Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 3

star Casper Area Saturday, Jan. 4, 1 986 Star-Tribune, Casper, Wyo A3 Report renews call for county centralization 4 Also blames state law for blocking efficiency efforts Casper in brief would be required in a 1980s business operation," the report says. In order to use tax dollars better and still stay within the law, the study urges elected officials to turn over their purchasing, personnel, payroll and selected other functions to Rowlands or whomever he hires to take on the tasks. Because elected officials "are not required by statute to recognize this central authority," Rowlands' position "requires t.he ability to manage with rust relationships must be developed with elected officials because lines of authority cannot be dictated," the report says. "I would ask Ihe rhetorical question, why wouldn't they want to cooperate and make the county-more Volk said Friday.

"You have to have their cooperation, but right now, '(other elected officials) are in no frame of mind to give ii to you." Volk said the efficiency question will be a campaign issue during couniy elections. report says. Elected officers offered little support to a recent commission plan to hire purchasing, personnel and investment officers, claiming they were well-suited to perform those functions themselves. Commission Chairman Art Volk killed the plan last month, just before a stale attorney general's opinion said the proposal probably violated slate laws restricting the powers of the commission. But the report renews the call for personnel and investment offices and calls upon the county administrator to act as purchasing agent for the county.

The county "has no consistency or continuity" in ils pay schedules, job descriptions or performance reviews, the audit says. A personnel office under the direction of the county administrator would tighten up loose personnel practices, the audit says. v-- ART VOI Success depends on cooperation changed since 1910. I he County cannot afford to ignore operations that are inefficient and which utilize more taxpavers' money lhan By JEFF 1HOMAS Star-Tribune stuff writer CASPER A study of Natrona County's organization recommends the government install purchasing, personnel and investment functions, but sidesteps I he-obstacles that earlier forced the County Commission to scrap a similar plan. The report, issued by the accounting firm McCiladrey, Hcn-drickson Pullcn and released by the county Friday, blames outdated slate laws that prohibit sweeping reform by the for some of the county's "inefficiencies." The report says much of what is needed to increase efficiency could be directed by the county administrator, a non-elective position held by Dick Rowlands.

But the success of any centralized function relies on the cooperation of elected officials, the 1 Y' Beware i fc rrjm Wallop sponsors oil import tax measure Sl.ll I nhiine Kill Alter overtaking a tree near Mariposa Boulevard and establishing a stronghold, Rory Nugent and Ryan Stewart keep an eve peeled for trespassers. A full-lime "investment analyst" is needed as well, the report says, but offers no evidence to back up I ho claim The position should be under the county administrator but "assigned" to the treasurer to avoid legal dispute, the study says. Other suggestions include merging the "financial functions" of the treasurer, county clerk and county administrator to more closely resemble centralized accounting practices found in the private sector. The administrator acts as accountant, the clerk as disbursing agent and the treasurer as cashier and investor under the current system. The audit concedes politics may stand in the way of a more centralized system and points to stale laws passed in 1910 lhat govern counties, which impede efficiency.

"The operations of he ounty, the budgets, the number of employees and technology has 5 Lvte; ir 1985 was January, with an average temperature of 16.1 degrees 6 degrees below the normal January lemperaiure. February was ilie second coldest on record in Casper, with an average lemperaiure of 19.7 degrees, figures show. The warmest month in Casper was July, which had a higher-than-normal average temperature of 7 1 .6 degrees. In all, eight months registered 1 -1 a a I a a temperatures while March. April, May and July all had higher-1 a a I average tempera tu res.

Coinciding with record low temperatures, the snowfall for the year was 101 inches, 22 inches above normal, according to the weather service. of smoky changes reation vehicles. A clause in I he bill would require off-road vehicles such as dirt bikes to be properly equipped when traveling on public roads. The Legislature also is being asked to improve public safely by requiring drivers 10 slop at the sight of a school bus's flashing red lights even if the bus is off the roadway. The cautious driver would stop anyway even if there were no new amendment to existing law.

But the Legislature wants everyone to be a cautious driver. Legislators also will debate the sensitive issue of smoking in public. The Wyoming Clean Indoor Air Act proposed by Sen. Frank Dusl, R-Fremont, would prohibit smoking in public places. However, the bill contains so many exceptions smokers will still have a public place to puff in peace.

1985 goes down as coldest year on record in Wyoming By CAROL HI ON A Tribune stuff riter CASPER Wyoming Sen. Malcolm Wallop has learned with a Tevas Democrat to sponsor a bill intended to shore up the I oil industry in a time of falling oil prices. The bill, co-sponsored bv Sen. Lloyd Bent sen, sets up a designated floor price below which the price of imported crude oil would not be allowed to fall. The floor price, which Wallop terms the "energy policy would be maintained with an excise lav that floats with the world price of oil, according to a new's release from Wallop's office.

But a longtime independent oilman in Casper savs benefits from such a lax would be only temporary because it probably would result in enactment of a counteractive tax on domestic production, so consumers would not be forced to bear the entire burden of the import tax. Bill sponsors will not designate the energy policy price until after Wallop has held hearings in the Senate Finance Subconiitlee on Energy and Agricultural Taxation, which he chairs. allop press aide Stan Cannon said. The excise tax also might apply to refined petroleum products such as gasoline and diesel fuels but hill sponsors will not decide whether to include such products in the bill until they have taken tes-timonv on ihe idea in hearings. Cannon said.

MALCOLM WALLOP Will hold hcurinus soon 1 m. a UW-Casper review to be released this month CASPER A performance review of University of Wyoming-Casper will not be released until the end of January, according to a UVV spokesman. The study, which had an expected release date in early December, is a review of the UW-Casper program thai includes interviews with students and faculty conducted in September. A nine-member panel then made recommendations based on the data. Although a preliminary report is eom'plefe, the panel needs to meet to correct any errors found in the report, according to' a spokesman for UW Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs Joan Wadlow.

Review board member Allan Skitlman, dean of faculty at Casper College, said the review is a "serious" one involving recommendations by people not associated with the UW program. The review is the first for UW-Casper since its establishment in 1976. Channel 20 programs go off air to move CASPER KXWY, Channel 20 will go off the air for two days while it moves to a new facility at 1856 Skyview Circle in Casper. The station's programming will be interrupted between 9 a.m. today and 7 a.m.

Monday. The station was located at 7020 Salt Creek Hiway. Headlamps stolen from parked truck CASPER A pair of headlamps worth $120 were taken Wednesday or Thursday from a maintenance vehicle at Quail Run Apartments, 3840 E. 15th according to a police report. The lights were stolen from a 1979 GMC pickup truck used in grounds maintenance work at the apartment complex, police said.

The theft occurrred between 4:30 a.m. Wednesday and 7 a.m. Thursday, according to a police report. Burglars ransack tire company office CASPER Burglars broke into King Tire Co. during the New Year holiday and ransacked an office, but employees are unsure if anything was taken, according to police.

Someone pried open a window to get into the building at 601 E. Second, police said. The break-in occurred between 5:30 p.m. Tuesday and 8 a.m. Thursday, according to a police report.

There are no suspects. Motorcycle stolen from area home CASPER A Suzuki dirt bike was stolen Wednesday morning by thieves who removed the $2,000 motorcycle from property at 4260 Cactus according to Natrona County sheriff's deputies. Michael Ware told deputies the cycle was taken from outside his residence sometime between 3 am and 10 a.m. Wednesday. By KENDRA ENSOR Star-Tribune staff writer CASPER Although the year ended with springlike weather, 1985 was the coldest year on record for Casper, according to the National-Weather Service.

The average temperature in 1985 was 42.5 degrees, nearly 3 degrees below I normal yearly lemperaiure, National Weather Service Meteorologist John Car-rico said Friday. The normal, average yearly temperature for Casper is 45.3 degrees, Carrico said. Extremely low, record-breaking temperaiures in November and the beginning of December were major factors in driving Casper's average temperature for 1985 below "I am not vet convinced that an energy excise lax is the only, or even appropriate, course lor implementation of sound energy policy." Wallop said in the release. "I am certain, however, that we must look at all policv implications of collapsing oil prices." Casper oilman Warren Morton said benefits of the tax to domestic oil producers will be "vers tem-porarv" because "politics being what it is, the same tariff would probably be applied to domestic production." Passage of the bill likely would spur consumer groups to seek a windfall profit tax on domestic production "so the domestic producer would not gel all the benefits (of the tax) at the expense of the consumer," Morion said. Cannon said Wallop will consider taxing refined products 'because "Rocky Mountain refineries are closing down and we're very concerned about Since i981.

eight smaller Wyoming refineries have closed, leaving onlv six larger refineries the state. Wyoming's refining capacity fell from 231.580 barrels in 198! to 172.005 in 1985, according to ihe American Petroleum Institute. The Independent Refiners Coalition, a lobbv group tor-domestic refiners, savs imports of foreign gov er men I -supported gasoline and other products have reduced U.S. refining capacity. which could threaten national s- entity in the eveni foreign sources are disrupied.

But the managers of Caspef'x two refineries say foreign imports' have very little impact on Wyoming refiners, because most pro-duels refined here' are sold in Rocky Mountain slates and do not compete vviih products imported to the country through the Ciulf of Mexico or the Easi Coast. Amoco refinery Manager John Stanhope and I iltle America refinery Manager Don Si new said closure of the eight Wyoming refineries since 19S1 was due to declining demand. 10 ihe repeal several years ago of government regulations lhat had helped small refineries, and to falling oil prices. An import tax on refined products would help Fast Coast and Ciulf Coast refiners. Stanhope said, bul probably noi refiners in Wyoming.

Sen. Al Simpson has noi decided vvheihcr lo support Wallop's proposal, a spokesmen for the senator said. 1 he station employs about 33 to 35 full-lime people, Malsom said. He said some of the positions have been eliminated, and that Price will handle Malsom's duties himself. Over the last five years, Malsom said, operational costs al the station have increased but volume sales have slaved Hal.

"We're just caught up in the times," he said. Malsom said his understanding of the situation is that the people involved had "outlived" their positions with the pay they were receiving- for those positions. Those employees had worked at the station between 10 2( years, he said. Prefiled bills seek end public air, seasonal time November 1985 was the coldest on record for Casper, vviih an average temperature of 20.3 degrees more than 12 degrees below the normal November lemperaiure. It was also the second coldesi November on record for the state.

Although December had three days of 40 degree temperaiures, extreme cold at the beginning of the month dropped December's average temperature below normal, Carrico said. There were three new record low temperaiures set in December, including a temperature of minus 23 degrees on Dec. I. The early part of 1985 also registered record low temperatures, according to weather service figures. Overall, the coldesi month of one is considered a journeyman if he has worked for four years and has passed the slate electrician's examination.

A master electrician under Maldonado's bill would have to have worked for eight-years in the business. Worrying about "springing ahead" and "falling behind" would be needless under Rep. Scott Ratliff's proposal to do away with seasonal time changes. The bill penned by the Fremont County Democrat stales that, "Standard time in Wyoming shall be commonly known as Mountain Daylight Time." In other words, Ratliff proposes that Wyoming stay on Daylight Savings Time all year. Under the bill, when most everyone else in the United States switches back to Standard Time, Wyoming would keep on ticking to its own clock, set on Mountain Daylight Time.

Legislators also will consider a wide-ranging bill to regulate rec KTWO fires four employees CHEYENNE (AP) Among the dozens of bills prefiled for the upcoming legislative session are proposals that would clear the air in public places, outlaw seasonal time changes, and detail what it -takes to become a master electrician. The 20-day session that begins Feb. 17 is devoted primarily to the budget for the next biennium, and work also needs to be done on the state's insurance crisis and the outdated worker's compensation laws. If any time remains after those issues have been dealt with the legislators can turn to less significant matters such as the difference between a "journeyman" electrician and a "master" electrician. Rep.

Carl Maldonado, a Sweetwater County Democrat, sets down in his proposed legislation licensing standards for electricians. The proposal specifies that CASPER Local television station KTWO-C'hannel 2 fired four middle- and upper-level managers on New Year's Eve. The terminations, according to former sales manager Pie Malsom, were prompted by "pure economics." Malsom said he was "shocked" al losing his job after 23 years ith the station. Station Manager Bob Price said "information regarding our personnel is of a proprietary nature," and would not comment. Price did, however, confirm the four positions eliminated were those of program producer Ken Martin, director of engineering Stephen Broomell, ad salesman Richard Freeh, and Malsom.

ID.