Approved Record of the May 5, 2020 Proceedings of the Platte County Commissioners in Wheatland, WY – A Special Meeting of the Board of County Commissioners was called to order at 5:00 P.M.. The meeting was held via Zoom Video Conferencing to avoid congregating people to avoid the spread of the infectious disease COVID-19. The purpose of the meeting was to connect with each Platte County Department Heads and Elected Officials to obtain any updates they may have. A department head meeting is generally held at the first Commissioner meeting of the month but has been moved to a digital format in light of current situations. The elected officials present were: Sandy Kontour, Commission Chairman; Steve Shockley, Commissioner; Ian Jolovich, Commissioner; Malcolm Ervin, County Clerk; Kristi Rietz, County Treasurer; Clyde Harris, Sheriff; Danette Eppel, Assessor; and Mona McAuley, Clerk of District Court. Department heads present were: Nicole Sticka, Public Health; Beal Angel, Road & Bridge; Terry Stevenson, Emergency Management; Julie Henion, Library; Jim DeWitt, Maintenance. Members of the public present were: Merlin Hitt, Platte County Economic Development. Recently, Governor Gordon allowed Counties to make the decision to loosen restrictions on a case-by-case basis. Chairman Kontour asked for updates from Public Health and Emergency Management about how the Governor’s decision had impacted them. Ms. Sticka said Public Health had seen a major influx of phone calls that have occurred because of the governor’s decision. Ms. Sticka said a variance to the restrictions for church services and funerals had been issued but that there were still limitations to their services. Mr. Stevenson spoke about how much Public Health has done to respond to the virus and urged common sense and personal responsibility as the County responds. Mr. Stevenson also said information about the variances needs to come from the County and those variances are not issued state-wide but are issued by individual counties. Chairman Kontour asked whether any offices had updates, or changes, from the previous weeks. No departments offered any updates. Commissioner Shockley asked Chairman Kontour to let departments know that the contractor for the Courthouse renovation project will need to know what hours they can perform loud, intrusive, work. Therefore, Mr. Shockley is asking that Elected Officials begin talking about what hours would work best. The best place for the public to access information about how COVID-19 impacts Platte County is the County’s website, www.plattecountywyoming.com. Chairman Kontour said there would be another department head meeting, via Zoom, on Tuesday, May 19, 2020 at 5:00 PM. Chairman Kontour did say that there could be a special meeting called before that date if Platte County has their first confirmed COVID-19 case. There being no further business the meeting adjourned at approximately 5:30 P.M. Approved: /s/Sandy Kontour, Chairman; Attest: /s/Malcolm Ervin, County Clerk.
Public Notice No. 10706. To be published in the Platte County Record - Times May 20, 2020.
