ROCK SPRINGS — In an effort to minimize spreading the COVID-19 virus, Rock Springs Mayor Tim Kaumo announced the formation of a unified task force made up of members from Rock Springs, Green River and the county at tonight’s city council meeting.
Mayor Kaumo expanded on the statement he shared to his Facebook page over the weekend in opening tonight’s meeting. The task force will gather and share information about the current state of affairs related to the coronavirus in our communities.
“As you can imagine there is a swamp of information coming out of every aspect of the coronavirus pandemic, and wading through it all is a challenge at best. To that end, we have implemented a process to establish a unified command with representatives of the two cities and the county to gather information, verify information and also prepare briefings to be presented to public officials and then disseminated to the public as well.”
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Kaumo said he believed this process will result in the ability to keep elected officials, residents and people passing through Sweetwater County better informed about the coronavirus pandemic. Elected officials will be briefed at least two times a day with the information gathered by the task force.
Once the information is shared with elected officials, it will be disseminated to residents and visitors through a website currently under construction by the city, and a 311 call line with a prerecorded version of the same briefing, Kaumo said. People with questions about the virus can call their health provider or Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County’s COVID-19 triage line at 307-522-8523.
Task Force Members
Sweetwater County Sheriff Deputy Rich Bishop will be the operations chief for the task force. He will be responsible for establishing workgroups to gather information about specific aspects of the community like local businesses, schools, healthcare providers, etc.
Deputy Fire Warden T.J. Hunt will serve as the plan section chief and will help establish an incident operations plan to “keep us moving forward with an eye on the next operational period,” Kaumo continued.
Meetings will be held at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. every day, and Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Public Information Officer Jason Mower will be the primary source of sharing all the reports of the combined public information resources.
The following individuals will also serve the unified task force:
Rock Springs Primary Contact – Rock Springs Fire Chief Jim Wamsley
Deputy Assistant Chief – Rock Springs Chief of Police Dwane Pacheco
Green River Primary Contact – GR Chief of Police Tom Jarvie
Deputy Assistant Chief – Green River Firefighter Larry Erdman
Sweetwater County Primary Contact – Sheriff John Grossnickle
Deputy Assistant Chief – Sheriff’s Lieutenant Joe Tomich
Kaumo also extended his office to the public to ask any questions. He can be contacted at 307-352-1510. He also asked the public to avoid hoarding food at local grocery stores.
“We are one community, and we need to show our compassion during times like this,” Kaumo said. “We should consider the needs of others and not just ourselves.”
Information about individuals buying large amounts of food only to sell it back at a higher cost “is concerning and won’t be tolerated,” Kaumo added. He said we are not in panic mode, and people should go about shopping in their normal fashion.
At the end of the statement, Kaumo encouraged residents to continue supporting local businesses and take the necessary precautions suggested by local, state and federal healthcare officials to prevent spreading the disease.
The council chambers consisted of only 15 people per Mayor Kaumo’s direction about large gatherings in public places. Councilman Tim Savage was not present at the meeting.
Watch the meeting here:
