Oil City News38%
Natrona County updates building regulations, National Electrical Code 5%
By Tommy Culkin2%
7/21/2026, 1:08:09 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 9 faulty reasoning types, including Biased Writer Voice, Negativity Bias, and Framing Effect, with Ambiguity (Equivocation) as the most egregious example at 10.1% saturation with 45 hits. Analysis detected 241 faulty-reasoning hits from 444 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 20.7% and a BS Rank of 5% (18,351 of 19,233 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 95.40% of the article peer group.
Natrona County Commissioners Jim Milne, left, and Casey Coates during a March 3 meeting of the Board of County Commissioners.
(Tommy Culkin, Oil City News)
CASPER, Wyo. — The Natrona County Board of County Commissioners voted Monday to approve a series of updates to local building regulations, officially adopting the 2026 National Electrical Code and updating county contractor licensing rules.
Commissioners approved substantive changes to the county’s contractor licensing rules and regulations, which Natrona County Building Director Brad Morrison said haven’t been updated since 2000.
Morrison told commissioners that the changes to the official regulations won’t constitute any changes in procedures for the county department, but will simply bring the document into alignment with what they’re already doing.
“It’s been 26 years since anything’s been changed,” he said.
“We’ve implemented and previous building officials have implemented different contractor licenses that we’ve offered in the past few years that’ve never been nailed down in this resolution.”
The updated framework adjusts contractor license classifications, adding and removing specific categories to match current development department practices.
Corresponding adjustments were also made to contractor license fee schedules to reflect the revised license types, alongside minimal updates to general permit and planning fees, Morrison said.
The update establishes that Natrona County will recognize valid, current licenses from other Wyoming jurisdictions that enforce comparable standards.
County contractor licenses will continue to expire annually on Dec. 31, backed by a 30-day grace period before unlicensed work violations apply.
Licensed contractors are required to maintain strict minimum insurance coverage, including standard worker’s compensation and general public liability limits of $250,000 per person and $500,000 per incident for personal injury, as well as $250,000 for property damage.
In other business, the commissioners voted to adopt the 2026 National Electrical Code, which Development Director Sabrina Kemper said is mostly unchanged from the prior version.
The code establishes local modifications to the national standards.
Under the regulations, permits are strictly required before starting electrical work and any project started without a permit will trigger a penalty fee equal to twice the initial permit cost.
Issued electrical permits will expire if work does not begin within 180 days, though permit holders can request a written extension within 30 days of expiration.
The electrical resolution maintains exemptions for primary homeowners performing work on their personal residences or non-commercial accessory structures, though homeowners must still obtain the proper permits.
Specific technical amendments adopted by the county prohibit service disconnects and electrical panelboards in bathrooms, mandate service masts of minimum 2-inch nominal diameter conduit and ban the use of galvanized steel electrical metallic tubing underground or in direct contact with earth.
Analysis
Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.