Monday, May 4, 2026 |
Photo – Harriet Hageman – Bigfoot99 file photo
County officials sent a letter of thanks to Congresswoman Hageman for directing federal funding to local projects.
During the April 21st Board of Carbon County Commissioners meeting in Encampment, County Clerk Lisa Smith presented a letter to Congresswoman Harriet Hageman for the board’s approval. Commission Vice Chairwoman Gwynn Bartlett explained that the letter thanks the congresswoman for authorizing the county’s Federal Community Project Funding request. Vice Chair Bartlett said the money will be used to purchase emergency generators for county‑owned buildings.
Federal Community Project Funding is the modern version of congressional earmarks, where members of Congress can request money for specific local projects. Funding amounts will not be released until Congress passes a full appropriations bill. Lawmakers are still working through the current appropriations cycle, but disagreements between the House and Senate, particularly over Department of Homeland Security funding, are slowing the process.
Commission Chairman Travis Moore said he thanked the congresswoman in person during her April 7th town hall in Rawlins. During the meeting, Representative Hageman explained that state entities, including counties and municipalities, reach out to her with federal funding requests for infrastructure repairs or law enforcement. The congresswoman said she takes those proposals to Washington D.C., where she works to move them through the federal legislature. However, many communities are competing for the same pool of money.
Congresswoman Hageman said in 2023, her first year in office, she secured $14.96 million for Wyoming projects, including $2 million for the Bitter Creek Reconstruction Project in Rock Springs. Last year, congress did not allocate any funding for local projects. This year, the congresswoman said she provided $25.8 million for Wyoming communities, including $600,000 for the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office.
In this Federal Community Project Funding cycle, Congresswoman Hageman said she requested money for the maximum number of state projects, 20, including emergency generators for Carbon County.
Congresswoman Hageman said she won’t know if the funding was approved for at least a year.
Commission Chairman Travis Moore thanked the congresswoman for allocating federal funds for the sheriff’s vehicles and emergency generators. Chairman Moore added that the county had never needed generators until it experienced a widespread blackout in March that left Rawlins and the Platte Valley without power for roughly two and a half hours. Moore said the event showed that medical supplies in the Jeffrey Memorial Community Center, where the town hall was being held, could not be accessed without an upgraded generator.
On April 21st, the Board of Carbon County Commissioners unanimously voted to send Congresswoman Hageman a thank you letter for supporting the emergency generator funding request.
