<body><div>GUERNSEY – As a way to help fill vacancies at the police department in Guernsey, the town swore in Michael Staiger as a part-time police officer at the council meeting last week. Staiger will provide relief for Guernsey police chief Jay Harrison, who said he is still having difficulty recruiting qualified police officers for the two open positions in the department.“I want to thank Michael [Staiger]. He’s also the chief of police in Fort Laramie so he is doing me a huge favor by coming in part-time,” Harrison said.In public comments, Brad Cook brought several questions to the council – one being a question on his water bills which have been overcharged. He said he’s been to town hall with questions he hasn’t had full answers to. He said a meter was replaced several months ago, and there has been overcharges on his bill since.In the same timeframe, water bills throughout the town have shown some residents have been overcharged. The town is looking into resolving the error and encourages any resident suspecting something incorrect on their bill to immediately go to town hall so steps can be taken to double check their meter or a leak.Cook also brought up the issue of the abandoned house in his neighborhood, which is still being occupied in some form by suspected vagrants, though it is supposed to be un-inhabited. Cook said some of the neighbors are scared by the activities they see or hear at the property, and he has given up calling dispatch when he sees things happening on the property, “…because nothing happens. I thought we were going to get it boarded up,” he said.The Mayor asked the police chief to speak on the issue, and who said the person who has been in it has been in court on the issue. “I’ve been having some kickback by the county attorney on that issue, and it has to do with issues about the will. As soon as [it] is straightened out, the court can move forward with the most recent charges,” Harrison said.Local resident Troy Reichert asked if a town ordinance trumps a will to condemning a house if it is a death trap. He emphasized something needs to be done with multiple houses in the town that have been harboring individuals who have been trespassing on people’s property, and worse. He added, something needs to be done before someone gets shot.“We need to see these houses that have no reason to be standing, dropped. If we have to take the steps to get a fire marshal involved, we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do. Enough talk,” Reichert emphasized.Guernsey town attorney Frank Jones said there are a lot of steps that have to be taken, with the first step being having the state fire marshal declaring it a nuisance. It doesn’t make any difference who owns it at that point. He added, sometimes the fire marshals are busy and it can take a while, but it is the best route to go.Stacia Cook informed the council of a school board forum will be held at the VFW Hall at 6 p.m. on Oct. 7. The three candidates running for city council will also be invited to speak. She added, the event begins at 6 p.m. and Skills USA, FCCLA, and Guernsey-Sunrise Education Association are helping with the event.Cook also gave her opinion to the town there are multiple businesses and residences along the main highway through town who need to “do something” about the weeds growing tall on their properties. She also pointed out there is a very tall weeds near the school on town property that needed to be taken down.Though she has seen people trying to get weeds under control, she emphasized the town needs to take the lead. “Let’s make our city look like we want it to look… and give [citations] to the right people,” she said.Code enforcement officer and town planner John Burfeind has been working on this issue in his first weeks of holding the position. He said building code requires businesses to be landscaped, whether it is zeroscaping, grass, etc., and nothing is to be over 12 inches. “They’re going to be forced into doing landscaping…and there’s couple homes in that corridor I’m working with too…,” Burfeind said.The issue of confusing or inaccurate verbiage in deed correction requests sent to several property owners was brought up at the meeting. Burfeind said he is working with the surveyors on the issue, “because some roads were 30 feet wide, 36, some were 40, so verbiage was incorrect on the letter. A retraction will be going out for that...there was also a Sept. 30 date on there, disregard that.”Mayor Delgado said the surveyors measured the distance of one of the streets and assumed all the streets were the same, resulting in the error on the letters, and they are working to get things fixed.Just over 80 properties in Guernsey were identified earlier this year as having discrepancies in the platted lots and property deeds. They have deeds, and have been paying taxes, to the center of the street, so the council is requesting quick deeds from the owners to give the town ownership of the streets from the center of the street to the curb. Anyone with any questions is invited to contact Burfeind at town hall. Burfeind presented the council a list of bids to address issues with the fire hall doors. He discussed options on the table, and the reasoning for the estimates for cables, seals, weatherstripping, and updates on the doors.After more information and some questions about the needs and usage of the various doors are obtained, the council will revisit the topic.Councilman Kelly Augustyn added, “Before we get too carried away for the fire hall, maybe we could repurpose the JTech building (at the airport). It’s a better building and maybe be better utilize. Let’s look into that.”Resolution 2025-005 appointing a special municipal officer to issue citations was tabled citing unresolved questions on the topic.In answer councilman Dale Harris’s question of when the town last had an audit, town clerk / treasurer Hillary Dawson said the town has an audit yearly, with the most recent one completed in September 2023. Currently the town is in the middle of the audit with a final report due Dec. 31. Dawson added, if anything needs to be fixed, the town would need to hire a CPA to make any changes, and at the same time anything the council wanted specifically to look into could be added to the list at that time.Diana Griffith, visitor center manager, reported there were 1,337 visitors at the center this year, 168 more than last year. There were also $1,767 in sales which us $221 more than last year. Visitors came to Guernsey from 43 states and foreign countries, including Germany, Guernsey Islands in the U.K., Belgium, France, Canada, Switzerland, Austria, New Zealand, and Czech Republic.Griffith said the foreign visitors “always love to come to the United States…and follow our history.” She wanted to credit the summer school students who came in for three weeks in June to water flowers and pull weeds, and the visitor center will be doing Treat Street in October and decorate for Christmas.Adding to the discussion about concerns within the towns with vagrants and petty thefts, she told the council she had put solar lights with small glass balls in them in each planter near the visitor’s center, and someone kept stealing the balls. She also had someone steal a padlock (without the key) while she was watering. She explained due to the water restrictions and nearby camping spots, she locks the hose / hydrant with the lock when she isn’t actively watering the plants and was surprised about the random theft.“It’s been silly little things, nothing big, but just irritating,” she said.In conclusion of her report, Griffith said, “I want to thank everyone for a good year. The maintenance crew always take good care of me and the girls, and everything was taken care of right away.”It was also reported there will be only two more mobile pantries in Guernsey (October and December) due to funding cuts in the program, so the food pantry will not need to utilize as much space in the town’s building since there doesn’t need to be storage of boxes for the mobile distribution going forward.Mayor Delgado read a proclamation declaring December 15 as Wyoming Mason’s day in honor of their 150th anniversary. The Grand Lodge of Ancient and Accepted Masons of Wyoming was charted in the territory of Wyoming in Laramie City, Wyoming on Dec. 15, 1874. The proclamation also states Wyoming masonic lodges promote strong bonds among members, serving communities and charitable endeavors through a brotherhood of share experiences and dedication to moral principals…and Guernsey Lodge No. 49 members have generously given their time, talents and resources to better their communities.The council went into executive session to discuss personnel.The next meeting of the Town Council will be 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct 1 at Town Hall.</div></body>

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Officer sworn in; community concerns discussed at council meeting

GUERNSEY – As a way to help fill vacancies at the police department in Guernsey, the town swore in Michael Staiger as a part-time police officer at the council meeting last week. Staiger will provide relief for Guernsey police chief Jay Harrison, who said he is still having difficulty recruiting qualified police officers for the two open positions in the department.