White retires, Hooper under scrutiny
By John Earp
At last Monday night’s meeting of the Jal City Council, retiring City Manager Matt White mentioned that the meeting would be his final one as city manager of Jal. During his city manager’s report, White began by saying that Wyoming should be opened this week, “probably in the next day or two.” He continued by saying that Continental between Wyoming and Montana would be finished up soon as well. He said Continental would be kept open “at all times.”
White mentioned that the city’s taking over of the Jal Senior Center was in place, with the city already paying employees, etc., with only some paperwork remaining to be done. The skate park at Jal Lake is “ready for construction,” according to White, just waiting on the state to approve the project. The proposed new EMS building is also moving forward, with initial plans being put together. The USDA application will be submitted this week, according to White. He said it looks like a $14.5 million grant/loan with 75% being grant and 25% being loan. He said, “Right now, the USDA folks say they feel comfortable with us getting that.” White said the USDA grant/loan will be for the new wastewater treatment plant. Once the funding is in place, it should be ready to go out for bid, according to White.
White got choked up while expressing himself at the end of his report, thanking all of the employees, councilors and the mayor for being a great group to work with. Mayor Aldridge responded by saying, “I was elected in March and you came on in August or September. We barked at each other some, got mad at each other some. My God, we’ve done a lot in five years.” He finished by saying that the community “owes him a thank you, gratitude for what you’ve done here.”
No mention was made during Monday night’s meeting of the city council regarding incoming City Manager Wesley Hooper’s having been charged in Eddy County for fraudulent activity while employed as an administrative employee of Eddy County. According to a press release from Eddy County Sheriff’s Office that was posted July 12th and which was still present and unchanged on the Facebook page for ECSO as of this past Tuesday evening, in early March 2023, detectives of the ECSO received information regarding allegations of fraudulent activity being committed by an employee of Eddy County. Mr. Hooper is named in the ECSO press release as the administrative employee in question. The fraudulent charges which the press release says were made by Hooper occurred between August 2022 and February 2023 for a total amount in excess of $4,000.00. As a result of the investigation, Hooper was charged with multiple felonies and misdemeanors. On the council meeting’s agenda for Monday evening, an item was listed concerning discussion of Mr. Hooper by the council that was to occur during executive session that evening following the open meeting. When asked at the end of the regular (open) meeting if the council would possibly come back into open session following executive session, Mayor Aldridge replied in the negative. Hooper was present during the open meeting, and appeared relaxed and friendly.
