Lincoln County Commissioner Kent Connelly called into the Weekday Wake-Up on Monday, December 22 for the monthly radio report from the commission.  Commissioner Connelly provided an update on the courthouse expansion next to the Kemmerer Detention Center, providing audio recordings of commission meetings to the county website and other items of interest to the commission such as the upcoming state legislative session.

(0:00) Time for the monthly report from the Lincoln County Commission and Commissioner Kent Conley (0:04) joining me today on SVI Radio. Commissioner Kent Conley, how are you? Good, how are you doing this (0:09) morning in this balmy weather? Yeah, a little different, isn’t it? Pass a resolution for some (0:15) Christmas snow, will you? Yeah, no kidding because it’s 47 degrees here on camera this morning. (0:20) Yeah, a little wild, a little off.

Well, a couple of things I wanted to talk about today in regards (0:26) to Lincoln County. The courthouse expansion next to the Justice Center in Kemmerer. Just give us (0:34) an update on that and how things are progressing along.

It is progressing right along on schedule (0:39) in there. We’re looking at late summer next year when we would finally finish it and give us the (0:44) capability of the security. We don’t have to transfer prisoners anymore.

There’s a whole (0:49) bunch of stuff in the modern world, of course, that we’re having to come in compliance with, (0:54) but we’re right on schedule with it. The snow, not any snow, has actually made things easier, (1:01) believe it. Well, that’s what’s made it easier.

We got a couple of bad days, but the blocks are up. (1:07) The actual outside structure of the building, if you drive by it, you can identify it as being (1:12) something now. Absolutely, and now a reminder, listeners, you mentioned the transportation of (1:21) prisoners as one of the reasons, but remind us again the reason that this project is happening.

(1:28) It goes back to the original when we made the move to bring the courthouse up to ADA compliance (1:35) and the new laws and how you handle certain types of cases. Right now, when we have to have (1:42) a murder trial, for example, or whatever, it takes five, six deputies to transfer them in from the (1:48) jail into this courtroom, where in the new setup, you go walk right out of the jail and literally (1:53) walk into court down what you call the green mile, so the cost of handling will be much less in it, (1:59) the security of it. The last big murder trial we had here, we had reporters in and out of halls, (2:08) and if you’ve ever served on a jury here, this courthouse is a beautiful courthouse which we’ll (2:13) retain, but it’s just not set up for all the modern type trials and all the things that go (2:18) with it.

It is hard being a juror and also hard being a lawyer. Everybody transfers back and (2:24) forth, but that decision was made a long time ago, and when I came back into office, my predecessors (2:30) and the commissioners I’m with now, you know, this project was already initiated and set up, (2:35) and so we’re moving ahead to coming into, I guess you would call it the modern day and age of (2:41) courtrooms, unfortunately, which is one of the things we’re mandated by the state of Wyoming to (2:46) provide, and so it’ll be, it should be a lot nicer for families to handle in how they handle (2:52) their cases, gives you more privacy, also gives you more protection for judges and jurors and (2:59) people more, so you’re more secure. You mentioned the current courthouse, I was going to ask what (3:04) will be the plans once this new courthouse is open with the current courthouse? We have not (3:10) sat down and made the final determination.

There’s always been a push that we would, you know, we don’t (3:15) have a very big room ourselves to meet with. In fact, we’ve had to move into the courtroom to (3:19) conduct business at times, and so I’m sure we’ll be looking at that, but pretty much at this point, (3:24) we’ll sit down when, like I said, it’s going to be end of next summer, you know, and we will go through the (3:29) budgeting process and everything else on that, but we have no, this courthouse will be used. We’ve got, (3:35) we’ve got many needs to address in Lincoln County with all the growth we’ve got going on, (3:40) and we’ll address it from that point, and you know, we’ll put it to good use, that’s for sure.

(3:47) Lincoln County Commissioner Kent Conley on the Weekday Wakeup this morning. Commissioner, in (3:52) regards to kind of the ongoing discussions being had with the potential for video streaming county (3:56) commission meetings, also the addition of now audio recordings being made publicly available (4:01) on the county website, just give us an update on that process and where you see this going in the (4:06) future. Yeah, Commissioner Shumway, I think stated in the last interview with you, we’re looking at (4:12) the options because we do have to secure our records for longer periods of time than others (4:16) in there, and it is almost, well, and we’re the county that provides the Afton facility as a full (4:22) facility you can walk into and do business in.

That’s different than any other county, and the (4:27) expense we bear for that, and so my guess is we’ll head towards, but we’re getting the numbers put (4:33) together by our IT people to know how to do it the best way and have a secure Duke, and so (4:39) we’ll probably decide, we’ll probably make it available some way in form so you can view it (4:45) by computer. I would think that would be, that’s just my personal take on it. I’ll have to talk to (4:50) the other two on that, but we’re waiting on our IT department to give us some answers right at the (4:55) moment, but like I say, we already did move the audio into there, that is on, you can go to their (5:01) website and go in and listen to the audio on it right now.

By law, we have to, the clerk keeps (5:06) the regular records in there, and I know a lot of cities do a lot of small stuff, but that’s not (5:11) within our purview. We’re under completely different rules in cities and stuff like that (5:15) on how we retain it, so people have the ability to FOIA our records and find them and do, but (5:21) nothing replaces in person. I’ll be right up front about that.

If you want something, (5:27) I’ve learned that a long time ago in business, but we’re working on it, Duke. (5:31) Commissioner Kent Connolly, Lincoln County Commission report this morning on the Weekday (5:34) Wake-Up. What else is happening in Lincoln County you think is worth mentioning today, Commissioner? (5:39) Biggest thing is everybody’s watching the legislature, where all this legislation’s going (5:42) right now.

We’ve got the growth is really, we’ve got the least amount of applications in front of (5:50) our planning and zoning that we’ve had since I’ve come back, and we’re down in the 20s on that, (5:55) so that’s slowed down. Whether that’s the economy or whatever, I’m not sure, but I wish I could say (6:01) that I’d heard the price of housing was going down because the people I talk to in the other part of (6:07) the state, our economy doesn’t reflect sometimes what goes on because we have such a flow of people (6:14) in and out of here. The biggest thing in Lincoln right now for this summer coming up, not only the (6:19) finishing of the Justice Center, but it will also be, the big work crew will be in here for (6:24) the Terra Power Plant, the building of the nuclear power plant, and they’re estimating there’s 1,600 (6:30) workers hit here in May, and they’ve said that all along, and so where they’re, of course, we don’t (6:36) have housing enough for them, and so they’re spreading out.

I know if you’re driving the (6:39) highways in and out of Kemmerer, it hasn’t slowed down. I think one thing people need to realize too (6:44) in the economy right now, this no snow issue has really slowed down our taxes and sales tax, (6:51) where you don’t have the flow of people going to Jackson Hole that you normally do, and so that’s (6:55) very reflective. Cities will feel that as much as the county because they live off of sales tax, (7:02) and so that’s a very real thing, and for us, Pine Creek, we haven’t got it open because we (7:07) haven’t got any snow over there, and so those are economic factors that we take into, but you’ll see (7:14) a lot of movement of people this summer.

Well, and even right now for this, for southern Lincoln (7:20) County, we’ve got a large workforce working out there, full 72. Drive by the Terra Power site, (7:25) the main building is already up in the shell of it, and there’s a lot of activity running (7:31) around here for wintertime in there, and the building of homes in Star Valley, like I said, (7:37) slowed down some considerably. How much that happens here in the future, you know, that crystal (7:43) ball is almost impossible to deal with because we have been playing catch up on that arena in there, (7:51) and trying to keep up with inflation.

There’s a lot of stuff with inflation that’s going on (7:56) right now, and I’m sure I’m preaching to the choir, to the taxpayers listening to this, (8:01) the cost of just maintaining your own home, and electricity, and natural gas, and the other things (8:07) that if you’re fortunate enough to have them, but we’re still pushing for that pipeline for natural (8:13) gas for Star Valley is a key to their economy. We’ve always believed that, and down here, you’ve (8:19) got to have better fiber to bring some of the smaller. We need an interim business.

We need (8:24) the middle business salaries so that people can maintain. I know as much as I watch it going in (8:30) and out of Star Valley and even southern Lincoln County, you know, employer keeping people employed (8:35) is an issue right now. That’s a problem, and just keeping the economy going as a whole as a county, (8:43) we’ll probably lose quite a bit of money with the mine downturn down here.

There are larger (8:49) taxpayers now about to become probably our second taxpayer this year, so those are things. With that (8:55) property tax issue that’s eventually on the ballot, huge issues, how they determine how (9:00) they handle fire departments, how they handle hospitals, how they handle senior centers. (9:07) Some senior centers are backed by us, as we contribute them out of the 12 mills, (9:12) and some cemetery districts the same way.

If you’re in a district, you live in any district (9:17) as a taxpayer, where you have a mill on it, that 25% come out of it, and that includes cities, (9:23) towns, counties, hospitals, and the whole nine yards, and so how the legislature handles that, (9:29) this is going to be quite, there isn’t anybody, but that isn’t a topic that I deal with across (9:33) the state, is how is this going to turn out, because if the one thing hurt us in the legislation (9:39) of the last few years was they didn’t give us time to adjust. The old-time legislators (9:44) gave us a year to compensate when they passed legislation. This one was immediate, (9:49) that they wanted to give the taxpayers a break, and I got it.

I got one of the breaks. I’ve (9:54) lived in my home for more than 25 years and 50% off, and that is nice, but where it cut the (10:01) hospitals, the hospitals, most hospitals are struggling in the state, and the high cost of (10:07) health care. This is, Wyoming’s listed as one of the worst in the nation for the high cost of (10:12) health care, and I don’t, I shouldn’t be telling the taxpayers anything.

They’re not feeling in (10:17) their own pocketbooks, and it’s nice to see the price of drop of gas, which helps in everybody (10:23) as they commute, but watching the economy, that’s right on the top of our schedule right now. We (10:28) we’re trying to keep on top of all the things, and we’re trying to attract some businesses. (10:33) We need some more business.

We’ve got to, sooner or later, we’ve got to come to a point, Duke, (10:38) we can’t keep losing our children, leaving the state. The outflow of Wyoming, the governor (10:45) speaks to it regularly. We’ve got to come up with businesses in the middle income brackets (10:50) where these kids can afford to do different things.

We’d love to see a Juco College in (10:56) Lincoln County. That’s been on our table for a long time, so that the kids don’t have to travel (11:01) so far, and they can do it. We’ve got to get into the education part of training the trades.

(11:07) That’s where the big money still is now, not so much in salaries, but if you don’t have trades, (11:13) skilled trades people right now, as a business person, you’re in trouble. Electricians, (11:19) plumbers, welders, a shortage of all of them. That’s all there is to it, and we’ve got to (11:26) get a system going where we can keep our children in Wyoming.

I say that personally, (11:31) because I watched my three children leave the state so that they could find employment, (11:35) and I’d love to see them come home. Thank you, County Commissioner Kent Conley, (11:39) on the Weekday Wake-Up. Commissioner, as always, thank you for your time.

(11:42) Appreciate the updates, and we’ll talk again soon.