has offered to play a show free of charge in Lingle as they will be making their way through Goshen County on June 21.

“I am a longtime Goshen County resident and am also the chairwoman for our concert Main Street program,” Bohl began. “What that means is my program is a board under the umbrella of our economic development. My job is to bring events to our main streets and communities. A few weeks ago, I received a notification from a fan of a band called Ivory Rock n’ Roll. They will be passing through Goshen County on their way to another show, and offered to play in Lingle for free if we were able to provide some rooms for them.”

Bohl continued her presentation by acknowledging although her summer concert series work pertains mainly to Torrington, she along with Go Goshen wishes to bring the same summertime music elements to Lingle as well.

“We have always done our concert series for Torrington, and of course, that’s going on right now,” Bohl continued. “My concern was I really wanted to bring something to Lingle because we love you guys, and we love Lingle. My big push was to work with you, and already it seems to be working so well. Everything is working perfectly. Actually, in a matter of a few days, we had everything set perfect. We called Ritch [Reyes], figured out the date available and here I am trying to see if I can get everything approved through you folks. Also, we want to make sure I am following your protocol and ordinances in how Lingle would like it to be done, as I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes. I know how it is with Torrington, but not always in Lingle. The world is your oyster at this point. My request would be to utilize the band shell because all they need is a stage. They have lights and equipment and are ready to go. All they need is a stage.”   

The meeting continued with public comment conspicuously from Lingle resident and former mayor, George Siglin. Siglin proceeded to offer firm but equitable concerns regarding the council’s public comment protocol.

Specifically, Siglin spoke decisively regarding a recent council meeting in which a resident was allegedly not permitted to speak due to not being on the agenda. According to Siglin, although precedent and policy are important, Lingle’s circumstances should not ever disregard a resident’s wish to speak briefly at a public meeting whether being on the agenda or not.

As Siglin put candidly, sometimes small numbers require a bit of common sense as well as simple courtesy.

“Tonight, I wanted to talk about an incident that happened on May 22,” Siglin stated. “I got done with my comments, and a fellow resident wanted to make a comment as well but was denied as he didn’t sign up on the sheet or didn’t sign up to talk. I don’t know where you guys are going with this or what you want to do, but in my experience, if someone wanted to speak, they were allowed to speak. Everyone could say their peace and we could discuss it afterwards. To deny a local resident their right to speak is just wrong. You need to give that individual an apology.”

Siglin continued further with his comments regarding not only leniency when it comes to residential public comment but also consistent transparency regarding sharing valuable public information.

“With transparency, I see you wanted people to sign up for YouTube, or Zoom or whatever,” Siglin continued. “We are here obviously, but it’s about the stuff that goes on when we are not in public view. So, watch your steps with that. Just like tonight I noticed you guys are calling an executive session. When you call those, you have to have a reason for it. On a positive note, a big congratulations to Jeff Jerome, and thank you to Logan [Dailey] and Jeremy [Jackson] for their hard work with displays at the cemetery on Memorial Day.”

While standard discussions of town maintenance and emergency calls took place with no major concerns or issues; Lingle Treasurer Nikisha Garner urged the council to consider using a new public information app entitled TextMyGov. 

According to Garner, the app would be a solid and convenient source in helping social media-wary residents obtain crucial public information without having to become too involved with online media.

“I think it would be a good idea we need to look into,” Garner said. “Essentially, we would get a text-able number for the town of Lingle which would be able to send important texts and alerts to residents. This is a very cool setup and very significant as Torrington currently uses it as well as Greybull and Lusk. I do have another Zoom meeting with their representative on Monday at 10 a.m. I would greatly encourage you to be a part of. It would be a two-year contract and would cost two grand during the first year for software as well as the setup. Afterward, it would be $1500 per year for as long as we would like it. It would do a lot for people coming in to talk to us who don’t use Facebook.”

It should be duly recognized the third reading of “Ordinance #366 granting a franchise to Visionary Communications, LLC on behalf of itself and its operating affiliates to operate and maintain a telecommunications system in the town of Lingle,” was read and passed after months of planning and deliberation. 

The meeting adjourned promptly at 7:24 p.m.