The Casper City Council convened on December 2, 2025, to conduct routine business, recognize public safety efforts following a state-wide power outage, and approve several liquor license transfers. The meeting featured a dedicated segment highlighting the city's resilience and operational continuity during the November 13, 2025, power outage, followed by public comments regarding historical policy decisions and community events. The council approved multiple consent agenda items and resolved a series of public hearings regarding the transfer and modification of retail and bar-and-grill liquor licenses.
Good evening, and let's go ahead and get started. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone to please silence your cell phones. Also remind you that council meetings are live streamed and they are on the city's YouTube channel. I now call the December 2nd, 2025 regular council meeting to order. The chair to entertain a motion to by consent minute action excuse the absence of Councillor Pollock. Move by counselor or by vice mayor, seconded by counselor Haskins. Please cast your vote. There we go. Please record the vote. With all counselors voting aye, the motion passes. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. And to the Republic for which it stands on nation under a God, indivisible with the consent minute approval titles. Approving the minutes of the October 28th, 2025 special council meeting, the October 28th, 2025 executive session, the November 4th, 2025 regular council meeting, and the November 4th, 2025 executive session. Thank you. The chair generated a motion to approve the consent minute action items just read. Moved by Councillor Haskin, seconded by Counselor Bond. Any abstentions? Please cast your vote. Please record the vote. With all counselors voting aye, the motion passes. Approved by minute action. The December 2nd, 2025 bills and claims is audited by interim city manager Lopez. Move by Councillor Jensen, seconded by the Vice Mayor. Any abstentions? Please cast your vote. Please record the vote. With all counselors voting aye, the motion passes. Tonight we would talk with our bright spot when we store outage city response. On November 13th, 2025, our community experienced a widespread power outage that affected not only the city of Casper, but also the whole state of Wyoming and the surrounding region. In the face of a rapidly evolving and unpredictable situation, our city force responded to professionalism, coordination, and a commitment to public service. So tonight, I want to recognize the efforts of some of these departments involved. First, our public safety communication center faced an intense surge, as you probably imagine, of 911 call volume. As radio cycled, console consuls went dark, and alarms flooded the system. Yet PSCC staff maintained calm and provided continuity of service. Every division of the the Casper Police Department responded swiftly and worked in unison to support schools, assist businesses, manage out is outages, and swiftly and worked in unison, excuse me, assisted assisting businesses, managing outages and delivering critical information to residents. At incident, a command post was quickly established to maintain coordinated uh communication across just uh jurisdictions. Their adaptability and dedication ensured our community remained safe and informed. During the initial two hours of the power outage, the fire department responded to 18 calls. Crew crews navigated structured fires, uh, fire alarms and simultaneous emergencies with only minutes between calls and times, and at times. Firefighters inspectors and chiefs triaged incidences efficiently while maintaining citywide coverage. Their seamless coordination with dispatch and other emergency partners ensured critical services never faltered during the unprecedented surge in calls in the volume of them. While the community experienced the outage above ground, our water operations division worked behind the scenes to keep clean, safe drinking water flowing. Water distribution and water treatment managers immediately mobilize teams to remote tanks and booster stations, manually performing uh tasks is usually handled by automated systems. Operators worked long hours to maintain system integrity, and once power returned, crews rapidly and safely brought wells and treatment operations back online. Their expertise and dedication ensure our water supply remained protected, stable, and fully compliant throughout the event. The power outage also promoted prompted an extensive response to keep the sewer and wastewater treatment systems functioning. While most of uh the gravity-based sewer system was unaffected, 17 lift stations required active management through permanent through permanent or portable generators, and if necessary, a suit sewer cleaning trucks. Wastewater operations division staff mobilized quickly to assess non-powered stations, deploy a trailer mounted generator and coordinated the wastewater treatment plant, with the plant-wide generator activated automatically, and operators successfully restarted treatment systems. Original lift stations also required also required inspection due to the inconsistent incoming power. As you utility power returned intermittently, crews remained on standby and kept generators running to protect aging equipment while supplies stabilized.