EVANSTON — The Uinta County Library was removed from the Uinta County Commission meeting agenda on Feb. 15, and Uinta County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Rowdy Dean, Drug Court coordinator Aaron Hutchinson and Uinta County Attorney Loretta Howieson-Kallas were added to the agenda. Commissioner Mark Anderson was excused for the day.

The main event at the meeting was an award for service presented by Howieson-Kallas to Uinta County Youth Services Coordinator Eric Williams.

“Thank you for giving me time to recognize Eric’s service to my office and to Uinta County since 2015,” Howieson-Kallas told the commission. “When I first took office there was no functioning juvenile services program. In order to keep juveniles out of the criminal justice system the state of Wyoming requires any action involving a child has to come through the county attorney and district attorney offices to determine redress for the child.

“In August of 2015, when Eric started in my office,” Howieson-Kallas continued, “he wrote and received grants, established a board and the entire program. He has done tremendous work.  He has helped hundreds of young people in our county. Eric is now leaving our office for a position with the school district and will continue on in his wonderful work with youth. We will miss him.”

Williams came forward and accepted the award and thanked her and the commission for their continued support. The commissioners returned the thanks and their appreciation for his contribution to the county.

The commission then approved the appointment of Tim Reinhart to the Veterans Board for an unexpired term.

Deputy clerk Kim Goble asked the commission to approve the county liquor license applications. The commission approved the following applications: American Legion Post No. 36, Down Home Eatery, Fiesta Guadalajara, Ft. Bridger Cash Store, Jim Bridger Club, Sportsmen Liquor, Pete’s Rock N Rye Club, Travel Centers of America, Uinta Lanes and Wyoming Downs.

The commission approved a 24-hour malt beverage permit for St. Helen’s Catholic Church in Ft. Bridger for their Lucky 17 fundraiser on March 12.

Carl Larson from Lyman asked the commissioners to approve the annual renewal of the cooperative agreement with the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest. He offered to help with any projects if the commission needed him. Commissioners thanked Larson for all of his work in the past and for his offer.

Larson addressed some confusion that had taken place with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Utah office regarding the sage grouse planning effort agreement.

“Uinta County has always had agreements with the BLM in Utah counties but for some reason the cooperative agreement letter was misaddressed or misplaced and there was some confusion on the part of the person who answered my call. What needs to happen,” Larson said, “is for you, Chairman (Eric) South, to sign the copy of the letter accepting the invitation to participate as a cooperating agency in BLM’s Greater Sage Grouse 2022 planning effort and send it to them.”

The commission approved both agreements and will send the letter to the address in Utah and also via email to ensure the right party receives it.

Chief Deputy Dean requested to be able to transfer a 2007 Dodge 1500 pickup truck from the sheriff’s office to Uinta County Public Health to use it to pull its vaccination trailer. Dean said the sheriff’s office is no longer using the truck and the transfer would save another department within the county money. The transfer of the truck was approved by the commission.

The commission also voted to authorize the amendment to the grant agreement with the health department, amending the contractor responsibilities to the term ending on June 30, as requested by Hutchinson, representing the local drug court program.