Sweetwater County Attorney Offers No Objection To Lawsuit Against County Commissioners.

On January 26, Sweetwater County Attorney Brett Johnson filed an answer to the lawsuit filed by residents seeking to overturn the appointment of Don VanMatre to the Sweetwater County Commission. As expected, Johnson’s answer did not deny the claims set forth in the complaint.

The lawsuit stems from a decision on December 30, 2010 by outgoing Sweetwater County Commissioners Debby Delai-Boese and Randy Walker to appoint Don VanMatre to replace Commissioner Paula Wonnacott, who resigned without notice in the middle of the outgoing commissions final meeting. The decision was officially made 6 minutes and 15 seconds after the letter of resignation from Wonnacott was read by the remaining commissioners and was rendered after little discussion, and no public input. The lawsuit alleges that the appointment was the result of improper and illegal discussions before the official meeting, and that the appointment, according to Wyoming statutes, was illegal and therefore null and void.

Earlier this month, current commissioners decided not to contest the lawsuit, saying that they would let the legal process go forward and accept the courts judgment.

On Monday, a hearing on the lawsuit will be held in the court of Judge Keith G. Kautz of Torrington.

Additionally, Rep. Joe Barbuto (D-H48 SW Fremont/Sweetwater) has sponsored HB0136 (along with cosponsoring Representatives Blake, Craft, Freeman and Jaggi and Senator(s) Cooper, Hastert and Martin) which would clean up the loophole in §18-3-524 that Commissioners Delai-Boese and Walker used to justify their actions. The bill passed the Wyoming House on third reading and now moves on to the Senate.

A copy of the current engrossed version of the bill is here: HB0136 (http://legisweb NULL.state NULL.wy NULL.us/2011/Engross/HB0136 NULL.pdf) PDF, 25 KB

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