Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
WORLAND - Re-elected county officials will be sworn-in today, at an 8 a.m. ceremony at the Washakie County Courthouse, before the county commission holds the first monthly meeting of 2019.
County commissioners Fred Frandson and Terry Wolf, County Attorney John Worrall, County Treasurer Doris Kern, County Assessor Kathy Treanor, District Court Clerk Suzann Whitlock, Sheriff Steve Rakness, Coroner Jeff Lapp and County Clerk Mary Grace Strauch will be sworn-in by Judge Bobbi Overfield.
The county commission will convene at 9 a.m., and include regular department reports and an after-action report regarding a recent county-wide emergency management exercise.
The December exercise, paid for by a Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness (HMEP) Grant, took place north of Worland in the vicinity of the town sewer lagoon property. In the planning stages for nine months through the Local Emergency Planning Commission (LEPC), the exercise tested local first responders in their ability to effectively communicate in the case of a large-scale hazardous materials emergency.
According to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the HMEP grant program was established in 1990 by the Hazardous Materials Transportation Uniform Safety Act. The program is designed to allow grantees the flexibility to implement training and planning programs that address differing needs for each location based on
demographics, emergency response capabilities, commodity flow studies, and hazard analysis. The HMEP grant award amount prior to 2009 was $12.8 million; award amounts thereafter were increased to $21.8 million.
The field operation portion of the exercise included members of local law enforcement, fire district, HAZMAT response teams, Wyoming Department of Transportation, Burlington–Northern Santa Fe Railroad, the Red Cross, and evaluators from surrounding counties. Victims were played by Ten Sleep Ambulance Director Gard Ferguson and County Commission Chairman Terry Wolf.