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Hot Springs County’s part time court magistrate, Ed Luhm, joined a discussion with the Hot Springs County Commissioners regarding the need for a full time magistrate.
According to Luhm, there is enough work to be done in Hot Springs County that a full time magistrate should be in place, pointing out the county, until recently, has always had a full time judge.
Luhm is not just covering Hot Springs County, but hearing cases all over the Big Horn Basin as the Wyoming State Supreme Court determined a full time judge was not needed in this area.
Wyoming statutes say the supreme court, with consultation with the county, will determine whether or not a full time magistrate is warranted.
This was initially discussed in November, but we’re nearly five months later and Luhm feels the court is not keeping their end of the bargain, as they haven’t made a decision yet on whether or not we need a full time judge.
Luhm told the commissioners he recently sent a letter to the supreme court outlining what a typical week looks like for him as far as travel and other responsibilities, including doing hearings via TV.
While the televised hearings work, Luhm said he doesn’t particularly like them as he doesn’t have the opportunity to look the offender in the eye, read their body language or really see their facial expressions.
The commissioners agreed with Luhm, with commissioner Tom Ryan saying, “We only have 4,000 people here, but we still deserve justice.”
The commissioners will be drafting a letter to the Wyoming State Supreme Court requesting a full time magistrate be stationed here. In addition, they are going to encourage the sheriff’s department to send a letter as well.
The county’s IT specialist, Dean Peranteaux, presented a pair of projects to the commissioners for updating the security at the court house.
According to Peranteaux, for years there hasn’t been a fire alarm system in the building. Instead, they rely on air horns, the kind that are attached to a can of compressed air, in the event of an emergency.
After talking with the various department heads he compiled a list of security measures they would all like to see, with more cameras being at the top of that list.
Good cameras with high resolution run in the neighborhood of $500 each, so adding cameras will need to be done a few at a time.
With just a $13,000 grant to work with, Peranteaux told the commissioners there was no way to add a new camera system along with a new kind of alarm system that would include panic buttons, neck alarms or computer keystrokes to warn everyone in the building of a dangerous situation.
The commissioners had a card up their sleeve, however, and told Perantaux there was an additional $20,000 they had budgeted for security to go along with the $13,000 grant, so he could proceed with both projects.
They would like to have everything needed in-house by the end of March with completion or at least substantial completion of the security measures by the end of April.
The Hot Springs County Library opened its doors again on Tuesday after having to close over the weekend into Monday due to a leaking roof.
According to maintenance supervisor Anthony Fruciano, he and his crew spent Saturday and Sunday chasing leaks on the roof and shoveling snow off of it to slow down the running water through the ceiling tiles into the building.
The situation has been building for some time with snow melting on the flat roof and seeping through cracks into the insulation. Then things got cold, causing the insulation to actually freeze because of the saturation.
The last few warm days then started the thawing process of the insulation and the water was literally streaming through the ceiling tiles, damaging at least 100 books and necessitating a cleaning of the carpet.
It was suggested a silicone spray be applied to the roof to stop any further issues until the roof can be replaced.
A rather tense call was made by the commissioners to their insurance adjustor to discuss having Nelson Architects as an overseer of the project.
The adjustor, who is in Denver, didn’t believe an architect was needed for the project, even though there will need to be engineering done on the library roof to ensure it drains the proper direction.
Instead, the adjustor believed a qualified, flat roof contractor would be able to handle the entire project, which includes the library, the LEC and the courthouse.
The commissioners, however, are adamant the county needs someone to oversee the project in the best interest of the county and its citizens as this is not a simple roofing job.
The commissioners made no decision on whether or not to hire the architectural firm and are going to speak directly with their insurance agent for verification.
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