Alice Pickering
Wyoming Area ReporterMonday, Wyoming city council approved the hiring of officer candidate Trent Strandberg as a new police officer for the cityís police department.
Both Police Chief Anthony Pangal and City Administrator Jill Teetzel recommended Strandberg as the top choice of the final eight candidates.
Approval is contingent upon a satisfactory background check, but Pangal sees no obstacles now to the hire. He also indicated that Strandberg would have attended the council meeting, but for the three-hour one-way drive. Start date is anticipated August 1.
Pangal told council members that he believes Strandberg will be a ìgreat addition to our department.î Sitting in on one of the last interview sessions, CM Lynn Koalska observed that Strandberg did not appear to view a job in Wyoming as necessarily a step toward a position in a large city department, but that he ìlikes smaller towns,î expressing a preference for working in a smaller community.
Her comments suggested he would likely be working with the cityís police department for a number of years.
Mayor Vern Haag commented about the different hiring process than that used in the past. The department heads have been more active with the hiring process, forwarding information to the council.
Teetzel added information about the hiring process. No longer does the city maintain a list of potential candidates, as has been past practice. As at the last meeting, she said a ìwaiting listî of candidates becomes outdated quickly because the good candidates get hired by other cities.
Seeking to hire a new police officer requires a new search each time.
Teetzel also recommended completing background checks on ìCandidate #2,î preliminary to an additional hire, ìbringing him on board in a temporary two-year positionî until Officer Tom Sonnen returns from active National Guard duty. Someone other than Pangal may need to complete the background check, because of a potential conflict of interest. Both she and Pangal said the top four candidates in the interviews were all ìexcellent.î
She reassured council that money is in the budget for five-plus-one positions in the department. The city has been short one officer for two months. Money from a grant, in the amount of $13,000 remains available for salary, but only through the end of December.
The city has four officers now and is trying to hire officers to bring the department up to six officers. To help pay for these new employees, the city has applied for another federal grant in the amount of $130,000 that would help fund their salaries. A decision about that grant has not yet been made.
SRC
By consensus, council approved the plans for Cameron Strand to rebuild the SRC recycling center, repair and maintenance facility, on his city site on 260th Street. The building already meets the permitted uses for the area.
Planning and Zoning had approved the plans, including the faÁade of the building; rock and brick to a height of about four feet. This is a little higher than required, but is in proportion to the building height.
The footprint of the building is identical to the original. It will have more windows facing Highway 61. One addition to the building is to be a sprinkler system. Council unanimously approved the rebuilding.
Strand publicly praised and thanked the firefighters who stopped the blaze and prevented loss of many trucks and other equipment.
Other business
In other business, the council
ï Scheduled a council workshop for Sat. July 31, from 8 am until noon at the Blaine city offices. The meeting is open to the public, but will not be a forum for public comment.
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