EVANSTON — A pair of special presentations made for a lively regular meeting of the Uinta County Commissioners on Tuesday, March 5, when the retirement of a long-term employee and an Eagle Scout project drew more people to the meeting than usual.

Commissioners presented retiring communications director Don Casper with a plaque in appreciation for his 33 years of service to Uinta County. Commissioner Craig Welling said they wanted to give “special recognition to a very special guy” who has gone above and beyond in his duties as communications director. Welling said Casper had spent many extra hours working in the evenings or whenever needed if 911 systems went down or there were other problems, and had additionally served as a dedicated fire and ambulance volunteer for many years. 

“We really appreciate you, Don, for all that you’ve done,” said Welling. 

The second special presentation was for the acceptance of a hand-made retired flag drop box presented by Hagen Faddis as his Eagle Scout project. Faddis, of Scout Troop 30, said he was inspired to build the box after seeing multiple tattered and torn flags and being asked several times what people should do with old flags. 

Faddis said he wanted to provide a way for people to respectfully retire flags, so he spent about 15 weeks building the box that will now be located in the Uinta County Complex for public use. The American Legion will maintain the box and remove flags. “With this flag box the flags that honor our country may be taken and retired properly,” said Faddis. 

In other business, commissioners appointed Steve Vernon to the Bridger Valley Heritage Museum Board and approved a site lease agreement with NGL Connection. The five-year lease agreement will allow NGL to place communications equipment on county property near the Bear River State Park and, in return, NGL will provide 1 gigabyte of wireless internet service to the Uinta County Sheriff’s Office. 

County Clerk Amanda Hutchinson requested a vehicle title transfer of two 1996 Ford Explorers to the Uinta Senior Center. Hutchinson said the vehicles were originally purchased for use by the senior center and are currently being used for meal delivery; however, the senior center has run into difficulties with the insurance because of titling. Commissioners approved that title transfer request. 

Gary Welling, economic development director, requested a contract extension with Thomas P. Miller and Associates, the company that has been working on a target market study for Uinta and South Lincoln counties to hopefully pinpoint some possible industries that would do well in the area. Welling said there is no more money involved in the extension and the company had simply asked for some extra time to complete their final report, which is now expected by the end of March. 

Commissioners also approved a contract renewal between the U.S. Forest Service and the Uinta County Sheriff’s Office for forest patrol services and agreed to sign a letter for the Uinta County Weed and Pest District acknowledging the agency’s nonprofit status to enable them to pursue a credit card payment system for the agency.