Unofficial Minutes 

NEWCASTLE CITY COUNCIL

CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS

UNOFFICIAL MINUTES

Monday, October 19, 2026

Mayor Tyrel Owens called this regular meeting of the Newcastle City Council to order at 7:00 p.m. Present were Council members John Butts, Daren Downs, Chris Kenney, Ann McColley, and Don Steveson. Also, present were Public Works Supervisor Greg Stumpff, Engineer Steven Dietrich, Police Chief Derek Thompson, Attorney Dublin Hughes and Clerk/Treasurer Stacy Haggerty. Thomas Voss attended via phone. 

APPROVAL OF AGENDA: Chris Kenney moved; Ann McColley seconded, to approve the agenda. Motion carried.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Daren Downs moved; Don Steveson seconded, to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of Monday, October 5, 2026. Motion carried. 

NOMINATION FOR RECOGNITION: None

CERTIFICATES OF RECOGNITION: Kaffee Klatsch, Pizza Barn and Gateway Travel Center for their support of Veterans and the Moving Wall.

CITIZEN’S BUSINESS VERBAL: None

CITIZEN’S BUSINESS IN WRITING: None

OLD BUSINESS:

•Independent Contractor Agreement with Wyoming Association of Municipalities. There was discussion about audits, projects, and additional travel cost of the Independent Contractor along with corrections that need to be made to agreement which included page numbering and reference to Lander. Thomas Voss moved; Don Steveson seconded to approve the Independent Contractor Agreement with proposed corrections. Motion Carried.

NEW BUSINESS:

•Mayor Owens referenced the WC Emergency Management Long Term Power Outage Emergency Response Plan. Councilman Steveson had sent his recommendations to Mr. Nelson. There was discussion about fuel supply. Mayor Owens asked for an update after the next LEPC meeting. 

•Mayor Owens referenced Pinnacle Bank’s application for Deposit of Public Funds. Don Steveson moved; Chris Kenney seconded to approve the application. Motion carried. 

COMMITTEE/COUNCIL MEMBER REPORTS: 

•Mayor Owens reported on a meeting with Eric Barlow where they discussed Mrs. Barlow’s vision for the state.

•Mayor Owens reported on a meeting with Marcia Romano regarding community volunteerism and the Boy’s and Girl’s Club project.

•Mayor Owens reported on an Economic Development meeting where they discussed several proposed business ideas for community growth.  

DEPARTMENT HEAD REPORTS:

•Fire Chief Chris Kenney gave the 3rd quarter report for the Volunteer Fire Department and reported on the following: membership, training and department readiness, pre-incident plans, facility maintenance, annual equipment testing, community events.  Chief Kenney also gave the response summary which included 54 entries across the reporting period. 

•Police Chief Derek Thompson reported on calls of service between October 2nd – October 16th, NPD 161 with 1 arrest, and 1 criminal citation, WCSO 105, UPD 61, NVFD 6, WCFP 4, UVFD 2, Newcastle Ambulance 23, Upton Ambulance 5, he provided a handout for the breakdown of NPD calls. There was nothing to report on the Joint Powers Board. There was an inquiry about staff; there are 4 officers and 1 in training. Chief Thompson noted that citations seem to be down due to more in-depth investigations at this time.   

•Attorney Dublin Hughes inquired the possibility of sending duplicate utility bills to landlords; this had been discussed at a prior meeting when Mr. Hughes was absent and will be implemented in the recodification. He then reported that there had been a meeting with law enforcement and legal counsel from both Weston and Crook Counties regarding gambling practices.

•Clerk/Treasurer Stacy Haggerty referenced a letter from the Department of Audit, and a drafted response and the actions taken to correct audit findings. Thomas Voss moved; Ann McColley seconded to sign and send the response. Motion carried. She then asked if there were any questions on the financial reports provided; there were none. 

•Public Works Supervisor Greg Stumpff referred to Beth Blackwell for her quarterly report. She reported on the following: Submitted applications which included 1 loan and 6 grant applications; Applications currently being worked on are, Lead Service Line Funding, EV Charging Stations, Frontier Addition project and Landfill #2; Other Projects and Tasks included Countywide Consensus, Statewide Housing Acceleration Program and Investment Policy. Supervisor Stumpff referenced the donation of sick leave in the Personnel Policy and recommended changing the current policy to add: “or provide care for the employee’s spouse, dependent child, or elderly parent who is experiencing a serious health condition, illness, injury, or medical treatment. Donated sick leave may not be used to care for family members unless specifically authorized by City policy.” John Butts moved; Chris Kenney seconded to approve of recommended changes. There was discussion regarding the last sentence. John Butts amended his motion to strike the last sentence; Chris Kenney seconded. Motion carried. A $23,450.00 quote for garbage can lid replacement was provided. Chris Kenney moved; Ann McColley seconded to purchase the lids. Discussion was had regarding budget. Motion carried. The Railroad Street Contractor Agreement and Retainage Joint Account Agreement were presented. Thomas Voss moved; John Butts seconded to sign the Contractor Agreement. There was discussion about time allowed to read through the agreements, section 2.01 of Article 2 for the project, references to Gillette Standards, reference to litigation being held in Campbell County and the need to include the Retainage Agreement in the motion. Thomas Voss amended his motion to include the Retainage Agreement; John Butts seconded. Motion carried. Supervisor Stumpff stated that the WyDOT-TAP Funding had been approved and recommended wet signatures with Mayor Owens being the signatory with Clerk/Treasurer Haggerty notarizing documents. Don Steveson moved; Johns Butts seconded to wet sign the documents for the FY 2025 S. Summit Pathway project design. Motion carried. He then reported on the following: Landfill #1 Remediation project fence, Landfill #2 cease and transfer and watermain leaks. Inquiries were made about budget funds to paint the council chambers and the MOU with Upton for Unmet Housing.

•Engineer Steven Dietrich referenced his report, 10 new active residential construction projects and 2 active commercial projects; Total construction cost of $144,297.34 and $2,025.46 in permit fees were collected between October 5th – October 18th. He reported that the Planning & Zoning board recommended Mark Williams for the vacant seat on board. Chris Kenney moved; Ann McColley seconded to approve this recommendation. Motion carried. Mr. Dietrich reported that a proposal for historical signs had been presented at the Planning and Zoning meeting; the location of the signs would be on private property located at 325 W. Main Street; the signs would be out of the WyDOT right-of-way and historical signs are exempt, in Section 10 of the zoning code. 

Councilman Kenney recused himself. Thomas Voss moved; Ann McColley seconded to pay the claims against the City dated October 21, 2026. Motion carried.

ADJOURNMENT: Don Steveson moved; Daren Downs seconded to adjourn the regular meeting of the Newcastle City Council at 8:51 p.m. Meeting adjourned. 

Claims: 21 Electric, services, $5,032.90; Aced Embroidery, services, $506.00; Ad-Pro, supplies, $51.60; Black Hills Energy, services, $14,580.29; Decker’s Market, supplies, $19.18; DiscountCell, adapter/antenna, $1,168.20; Energy Labs, services, $152.00; Engineering Assoc., services, $320.52; Farnsworth Services, haul services, $2,500.00; Fisher Sand, gravel, $2,275.13; Gateway Travel, fuel, $8,570.71; Marchant Resources, services, $500.00; Marco, plotter/copier/AdobePro,  fees, $2039.22; Morrison Maierle, services, $12,394.07; Mountain View, services, $406.00; Newcastle Equipment, repairs, $708.65; Newcastle Volunteer Fire Dept., training/supplies, $1,753.61; One Call, services, $191.10; Carrie Peterson, mileage, $335.92; Range, phone/internet, $1,315.00; Servall, services, $54.36; Short Stop, fuel, $1,175.78; Summit Plumbing, services, $293.86; Lucky Teigen-Grummons, FD lawncare, $800.00; Uline, supplies, $775.85; USA Bluebook, supplies, $565.69; Becky Vodopich, cleaning, $300.00; WC Health Services, preemployment screen, $50.00; Woody’s, supplies, $140.10; Wy. Apparatus, annual inspections, $4,585.50; Wy. Office of State Lands and Investments, JPA loans/DW271 interest, $132,283.32 

ATTEST:

Mayor Tyrel Owens

Clerk/Treasurer Stacy Haggerty

(Publish October 29, 2026)