SUBLETTE COUNTY — After just three years in the position, county administrator Matt Gaffney is retiring no later than Nov. 4. Gaffney told the Pinedale Roundup Tuesday that he is “looking forward to retirement” and spending time with his grandkids.
He added he is “grateful for these last 12 years” and wishes “all the best to the commissioners and the county.”
Gaffney was first hired on Nov. 15, 2010, as deputy county attorney, a position he left in August 2019.
He was then rehired in October. The Board of Sublette County Commissioners adjourned from an Oct. 1, 2019, two-hour-long executive session and Commissioner Joel Bousman moved to offer the position of county administrator and human resources specialist to Gaffney. The motion was seconded by then-Commissioner Mack Rawhouser and passed with the support of then-chairman David Burnett. Commissioners Tom Noble and Doug Vickrey voted “nay.”

Noble and Vickrey also cast dissenting votes when the rest of the board set Gaffney’s annual salary compensation at $95,000.
According to a three-page job description for a “County Administrator with HR emphasis” posted Sept. 9, 2019, the position “provides the overall direction for all activities related to county administration, personnel, information systems, contract database management, grants and county safety program.”
Gaffney was one of 13 or 14 applicants interested in the position, and one of four interviewed.
A discussion about hiring a new county administrator and the job description is listed at 11:30 a.m. on the Oct. 18 commissioners’ meeting agenda. The meeting, open to the public, begins at 9 a.m. at the Marbleton Town Hall.
Administrator update
In his Oct. 4 update to the commissioners, Gaffney explained the county was awarded approximately $1.7 million under the Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Fund through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The first payment of $850,000 is expected in the coming weeks while the second payment of the same will arrive in 2023. Gaffney said the money, “meant to act as replacement tax revenue that would have gone into the general fund,” can be used by the county for anything except lobbying activities. Gaffney told the commissioners there is no deadline by which the money must be obligated.