Town Council Brief: March 2025

Jeni DeSmith from Senior Services address Town Council, February 19, 2025.

The Town of Glendo held their monthly council meeting on February 19. Heather Schoning was Mayor Pro Tempore, Mayor Susan Juschka was out sick. Kelsey Crabtree reported that Mayor Juschka apologized for missing the meeting and mentioned that this was only her second missed one.

Schoning mentioned the ice fishing accident at the lake, “I would like to thank all of the emergency volunteers who helped with the horrible tragedy [lake accident] this week.” 

Commissioners Report: Jeston Cundall reported on the roads, “There will be some spots that need some work this Spring.” Kelly Jones had to reschedule the GIS meeting. They are still working on getting the cemetery map digitized and all of the information compiled. Heather Schoning reported the town received the final master water plan. They have forwarded it on for potential grant opportunities. There was a problem of black water at the school. The town tested the water on their side and the problem isn’t stemming from there. “It is up to the school to replace the boiler, it was nothing to do with the town.” 

Old Business: Schoning reported on the community center. They have had both Bullfrogs property and the towns property surveyed and staked.  The asbestos testing was done and two tests came back as positive for asbestos, the front facade in the stucco (this sample was sent on for further testing), several old windows are glazed which has asbestos in it. Precautions will be made to dispose of these and Schoning is getting a bid. They were denied the Wyoming Enterprise grant but we have been encouraged to put this in again in March. The committee will get together for a workshop to go through the building and to see what can be salvaged. 

There was a letter of concern written about the town’s resolution with the Wilson campground and people camping on the county side of the line. After discussion it was determined that it is a county problem and as of right now the town has been provided a list of tenants. Wilson has until 2026 to complete his project. 

In regards to the old hotel.  The owner has been given the court papers and the letter from Eric stating that she is not supposed to do work on or enter the building. The court date for this matter is scheduled for July 28 at 9:30 A.M. Visionary has brought some gravel and they were supposed to work on another house in town. But at the time of the meeting both Crabtree and Eller hadn’t heard if the work had been done. Both Eller and Crabtree mentioned the turnover Visionary has had. 

New Business: A motion was made to open three different accounts with Platte Valley Bank. One for benevolent fund, economic development, and one for building and permanent infrastructure account. A motion was made to open up three credit cards with Platte Valley Bank for the users Susan Juschka, Steve Eller, and Kelsey Crabtree as authorized users. Council tabled the discussion of phone lines due to more research being done. Jackie and Jim Bohannon will not be sponsoring the fourth of July fireworks this year.  If there is another business who would like to take it over or if Glendo’s Events and Tourism would want to take it. The financial commitment is around $5,000. Volunteers stand at the gates with coffee cans for donations and to hand out garbage bags for pick up.

Services for Seniors (SFS) Director, Jeni DeSmith talked about the recent changes. At the request of the SFS Board, CALC, Community Action of Laramie County, came to help financially. SFS was in debt around $80,000 when CALC came on board. They did a deep analysis and it showed that in 2012 there was a surplus of around $200,000 and starting in 2017 or 2018 deficits incurred ranging from $4,000 to $80,000. CALC has paid $175,000 in their own money to help SFS. CALC has also helped fix some of the grant issues SFS was experiencing. The contract with CALC states that they could take up to 15% of SFS admin budget as repayment. CALC has waived that for right now. 

New information concerning meals: The Registered Dietitian told SFS they weren’t supposed to be serving desserts and that is why they were taken off the menu. The banks still do a monthly meal. This is a free meal for the seniors. It costs about $1000 to feed everyone for the day. DeSmith has been going around asking businesses but she has only asked in Wheatland so far. 

New information concerning hours of staff: “It’s hard to justify a full-time employee with only about 15 meals, and we could no longer pay for delivery drivers.” DeSmith stated that none of the Meals on Wheels programs pay their drivers, “That is why we are asking the volunteers to help deliver meals.” Schoning asked, “Is there a delivery driver in Wheatland and Guernsey?” DeSmith answered that the maintenance man in Wheatland helps with delivering meals and the transportation person in Guernsey will help if she has time. Otherwise they rely on volunteers. 

Schoning asked, “If our numbers increase would you then put our cook back to being full time?” DeSmith said that would be a good reason to justify having a full time cook. When asked what the numbers would have to be DeSmith admitted that she did not know but that she would find out. The number of twenty meals was suggested but DeSmith still needed to look into it. 

In regards to a CNA doing toenails, DeSmith said she had talked to the RN and if there was enough interest they would schedule a day here in Glendo. DeSmith talked about liking to see more suggestions for what people wanted to see for services and the meals. “It seems like looking at the menu, it’s the same stuff all the time,” she said. “Guernsey just, sent me a meal suggestion list I’m gonna send it to Theresa to get it posted.” DeSmith ended with saying that she would try to schedule a meeting at the senior center to answer more questions and hopefully have more information for everyone.

Next Town Council meeting will be March 12 at 6:00 PM.