The Natrona County Commission welcomed its two new members and handily passed two agenda items after minimal public comment during its first meeting of the year Tuesday.

The new members are Steve Schlager and John Lawson, who replaced Bill McDowell and Terry Wingerter, the commission's lone Democrat for years. All commissioners now are Republicans including Forrest Chadwick, Rob Hendry and Matt Keating.

All were sworn in Monday morning by Natrona County District Court Judge Catherine Wilking.

The commissioners elected Chadwick as chairman and Lawson as vice chairman.

The agenda was light.

Commissioners approved transfers of unanticipated revenues to several accounts.

They also approved a zone change for the unincorporated area of Antelope Hills, which is about 15 miles north of Casper along Interstate 25.

The county's Planning and Zoning Commission last month approved the county development department’s recommendation to put Antelope Hills under one zoning designation.

Staff from the development department, which does the field work for the commission, found inconsistencies in code enforcement in the community, department director Jason Gutierrez said Tuesday.

So the department held an open house with 25 residents who supported fully zoning the area as Rural Residential One, he said.

Those changes will give property owners greater latitude with what they can do, such as light agricultural uses such as keeping horses and chickens, Gutierrez said.

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