GOSHEN COUNTY – The Tuesday, May 6 meeting of the Goshen County Commissioners was called to order by chairman Micheal McNamee. In attendance were fellow commissioners Aaron Walsh and Justin Burkart. Mary Feagler, county clerk, was also present. 

McNamee asked for a motion to approve the previous meeting minutes and with no questions or concerns, Walsh made the motion to accept the minutes. Burkart seconded the motion and the motion to approve carried by vote. With no changes to the morning’s agenda, the motion to accept was carried by vote.

“A welcome this morning to everybody that has taken time to join us for today’s meeting. Rather lengthy agenda here today so, I will keep things moving right along. I’m going to begin with some information for you, my chairman’s opening comments. A couple of things coming up here on the calendar for us as commissioners. We will begin our budget process starting on this Thursday,” McNamee said. “We will begin meeting with each of the department heads, going through and talking about our next round of budget talks. So, we look forward to meeting with our department heads on budget information.”

McNamee noted next week he may be in attendance at the Wyoming County Commissioners Association spring meeting.

“Every year, the Goshen County Commissioners award three scholarships to two graduating seniors in Goshen County. One, as a renewal of those that have received the scholarship in the past. We received four different applications for the first-time scholarship awards. The winners of these scholarships will receive $500 per semester for the coming school year.”

McNamee reported the winners of the 2025 Goshen County Commissioner Scholarship were Magdalena Jacobson and Jada Kaufman. The continual scholarship was awarded to Kylie Llewellyn. 

“It is with a heavy heart this morning that we’re going to take a moment here and remember former commissioner, former chairman, John Ellis,” McNamee said, moving on in his opening comments. “John passed away on Friday after a brief battle with ALS. Just a very personal situation for me, in particular, because had it not been for John, I would have never pursued the opportunity to run for county commissioner. He was pivotal in the direction that he gave me and was an outstanding mentor, not only to myself, but to the other two commissioners. Very dedicated to and one of the strongest advocates for Goshen County and everything that Goshen County stood for.”

“I had the pleasure of serving with John for four years,” Burkart recalled. “And like McNamee said, he was a firm believer in the ag community. He stood, everything he did, he stood for the ag community and supported the ag community and the fairgrounds. He is just going to be really missed in the community.” 

Both McNamee and Burkart expressed their sympathy to the family.

“I guess, when you think of John, he is Goshen County. He is everything that Goshen County stands for – what this county is modeled after. His vision of what this county should be was very important to him,” Walsh noted.

On the morning of the commissioners’ meeting, Ellis was to receive an award from the airport board for 50 years of licensed flight in the State of Wyoming. 

After a brief moment of silence in remembrance of Ellis, the commissioners moved on to departmental reports, where they quickly accepted the clerk of court’s report. 

Moving on to the grant writer’s report, Hannah Fullmer reported she had submitted a couple of grants in the month of April and submitted a statement of intent. She noted there had been a site visit last week, which went well and work would continue on the stormwater mitigation project design. She further noted the application opens June 15, and she is currently preparing for it to open up.

“Then, for April, I didn’t have any new awards. So, I’m still waiting to hear back from a few of them. This month, I also had several meetings for different grants we’re working on. The state and local cybersecurity grants, transportation alternative grants and the interworking group meetings. I know I mention that every time, but they’re very important, especially right now with the uncertainty and our federal government, especially,” Fullmer noted. 

Fullmer explained she just wanted to give an update to the commissioners, but she hasn’t received many answers.

“A few programs from the federal level are opening up, but not very many. They’re still kind of, I think, going through their budgets and figuring out which grants they want to keep and not keep,” Fullmer said. “I’m specifically waiting on the energy efficiency grant program through the Department of Energy. They haven’t heard anything on that one, so I don’t know yet if they’re going to continue with that program or not.”

After a bit more discussion, a motion was made to accept the grant writer’s report, which was carried by vote. 

Next, the commissioner moved on to the road and bridge report.

“Just keep you updated on the upcoming things. The planning commission, the Lippincott Feedlot renewal will come up during the May meeting, public hearing. At the same time, there will be a major subdivision. Mr. Feeser will be his first crack at the planning commission. Also, the planning commission will be working on some CAFO regulatory updates during their work session during their meeting in May,” Mike Tietjen, county planner, said. 

After a discussion on grant funding, Chris Stoddard, road and bridge superintendent, spoke to the commissioners on the grant Fullmer was applying for to work on roads. 

“The two roads that we’re looking at for the grant for the stormwater mitigation would be Deer Creek and Merce Hill,” Stoddard explained. “WYDOT came out Friday and met with us. We went and looked at projects. They’re really excited about doing that. They typically don’t do that kind of thing, but, that’s the direction that they want to go.”

Stoddard and his department were commended for their hard work on the roads. McNamee noted the public had given positive feedback. A brief discussion ensued regarding the oil industry, the commissions accepted the report from the road and bridge department. 

Moving on to the county clerk’s report, Feagler’s earnings reported was $16,452. She also presented the minutes for the commissioners to approve. 

“I had emailed to you all this amendment, the WIC contract, which the WIC supervisor is being moved to being paid through the county by the state. So, rather than them paying her directly, we pay her and they reimburse us 100%,” Feagler said. 

It was also noted the amendment was part of the budget amendment. 

“Getting budgets all organized and ready to start on Thursday, picking up budgets. There’s not a lot to do in my office,” Feagler said. 

With no further questions for Feagler, Walsh made a motion to accept the clerk’s report, warrant report and earnings report. Burkart seconded the motion and it carried by vote and the commissioners moved on to the emergency manager (EM) and fire warden’s report from Thomas Bozeman. 

Bozeman noted he had sent a report to the commissioners prior to the meeting. He explained on the EM side of things, it had been “business as usual” doing monthly testing and meetings.

“We are going to roll out the Ready-Set-Go program here shortly. Some counties kind of jumped the gun. But we’ll be doing it here shortly,” Bozeman explained.

Bozeman noted the two major grants the county uses on the EM side are still on hold. Bozeman stated he had no idea which way it was going. He further explained he had talked with Wyoming State Homeland Security Director, Lynn Budd and Budd doesn’t know about the status of the grants either.

“The grants are outstanding,” Bozeman said. “It appears the state’s going to pay the liability on those – if they don’t get reimbursed by the feds. So, we’ve got to go ahead to finish out the grants we’ve already received, so we’re going to move forward with those and I’ll get those all submitted to reimbursement,” Bozeman said.

After a bit more discussion on grants, Bozeman moved on to the fire warden’s report. 

“On the fire warden’s side, even though we’re still getting some rain and getting some moisture, we’re still in a D3 drought. All but the very northern part of the county, so it kind of flipped,” Bozeman reported. “The northern part is D2.”

Bozeman further explained the majority of the county is at least more than 50% below normal rainfall totals.

“So, I just want to remind people that if you’re going to burn, make sure that the wind is not blowing. Make sure you control your burn, clear out an area around it and have a way to put it out,” Bozeman explained. “And always, stay with the fire. Don’t leave it unattended because it can get out of control quickly. We’ve already seen an uptick in fires and with storm season moving in, we’re probably going to see even more with our lightning and stuff like that that’s going on.” 

Bozeman also provided an IT report. 

“From the IT side of it, we’ve done a full overview of our budget, our network and the unit itself. We’re in a position that we move forward with Tyler. We should have a kickoff meeting with him either Friday or Monday to get those projects moving forward,” Bozeman said. “For our network replacement program, we’re ready to sign a contract on that. We can move forward with that project as well.”

Bozeman noted Clark Thompson’s position has been posted to the county’s website.

“So, if you know anybody that’s interested in IT work, point them our direction. We will appreciate it greatly,” Bozeman said. 

After reports were given, Walsh reaffirmed the importance of calling in controlled burns. 

“If I could add one thing to your fire warden’s report to make sure to call in before you burn,” Walsh said. “That number is 307-532-7001.”

“Definitely cuts down on the amount of response that we have when people do follow up,” Bozeman said. 

A motion was made to accept Bozeman’s reports and it carried by vote. The commission then moved on to the public health report, which was presented by Feagler. Feagler noted there were people in training or down to the “bare bones” in the office and the office will be closed on Friday afternoon. The commissioner approved the public health report and moved on to the maintenance supervisor report from Kevin Flock.

Flock reported he had received the trailer for the department and had already put it to good use. Flock also reported two bids to repaint the red truck. The commissioner agreed there were more important things to spend money on right now than repainting the truck. 

“We needed to know exactly what that might look like. I think that that is an amount of money as, my fellow commissioners have mentioned, we can use elsewhere,” McNamee said. 

Flock also noted there is a leak he is investigating in the courthouse roof.

McNamee noted he had received a letter regarding the South Torrington park, the Adam Walter’s Botanical Park. The South Torrington Water and Sewer District wanted to know if the county’s intentions were to help with the maintenance. Flock stated he didn’t have enough manpower to help with the park. After a brief discussion, a motion was made to accept the report, which was carried by vote. 

Moving on to the assessor’s report from Debbi Surratt. Surratt presented the commissioners with a reduction order for a business. She further stated there was an incorrect name on the paperwork, which would be fixed and supplemented back in with the right name. Surratt also commented she wasn’t too sure on the final number for the property tax deductions. After a bit more discussion, the assessor’s report and reduction order were accepted and approved.

Moving on to old business, Anthony Bianchini, of NextEra Energy, Inc., representing the Chugwater Wind Energy Project. He appeared with attorney Marianne Shanor. 

“I had visited with Anthony [Bianchini] and requested that he be present here this morning. Simply, because in correspondence, we have had with Anthony since his initial meeting. We have our set of wind energy regulations that have been presented. We have gone through and looked at those. There were some specific things that had come up in question that you had mentioned in your correspondence and I think those are important to mention as we continue to process through,” McNamee said. 

Shanor, who is a partner with the Hathaway and Kunz Cheyenne law firm, stated she had been working on developing wind projects in other neighboring counties for about ten years. 

“Anthony, in reference to the letter that you had submitted to us on the 18th of April, just wanted to allow you some time to visit about those specific portions of the wind energy regulations that have been drafted by the Goshen County Planning Commission,” McNamee said, yielding the floor to Bianchini.

Bianchini presented the commissioners with a packet presentation. 

“In transparency, one of the activities we’re doing right now is we’re taking a look at the February 5, the latest and greatest wind siting regulations that have been proposed by Goshen County,” Bianchini began. “We’re preparing a red line document just with our thoughts and our suggestions for that document in mind, with our letter that we sent April 18. I just wanted to run through my letter, just in more depth, with this PowerPoint before the red lines are sent, most likely in a couple of weeks from now.”

Bianchini stated the issues with the proposed plans were in no particular order however, he started with the NEPA section.

“Our question there is that the language basically states that every wind energy conversion system facility permit also requires a NEPA permit. But our understanding is that if you are not on federal lands or have to adhere to federal standards, you don’t need to go through the NEPA process. We would just ask that the planning commission and the planner and county commissioners add some language in there that just makes it if it’s mandatory, then you have to go if through that NEPA process,” Bianchini said. “Number two, the noise requirements discussed in numerous sections throughout the document – our perspective is that the current noise standards of 50 decibels at a non-participating residence is sufficient to protect the health, safety and welfare of neighbors. There are other rules that are mentioned on a property line, a property boundary and some other rules that are pretty prohibitive and onerous and would be hard to enforce and hard for us to actually comply with. We think that, that house specifically, a non-participating residence, that rule would be sufficient in protecting the constituents and residents of Goshen County.”

Next, Bianchini spoke a little on the environmental and scenic impact of the proposed regulations. The current proposed regulation states the wind project must not adversely impact scenic areas important to local, state and federal governments. 

“Again, like we said last time, that requirement is a bit broad and slightly arbitrary. So, we just ask, in order to adhere to a permit, the permit guidelines, we would just want to know maybe in advance where those important federal, state, local areas are,” Bianchini said.

Bianchini went over 25 key vantage points, noting for the Sweetwater County project, there are only six. 

“Sweetwater County does have a number of different vantage points. But it is very important and something that does happen with permitting our wind projects in Wyoming and other counties is to have the visual simulation, so you can see what the project looks like. So, we are very much supportive of a standard like that,” Shanor said. “What these key observation points relate to is where that vantage point is. A lot of other counties don’t have specific numbers of requirements for the number of key observation points. So, doing 25 is on the extensive side for the number of points that you would look at for a project. Just because, as you can imagine, you can see it from different views, but you can cover it in a lesser amount of key observation points.”

Bianchini explained for the Chugwater project, in Goshen County, would only require a “handful” of vantage points. 

“You can probably cover that in a handful, less than that to meet the requirement and show the community kind of what things would look like from the key points of view,” Bianchini said. “On the next one, shadow flicker, the proposed regulation states that there should be no significant shadow flicker. What we are asking for and seeking clarification with is just defining ‘significant shadow flicker’. Normally, in a lot of regulations throughout the state, throughout the country, there’s a clear standard or benchmark. I think the industry standard is 30 hours per year measured at a residence or a receptor. So, we would ask that there’s a benchmark that we can adhere to or at least define what ‘significant shadow flicker’ means.”

Bianchini discussed the air quality regulations, noting wind energy projects don’t have any air emissions, “certainly during operations.”

“The next section on aircraft detection lighting system. It’s discussed in numerous sections. I just wanted to make a clarifying point, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is not obligated to approve a request for aircraft detection light systems or modified lighting. So, we just want to make it clear that it’s appropriate to indicate that a request should be made to the FAA and outline the process and the Goshen County regulations would help us a lot. I think most, if not all, of our wind energy systems in Wyoming have ADLS systems on them just as a matter of safety. We are working very closely with the FAA and other federal agencies in that regard,” Bianchini said.

“One question, before you move on and this is just for clarification and I think that it’s important because I have received a phone call from a landowner in the area of the proposed site down there that is in fact a pilot,” McNamee said. “Their concern is what a project of this nature would do to their ability to land their aircraft in that area. So, from that individual’s perspective, would it be their responsibility to voice those concerns to the FAA?” McNamee asked Bianchini.

“Yeah, so, my understanding is, so right now from any public airport or even private airport, we have to set back, I believe, it’s two miles to take into account that safety buffer as it is. Then the installation of the aircraft detection lighting system would be completely on us. When there’s not an aircraft in sight, the lights go off for quality of life purposes, especially during the night,” Bianchini said.

Bianchini continued on for some time discussing portions of the proposed wind energy relations. 

“I know that we could probably open a can of worms here and it is not my intention to,” McNamee said. “But with the balance of our agenda that we really need to get through here, I think that is evident that there are questions and that people would like to have further information. Probably, again, substantiating the need for a public meeting that where people could come and ask you directly because you’re the best source of information.”

Next, the commissioners moved on to discuss the Lewis Feedlot permit. 

“The planning commission gave favorable consideration of the permit and forwarded it to the county commissioners, favorably, to process his application for a county-issued permit,” Tietjen said. “For the size of the operation that he’s conducting, which is in the neighborhood of 2,500 head, I think is probably his ceiling.” 

“Just a quick review of some of the information that was presented at the previous meeting. I would want to make sure that we are on the record of stating that it is our first and foremost position as commissioners is to protect the health, safety and well-being of the people of Goshen County,” McNamee said. “We don’t take lightly the fact that we have reviewed this process. We have gone over the entire situation as it involves the Lewis Feedlot out there. I think that the conversation has maybe pointed to the fact that we as commissioners, are not willing to step in and do something to change the operation that Robert [Lewis] is currently conducting out there. That is absolutely not the case.”

McNamee continued on by stating he felt the commissioners and the planning commission had done their due diligence and done what the county needed to do in order to protect the health, safety and well-being of the people. Walsh made a motion to accept the Lewis Feed lot permit, which was seconded by Burkart. The motion carried by vote.

Leann Mattis from Go Goshen asked the commissioners for permission to use the courthouse lawn for the summer concert series. The commissions granted Go Goshen approval and moved on to hearing from Ruben Montgomery on several properties in south Torrington, which are collecting metal and hazardous materials, often in the middle of the night. Montgomery explained he was worried about the company or business operating in the location messing up the roadways and causing accidents. The commissioners agreed something needed to be done and offered to find a resolution somehow to help with the problem. 

The next item on the agenda was an executive session regarding the library foundation building. McNamee adjourned the meeting thereafter.