GUERNSEY – Last week the town council announced residents are officially receiving water directly from the town’s newly refurbished million-gallon tank, but water restrictions are still in effect until a probe can be replaced.
“It’s only reading the top five feet of water in the tank…Until the probe is installed, we can’t measure how much water is in the tank – we’d just have to sit there and watch it,” said Wes Sterner, representing the public works department. He said the team will install the probe as soon as it arrives, which he estimated could be sometime this week.
“We’re not lifting water restrictions until the probe is in there,” councilwoman Penny Wells confirmed.
Additionally, the water crew is finishing up tying in well no. 3 into the new water system which was installed over the summer.
Town planner / code enforcement
Town planner John Burfeind gave a report for the first two weeks of October. He’s been making plans for streetscape improvements, with phase one being a holiday theme, using plantings already in place, but modifying them with simple things, such as an upside-down tomato cage to decorate as Christmas tree, “or something along those lines.”
Burfeind also said he’s working on updated zoning maps with better lines “so the public knows what’s going on and where, and communication is improved.”
He is also working with the parks and recreation for improvements to the Register Cliff area for increased tourism and improved amenities, and a feasibility study is being conducted to possibly put in a park on the other side of Highway 26 where there are some lots for sale. “We’re doing a study to see what could work or if it would benefit the town,” he said.
Burfeind reported the south bridge “bump” repair was completed by the town utilizing Oftedahl Construction, in cooperation with Camp Guernsey, who contributed half the repair costs. Repairs on Nebraska Street have started and are progressing quickly.
Burfeind said he is working with the police chief for plans for Treat Street celebration on Halloween, Oct. 31. There are plans being made to have police lights at each end of Highway 26 to alert people to pedestrian traffic, and arrangements are being made for people to serve as crossing guards.
The planning department is reviewing land use for future plans of residential developments of empty lots, and working on an airport feasibility study and the possible purchase or land swap of a parcel owned by the national guard. A town meeting was announced for Tuesday, Oct. 22 at town hall to hear the people’s thoughts on an airport upgrade, trade, or the opportunity to purchase developable land.
As code enforcement officer, Burfeind reported in the first two weeks of October, he conducted 31 inspections, and cited seven violations. Six were residential; one was commercial. Most of the violations were for weeds over 12 inches high, two nuisance complaints were for roosters inside city limits. Each of these issues were resolved.

“We’re working together as a community to get this stuff handled,” Burfeind said.
While there were no permits filed for building inspections, Burfeind has had discussions with Kevin Lockman with The Lunchbox, which he invited Lockman to speak to the council about.
Lockman told the council he applied two and a half years ago for a building permit, which was passed by the planning and zoning board after three months of back-and-forth. “Finally you got Chuck Porter (as town planner) and I got the thing approved, paid my fees, but never got a hand-written permit to put in the window [to be able to start on construction],” Lockman said. “I paid my fees and paid my $75 permit to live over there because I thought I was going to be in a hurry. So, I’m to the point where I just want my fee back, at least my $400-some fee. I’ll pour my patio back there, and the structure I was going to build will be somewhere else. You guys took two and a half years, so I might as well get my money back. It’s the right thing to do.”
In discussion, councilwoman Wells said she wasn’t clear what was done under Porter’s supervision. She asked if Burfeind found anything in the notes; he said he found a continuance for the permit in question, and saw the planning and zoning approval, but didn’t see anything in the logbook for the fee, though “there is a vacant spot that says ‘continuance.’”
Town treasurer Hillary Dawson said she would find the record of payment in the town’s records.
Burfeind additionally said he has been conducting ongoing inspections and residential inspections to make sure things are up to state code, and the planning office records are up to date, so in situations with challenges like Lockman’s added to the mix, if people have questions, they are able to find the answers.
Burfeind ended his report with a request for the council to host a community meeting, “so people could know what’s going on and get things out in the air, so they don’t go home bitter. It’s a good forum just to talk and address the council, mayor, or each department and figure it out.”
Camp Guernsey
Camp Guernsey base operations manager Lt. Col. LaQuendin Counts told the council there will be 20 units with around 2,000 soldiers coming through the town to utilize the training camp through the first week of November.
Lt. Col. Counts said, as things slow down at the camp seasonally, they will focus on how they can improve their wildland fire capability. There are potential resources the camp will be pursuing to bring more wildland firefighters on board, and there will be some meetings and trainings to look at procedures and takeaways from what has been learned this season while fighting fires both on and off camp.
The camp is distributing fliers to the local school in coordination with the school safety program.
A ribbon cutting for another barracks building was announced for 1:30 p.m. on November 13.
Public Comments
In public comments, the issue of water meter billing was brought up again by Brad and Stacia Cook, as they are still concerned they are being overbilled for water. They stated they don’t believe the number of gallons of water they are being charged is accurate. They also made sure to thank the council for crediting them back for billing them for water on one of their properties on Burlington Street, but wondered why they are being charged for sewer when it isn’t being used.
Mayor Delgado said there is an automatic sewer charge because the property is connected to the sewer lines.
Councilmembers Dale Harris and Wells saying the town can look at their meters and bills as a comparison to see if there are anything unusual.
“I know I’m over [the standard amount] because I choose to water – you can look at my bill to compare,” Wells said.
Additionally, the town again re-affirmed, the one cent over the dollar amount in the billing which was raised as a question in a council meeting over a month ago is not an error: the program which is use to calculate the cost cannot charge for a portion of a cent in the bill, so it rounds up to the next cent. Dawson said the conversions from the meter reader to billing program were correct, and Mayor Delgado re-affirmed maintenance supervisor Mike Fronapfel personally checked the meter and its measurement of flow rates and didn’t find any errors.
The council and Wyoming Business Council gathered at the senior center and library last Thursday for a walk-through of the area proposed for expansion through grant funding.
Mayor Delgado announced the VFW is planning all-day activities for Veteran’s Day on Nov. 11, with a program at the school in the morning, and a soup meal in the evening which will be open to the public and free of charge.
The council adjourned into executive session after a short break.
The next regular meeting of Guernsey Town Council will be at 6 p.m. on election day, Nov. 5, at town hall.