The items removed from

the Sublette County Commissioners’ May 22

meeting agenda were more telling than the

items that remained on the agenda.

All five commissioners including Chairman

David Burnett and commissioners

Doug Vickrey, Tom Noble, Joel Bousman

and Mack Rawhouser attended the meeting,

which was moved to Wednesday to accommodate

commissioners’ travel schedules.

One item on the agenda stated “Sublette

County Rural Health Care/ Sublette Center

– Information / announcement regarding

merger.” However, before the meeting began,

Burnett amended the agenda by removing the

item.

He later said a merger was voted on at

the Sublette Center’s regular board meeting,

passing with a 5-3 vote. Chairman Lynn Bernard

was absent from the meeting. Burnett

said Bernard and the Sublette Center’s attorney

Gaston Gosar questioned the proposed

merger and some of the conditions placed on

the merger.

Sublette County Rural Health Care District

Board member Bill Johnson said the delay is

unfortunate.

“We just wanted to merge for the sake of

the community,” Johnson said.

What was proposed is one company with

two divisions, he said. The Sublette Center’s

medical wing needs many upgrades and this

would have been a solution for all parties.

“We understood Bernard and Gaston were

prepared to make a spectacle at the commissioners’

meeting, so we just called it off,”

Johnson said.

On Tuesday, a majority of the players were

in attendance at the Senior Art Reception at

Aspen Grove.

“We were all talking about the merger

and very excited,” Johnson said. By the time

commissioners met Wednesday morning, the

entire deal was called off.

“It was a huge disappointment to all of

us,” Johnson said. “It needs to be done and

we have three boards in agreement. We

shouldn’t wait until another election and

things change.”

A call to Bernard was not returned as of

press time.

Broadband

Another project coming to a grinding halt

is the effort by the county and three municipalities

to get fiber optic through to Sublette

County.

During the Pinedale Town Council’s

budget workshop on May 21, Mayor Matt

Murdock skipped over a $1 million item for

broadband, saying the entire project was on

hold.

On Wednesday, an agenda item titled

“Broadband discussion” was also removed

from the commissioners’ agenda.

During the commissioners’ business

discussions, Noble, who has served on the

broadband consortium for nearly two years,

said it appears Union Wireless is moving forward

immediately, putting fiber in the ground

between Rock Springs and Pinedale. He said

the company reportedly is beginning near the

Museum of the Mountain Man this month.

Sublette County’s low population has

made laying fiber unprofitable for private

companies to invest in key infrastructure in

the past. However, the availability of several

federal grants to pay the way to get fiber to

outlying areas has served as motivation.

Union was two months ahead of Sublette

County’s consortium in the application process

for those grants, basically sucking the

wind out of any forward progress by the

county’s group.

Noble said Union appears to be following

the exact path that was put together with the

consortium.

Initially All-West’s request for proposal

was accepted as the best partner for the

county. “All-West has reined in his crew with

this 90-degree turn of events,” Noble said.

Noble said the broadband committee has

also halted all work with CTS Technology

and Energy, which has been researching and

preparing grant applications to obtain outside

funding. Also actions to establish a joint

powers board between the county and the

towns of Pinedale, Marbleton and Big Piney

are on hold.

Burnett questioned Union’s time line.

Noble said Union applied and received

grant funds ahead of the Sublette County

consortium and grant’s guidelines and requirements

would dictate the company’s

schedule.

He said all permits have been received

by Union except for permission to cross the

Union-Pacific Railroad.

Rawhouser questioned the commitment

made to All-West.

Chief Deputy County Attorney Matt Gaffney

advised no agreements have been signed

with All-West, but he encouraged the county

to formalize any agreements, no matter what

is decided, to be fair with All-West and minimize

liability, “so we are not stringing them

along.”

Vickrey said he was concerned that remote

residences would be left out of the final service

plan.

Noble advised that anything installed by

Union was up to that company and the county

would no longer have any say about services.

Bousman said the expenses already spent

to consultants and for studies was not wasted.

He said the pressure was needed to motivated

private industry to get moving.

Noble said the county had some proprietary

information from the studies that may

be of value to Union and could be sold to recoup

some of the costs.

“There is still a lot of conversation to be

had in the next two weeks,” Noble said.