Park County Commissioner Lloyd Thiel said he doesn’t do the job for the praise.

Still, the second-term commissioner said it was nice to be recognized by the Wyoming County Commissioners Association in September as the Commissioner of the Year.

“It’s the most prestigious award I’ve ever won,” he said. “I didn’t do it for the recognition, but it is nice.”

Thiel joins fellow commissioner Lee Livingston in having received such an honor from the state association.

Every year the group honors a state representative, senator and commissioner during their annual meeting. Thiel wasn’t expecting to be awarded.

“It kind of blew me away,” he said.

Thiel said all of the commissioners do a lot of work that is behind the scenes and separate from the more public meetings, such as being a liaison to other groups at the local level and being on committees at the state level.

He also spearheaded the first congressional tour to Wyoming last year, a new program where county commissioners invite high level staffers from U.S. Congress members to areas of the state so that they may better understand areas they may impact as members of legislative committees such as the Natural Resource Appropriations committee.

“It truly did, on a national level, make Wyoming shine,” Thiel said, while adding that it took many people besides himself to make the event happen as smoothly as it did.

The WCCA also presented State Sen. Stephan Pappas (R-Cheyenne) and Rep. Dan Zwonitzer (R-Cheyenne) with the group’s 2023 Legislator of the Year award at the annual fall awards banquet.

The WCCA is an organization consisting of the Boards of County Commissioners of all 23 Wyoming counties. The WCCA aims to strengthen the counties and the people who lead them through a program of networking, education and unified action.