District 4
Welcome Jared Despain, Gillette Construction; Keith Lambert, Sundance Construction; John Roan, Buffalo Maintenance; and Albert Wilson, Sheridan MaintenanceGuardrail.
Promotions and Transfers Rebecca Kobielusz, Sheridan Construction.
Service Awards
Kobielusz
Trent McKinley, Burgess Junction Maintenance – 35 years; and Kari Bergeman, Gillette Construction – 5 years.
McKinley
Transportation commissioners complete terms Milt Coulter of Gillette and Ted Ertman of Newcastle completed their terms of service as Wyoming Transportation Commissioners last month. Ertman was appointed to the commission by former Gov. Dave Freudenthal in March 2009. He served as chairman during 2013-14. Coulter was appointed by Gov. Matt Mead in Coulter February 2012 to replace Jim Hladlky, also of Gillette, who had died in helicopter crash the previous fall. Prior to joining the Transportation Commission, Ertman served 12 years as a Weston County Commissioner. For five of those years, he was chairman. He also was a member of the Wyoming County Commissioners Association’s Road and Bridge Committee.
Ertman, who earned an associates’ degree in applied science from Sheridan College, worked for many years as a crude oil gauger, pipeline operator and oil station operator. Coulter, a civil engineering graduate of the University of Wyoming, had worked for the old Wyoming Highway Department, WYDOT’s predecessor agency, as a surveyor and engineer during the 1960s. He went on to enjoy a long and successful career in real estate development in various locaErtman tions around the state. His previous community service included serving a six-year term on the Wyoming Real Estate Commission. Appointees to replace Ertman and Coulter on the Transportation Commission will be from Niobrara and Johnson counties, respectively.
Bergeman
District 5
Travis Jorgensen, Worland Maintenance.
Dubois’ Wells retiring from WYDOT after 28 years
Jorgensen
Dubois maintenance worker Chad Wells retired Jan. 30 from WYDOT with more than 28 years of service. Wells began his career as a two-year temporary flagger for WYDOT in Dubois in the mid-1980s. “The highway department has been good for me,” Wells said. “I’m looking forward to the next step.”
20
Interchange
n
March 2015
Wells recalls working on Togwotee Pass, including plowing snow, and his interactions with people as “having its moments” during his career. “I’ve seen people do a lot of strange things along the highway,” he said. Wells has driven three trucks with a common WYDOT license plate number (H-1138) during his highway maintenance career. “My current 1138 truck was just recently moved to South Pass,” Wells said with a smile. “They got rid of the truck before they got rid of me.” Wells and his wife, Margaret, have two twin adult sons, Chris and Jerry, and a grown daughter, Johanna. They have three grandsons and a granddaughter. In retirement, Wells plans to keep busy with farm and ranch work on his properties near Dubois and Pavillion. “We mainly raise hay and run a few horses,” he said.
Wells and his family celebrated his retirement with friends and co-workers during a Jan. 21 luncheon at the Dubois WYDOT maintenance office.
Photo courtesy Cody Beers
Promotions and Transfers
Dubois maintenance foreman Paul Boedeker (right) presented Dubois maintenance worker Chad Wells with a crystal candy dish and a present from the Dubois crew during his retirement luncheon on Wednesday, Jan. 21.