SWEETWATER COUNTY – Superior’s mayor is voicing issues he has with the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office, but the sheriff’s office says there is more to the story than Mayor Dominic Wolf told the Sweetwater County commissioners.

“We’ve never had cooperation by the sheriff – I hate to say it,” Wolf told the commissioners Tuesday. “This is probably the worst I’ve ever been treated as far as my seven years in being a political official,” he said.

“You’re only hearing one side of the story and to be quite blunt, the Town of Superior not getting its way is not the sheriff’s office not doing its job,” Jason Mower, the public information officer for the sheriff’s office said.

Wolf spoke to the Sweetwater County commissioners during their meeting to voice frustrations he has experienced working with the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office and Sheriff John Grossnickle, and sought their help in persuading Grossnickle to work with him and other small towns. Wolf also was critical of the attention spent in Rock Springs and Green River as both cities have their own police forces, whereas the smaller towns don’t provide their own law enforcement services.

The commissioners don’t exercise oversight over Grossnickle or the sheriff’s office’s operations as the Sweetwater County Sheriff position is a political position voted on every four years. The next election involving the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office takes place in 2026.

Wolf said he has attempted to meet with Grossnickle and his office several times, saying those requests were never responded to. He said a meeting was granted, but Grossnickle sent a lieutenant to meet with him, saying the unnamed lieutenant said things he “didn’t like at all” and was unsatisfied with the meeting. Mower said Wolf is not citing two other meetings that took place between himself and Grossnickle in the past year. He said the sheriff’s office and the mayor arrived at an impasse when it came to what the sheriff’s office legally can provide and what Mower described as unrealistic expectations from Wolf.

Wolf said one of the main things he sought was a deputy to serve in the town court, saying Superior intends to host a municipal court to help mitigate some issues the town has. He said the lieutenant said they couldn’t do something like that without a memorandum of understanding (MOU) or letter of understanding (LOU) between the sheriff’s office and town and after a situation where the judge or courtroom was in danger. He said the town is 35 minutes away from the sheriff’s offices and the town’s residents would already be scattered and policing each other.

“On the safety issue on that, I cannot believe that the sheriff or the lieutenant said that to me,” Wolf said. “He said if basically we wanted protection too, we would have to drop out of being incorporated and be like Farson and Reliance.”

Mower said the sheriff’s office can’t statutorily provide a deputy to serve as a bailiff for a municipal court, nor can deputies enforce the town’s ordinances like zoning regulations — both of which are services Mower said Wolf sought from the sheriff’s office. Mower said Wolf didn’t like Grossnickle’s response and the possible costs to the town for it to provide those services on its own, which led to the impasse between the town and sheriff’s office. Mower said the sheriff’s office can only provide for the security of the county’s circuit and district courts.

Wolf said Commissioner Robb Slaughter helped arrange a meeting between Wolf and Grossnickle, but said the sheriff did not want to meet with him and provided the commissioners with copies of emails between himself and Grossnickle. Wolf said he spoke with elected officials in the county’s other small towns and was told they had similar issues with the sheriff’s office.

“All us small towns are asking for police presence, that’s it. Not a sheriff to come in and stay in our town,” he said.

He said following the prior meeting, a deputy was sent out and would park at different locations in Superior, which Wolf said he wanted to see, but that ended about a week and a half later. Wolf guessed that having deputies patrol Rock Springs, Green River and “the highway” helps get Grossnickle elected because the two cities are where most county voters reside. Wolf also spoke of an incident where he claimed a town resident told him the sheriff’s office never responds to calls in Superior after that resident had an alleged burglary at their home. Wolf described Grossnickle as a lame duck who won’t do anything over the next year, and asked if the small towns could have access to industrial siting impact funds to provide for their own law enforcement. 

Mower pushed back against these claims, saying the sheriff’s office routinely patrols in the communities outside of Green River and Rock Springs, though those patrols are dependent on call volume and staffing. Mower said the sheriff’s office is down by 33% for trained patrol deputies, but that shortfall is temporary as the office has hired deputies to full those roles, with those recruits being in different stages of training. Citing the alleged break-in, Mower said there’s no evidence that the event happened or that the sheriff’s office failed to respond. Mower said if that did occur, there is a transparent reporting process a resident can use to file a complaint, which he said hasn’t happened.

“We take exception to the vague example given of an alleged break-in,” Mower said.

Mower said the SCSO responded to 183 calls to the town and the surrounding area in the past year.

Wolf is a member of the Wyoming Association of Municipalities and represents Region 6, which covers southwest Wyoming from Granger to Medicine Bow. Wolf represents the area with Green River Mayor Pete Rust and Saratoga Mayor Chuck Davis. Wolf said similar issues are being faced by smaller towns in Wyoming and wants to address the issue throughout the state. 

He wants to see law enforcement coverage in Superior and other small towns, saying increased drug issues within the county are a concern. He also asks what a small town can do to address those issues because he hasn’t had input from the sheriff’s office.

“What are we supposed to do?” he asked. “Where is our emergency management at that point? Do we renegotiate our emergency management so us mayors can take on different situations?”

Wolf credits his volunteer public safety director Ozzie Knezovich with helping him with the request. Knezovich also spoke before the commissioners, criticizing Grossnickle for his actions and the department not having representation on the Wyoming Department of Criminal Investigation’s Southwest Wyoming Drug Task Force.

Mower said Knezovich’s claims are false, saying the sheriff’s office is active in drug-related investigations and partners with other law enforcement agencies within the county. He said the office lost the employee qualified to work on DCI’s drug task force, but said the sheriff and DCI reached an agreement to open the position to a Green River Police Department officer who met the qualifications. He also said the office has beefed up its K9 unit and has stepped up enforcement on Interstate 80 as part of its efforts to fight drug trafficking throughout the county.

Chairman Keaton West said it isn’t the commissioners’ place to direct the sheriff despite it having budgetary authority over the sheriff’s office. West said he spoke with Grossnickle and said the county doesn’t have a drug team and was aware of one issue related to that. West also asked for call log data which showed there were 100 calls for service from the Superior area this year. West also asked if Wolf seeks a long term solution for law enforcement in the town. 

Wolf said he wants to see law enforcement presence a few times a week as the presence alone will help deter crime. Wolf also said the previous administration did waste the sheriff’s office’s time in making calls about him, saying he hopes the last administration didn’t ruin the relationship between the town and sheriff’s office.

“As I stand in front of you, that’ll never happen in my administration,” he said.

Commissioner Island Richards questioned Wolf on what he views the town’s responsibilities are to provide law enforcement to its residents.

“You are an incorporated town, so with that comes the responsibility to provide the services that a town provides,” Richards said.

Richards said the county recently had to cut its own budget and decline capital expenditure requests from its own entities and Wolf is asking the county to provide an MOU and the funds to provide law enforcement service assistance. Wolf said the town could pay the county money and establish a working relationship with its community resources officer. Wolf also didn’t see a cost in having a deputy come to Superior – an idea Richards disagrees with. 

Slaughter also clarified his role in that initial discussion, saying his goal was to facilitate a meeting between Wolf, another commissioner, the sheriff’s office and the county attorney’s office, but was informed by Grossnickle that he felt there wasn’t anything additional conversations with Wolf would resolve. Slaughter said he canceled the meeting and that was the last time he was involved with the situation. Slaughter said he hopes the different parties can find a way to address the situation Superior deals with.