New year brings changes for commission

After being passed up for leadership in 2023, Weston County Commissioner Don Taylor was elected chairman of the board for the 2024 calendar year. Nominated by Commissioner Vera Huber, Taylor won with a 3-2 vote — Huber and Commissioner Garrett Borton voted in favor of Taylor, and the sitting chairman and vice chair — Commissioners Ed Wagoner and Nathan Todd — voted against. Borton was then named vice chair of the board in a split vote, with Wagoner voting against that nomination. 
 
In addition to the leadership transition, several other changes were made but the commissioners did maintain the status quo in some areas.
 
Legal newspaper
 
Weston County’s legal newspaper will continue to be the Weston County Gazette after a 3-1 vote to approve a motion made by Wagoner and seconded by Todd to stick with the Upton publication. Borton voted against the motion, but Huber voted along with Wagoner and Todd to choose the Gazette over Newcastle’s  News Letter Journal. 
 
Taylor has been a long-time proponent for at least alternating years between the newspapers, and has even suggested running the legal notices in both newspapers, but cost differences between the News Letter Journal and Gazette have long been cited as the deciding factor in using the Gazette’s as the county’s official newspaper. 
 
According to information presented by Taylor from the bid package, the Weston County Gazette has a paid distribution of 569 paid subscriptions, meeting the state’s minimum requirement of 500. They bid a cost of $264 to publish a set of sample commissioners’ minutes. 
 
The News Letter Journal’s average paid distribution is 1,572 and the cost to run the provided legal notice would be $945. 
 
During the discussion, Lisa LeVasseur, editor of the Gazette, stressed that her newspaper meets the minimum legal requirements and saves the county money. She noted that while she doesn’t have as many subscribers, the people that want the county information know where to go to get it. 
 
Todd questioned whether or not the News Letter Journal was a Wyoming business, stating he only asked because of bid preferences for in-state business. 
 
NLJ publisher Bob Bonnar assured Todd that the paper is in fact a Wyoming business, with one of the largest staffs among the privately owned businesses on Main Street. He added that he has heard speculation that the NLJ is not a local business since he and his family moved to Colorado, but he said that the business is majority owned by Robb Hicks of Buffalo and is just as local as any other business on the street. 
 
When Wagoner made the motion to give the bid to the Weston County Gazette, stating that his motion is based strictly on dollar amounts. 
 
“The Gazette meets the requirements to be the official publication,” Wagoner said. “This is based on financials.” 
 
While Huber agreed that it would be nice to switch the official paper on an annual basis, she said that it is a difficult decision to make because of the money aspect. 
 
Attorney presence
 
Taylor addressed lack of presence at commission meetings by the Weston County Attorney’s Office, asking what the board can do to help ensure that County Attorney Michael Stulken or one of his deputy attorneys is present for the meetings. 
 
Stulken reported that there had been a “bad spring” of district court judges being in Newcastle on Tuesdays, limiting his office’s ability to attend the meetings. He noted that afternoon sessions for the commissioners may help because court hearings tend to be in the morning. 
 
According to Stulken, attorneys are given schedules to give them an idea of when court sessions will be held. He said he could give that to the board so they are aware of the attorney’s schedule. 
 
Taylor approved of that idea if it was okay with the rest of the board, and noted that the group has seen the importance of having an attorney there to answer questions or address issues if they arise during meetings. 
 
“They do give out a schedule. I could bring that and go through it to figure out what days actually hit,” Stulken said, noting that his office is small and lacks the manpower to spread out to address its various responsibilities. 
 
Upton meetings
 
The commissioners voted to hold their last meeting of every quarter in Upton, which means the commission will meet there in March, June, September and December. 
 
Huber, who suggested the idea, said that the board managed to have one meeting in Upton last year, and she would like to see the board commit to visiting the community on a quarterly basis. She noted that during the meeting held in Upton in 2023 they had quite a crowd, including a class from one of the town’s schools. 
 
The board approved Huber’s motion, and Todd suggested that the traveling commissioners look into carpooling or using a county vehicle for travel to avoid paying mileage for several different vehicles.     
 

 
Board visits
 
The board decided to approach commissioner outreach with volunteer boards, an idea first presented by Huber on Aug. 1. 
 
Originally, Huber had proposed, and the commission approved, that individual board members attending different board meetings provide outreach and a connection between said volunteer board and the county commissioners. 
 
On Jan. 2, Huber proposed that each board member become an advocate for each of the volunteer boards, providing the connection between the boards. She said that the point of contact could keep communication open and help the commissioners understand what each board is doing. 
 
Borton said that while he is all for open communication, he doesn’t want the idea of an advocate discouraging boards from coming into meetings and including the whole commission. He noted that he enjoys hearing the information directly from the source. 
 
“I would prefer them here in front of the entire commission,” Todd added, saying that it would increase transparency. 
 
Wagoner also supported the idea, stating that the boards communicating with the commission directly would ensure that there was no misinterpretation of information. He suggested that boards be put on the agenda on a regular basis. 
 
Huber said she supported sending invitations to the boards to keep communication lines open. She then moved to proceed with the idea. 
 
“My concern is getting more communication. This will get them in the spotlight,” Huber said, adding that many of these individuals and boards don’t receive the attention they deserve for the work they do. 
 
Virtual meetings
 
Huber presented one last idea to the board before the close of the meeting, suggesting that the board look into improving its virtual meetings and consider video recording these meetings for the public. 
 
Citing that several people were viewing the meeting via the commissioners’ livestream that day, Huber said that, the board still needs to put some time and effort into the system, to make sure it works every day. (Audio difficulties were experienced by those attending the meeting virtually.)
 
She noted that while home sick, she had issues accessing the livestream and knows that others have faced similar issues. 
 
“Along with that, I really feel it is important to start recording,” Huber said. 
 
She acknowledged that the News Letter Journal does produce and distribute videos, but said that while they are good, they do not belong to the county and can be edited.
 
Huber suggested that the county could also put the meetings on the website for the public to view. 
 
“It would cost a fortune to put on the website,” County Clerk Becky Hadlock objected. “The audio is already too big.” 
 
She added that this is why a lot of counties don’t publish their recorded meetings online. 
 
Huber argued that most counties do put the meetings online, and suggested the issue could be that Weston County’s website is “antiquated.” 
 
“I know it is easy for us to record a meeting if we are set up to do so,” she said. 
 
Wagoner interjected that every month the commission approves meeting minutes and that these are the official documents kept on file forever. 
 
“It is not required by state statute,” he said, noting that if the county could record and livestream for free, then he is okay with it. 
 
“Once we start dumping money into it, I start having a problem,” Wagoner said. 
 
Todd seconded Wagoner’s opinion, stating that the minutes are taken and signed off on by the board. He said that he doesn’t know if recording the meetings would be advantageous to the county. 
 
Taylor offered his opinion, stating that the question shouldn’t be statutory requirements but whether the county should put time and effort into the livestream and recording. He said that the county’s process needs to be more uniform and efficient. 
 
Huber agreed that while there are certain requirements, she agrees with Taylor and that this is something the county should do even if it is not required by law. She noted that it increases transparency with constituents and provides more detail than official minutes. 
 
Following the discussion, the commission approved a motion for Taylor and Borton to meet with Golden West Technologies to discuss the livestream further.