July 15th BOCC: Possible New Positions – CARES Act Coordinator,and HR/Finance Asst. Director
Commissioners Postpone Justice Center Funding Survey

Custer County Board of
Commissioners (BOCC)
—July 15, 2020
by Laura Vass
The Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) held their mid-month meeting via Conferencecall.com. All three commissioners and the county lawyer were present in the board room. There were no minutes to approve and no amendments to the agenda.
Commissioner Items:
Commissioner Jay Printz said he attended the BoH meeting, the workshop for the CARES Act and a special meeting after that. He said he has listened to conversations and concerns in the rise in cases we have. The COVID cases still relatively low but percentage wise it is significant and he had calls thanking the BOCC for letting a big event occur this weekend (Stampede Rodeo, 4-H, and parade.)
Jay wished a Happy Birthday to Commissioner Bill Canda, who in turn said congratulations to Mr. Printz. “He’s got his gun shop sold and is getting everything in order for his new life here after.” Printz thanked Mr. Canda and noted that the new owners are very pro 2nd Amendment and are looking forward to meeting the community’s needs.
Mr. Canda said he attended the same meetings. Also, the Booster Club will be making hamburgers and hotdogs at the Rodeo tonight. “Only two events this year, or two different days, so it won’t be a big money maker like the past.” He attended the GOP meeting. Mr. Canda said that there is a plan to have a big event up here with Col. Allen West attending on August 22nd.
Canda also reminded everyone that the internet survey is still up. The OEM position is open and there have been several applicants.
Commissioner Tom Flower said he also attended the BoH meeting and a zoom meeting on Saturday, July 9th with Upper Ark (UAWCD) .
They had an executive session to explore the hiring policy for the Board because their CEO hired his daughter for secretary. Upper Ark doesn’t have a set of hiring bylaws. It is not a special district but a conservancy district. They made a motion to write up some hiring policies and approved their audit. There was a discussion about Round Mountain Water and Sanitation District’s (RMWSD) effort to get a storage vessel for 150 (acre?) water feet of storage. If RMWSD gets it, it will give the county an option to lease that water.
Flower also said that Nate Eckloff of Piper Sandler called ahead to request that John Britz sit in on the conference call for the Justice Center. (Britz is a company that Piper Sandler would subcontract to.)
Flower also attended the CARES Act workshop along with the mayors of both towns and the Tower/Broadband meeting.
Tom said he’s had several phone calls about him ganging up on Mr. Canda with Mr. Printz during the meetings. Mr. Flower interpreted this as vote disagreement and noted that he votes on what he believes is right.
Tom suggested that the Board hire a CARES Act Coordinator since the Board has agreed to be the fiscal agent for this. And asked that the BoH consider hiring a coordinator and then have both positions paid out of the CARES Act funding.
Printz suggested that the BOCC add it as a discussion item for the July 31st meeting. Canda agreed. Tom moved to add to the next agenda, “Consideration of hiring a CARES Act Coordinator”.
Mr. Canda suggested the BoH schedule a meeting close to the next meeting. Mr. Flower suggested the afternoon of July 27th or 30th so Elisa Livengood could be there.
KTLF called and asked about placing a radio on the tower given to Custer County by Sangre Electric. It was not an agenda item but he wanted to discuss it.
Attorney Items:
Attorney Clint Smith attended the BoH meeting and the workshop has been doing some research on the West Custer Library District. Apparently, it is not set up as
special district. He said Sean
Behary has some questions on protocol.
Administrative Assistant Items: None.
Public Comment: None
New Business
KTLF representative, Josh, joined in person. He came to ask for consideration of placing a radio on the Lookout Mountain Radio tower which the County was given by Sangre Electric over a year ago. Josh said last year KTLF submitted a sample of their contracts. The station provides light Christian music until 7 p.m. and then instrumental music in the evenings. The commissioners agreed to put the discussion and possible approval on the agenda for the next meeting. Josh noted that the equipment has filters to protect from bleed over.
Consideration HR/Finance position. Mr. Printz said he believes the current director is overworked. She is pulling overtime, and no one is trained to do her job or to assist her. The concern was if by an act of God she was not able to work, there is no deputy director and the county does not seem to have a trained backup – a fact that could put the county in jeopardy.

The discussion included: It is not certain if the job would need be full-time. Perhaps that person could go department to department to help or if that person was experienced at grant-writing, that would be helpful. It was moved and seconded that the BOCC consider hiring an HR Finance assistant. A discussion followed, reassuring citizens that this did not have anything to do with the performance of the current HR Director. Currently, the BOCC admin helps that office half time. Printz is concerned that the current set up in which the BOCC admin is primarily the admin and secondarily help to HR, doesn’t ensure someone knows the job. He wants the additional position with HR as the primary focus. The discussion was that maybe the BOCC needs a full-time admin anyway. Financing will also continue in further discussion next meeting.
The motion was amended that they hire an HR Finance Assistant Director who would help in other areas in the county offices as needed if time is available. Mr. Printz offered to work with the current HR Director to create a job description draft before the next meeting.
Consideration of ratifying an appointment at the West Custer County Library (WCCL) board of directors, new trustee Claudia Cole. Motion carried. Clint Smith has been working with Sean on discovery of why the board has to go to the commissioners to ratify appointments. At this point, it is written in the library’s bylaws. Mr. Beharry will continue to do that research.
After a short recess, the Board spoke with Nate Eckloff of Piper Sandler and John Britz of The Britz Company.
Survey on Funding the Justice Center: As background, Mr. Flower noted that the county entered a lease purchase agreement to purchase seven acres for the express purpose to build a new building for the county for justice center. The topic with Piper Sandler and The Britz Company served to update the Board on its task of “informing and accessing public opinion with the focus on finding ways to fund the justice center”.
The goal is to determine, via survey methods, what the community would be willing to accept in paying for the justice center, i.e. sales tax or property tax.
John and Nate said their findings in statewide polling is high community acceptance during the Covid crisis. They wanted to know if the BOCC would like to present options in a survey to the community sooner than later. Britz citied one urban and one rural area that showed willingness to increase their taxes to build facilities with 59% support. (Both were for school districts.)
Printz asked if starting by polling now, the county is in a position to get something on the ballot in 111 days.
Eckloff answered that the time to get it on the ballot is actually less than the 111 days. He wondered if, given polls elsewhere, it wouldn’t be good to do a survey to assess community acceptance of a tax burden soon. In a rural area, they do a hybrid survey via phone and internet. They found elsewhere that people have time to complete the survey now and are willing to do that, providing a good sample size.
Mr. Canda remarked that every community is different. A school district is different than a justice center. People tend to support children more than crooks…. Mr. Canda asked also if the county is in danger of losing grant money if they wait? He said that earlier we spent money on replacing the furnace at the school via a bond. Then we had two towns add taxes that passed. But then the economy fell. Canda thought it would make more sense to wait until we get back on track economically. “The state is demanding that we update the jail, however we have some time.” Canda believes it might not be a good time to survey the citizens. In conclusion, he asked “What are the options?”
John Britz still encouraged doing a survey, if not soon, then either post-election during the holidays or mid-January / early February.
Mr. Flower clarified that the grant was issued through December 2020 but due to COVID, an extension would probably be available. The commissioners agreed that it would be wise to wait. Discussion continued, however.
Another concern is that the need isn’t going away and construction costs continue to rise.
John Britz and Nate Eckoff asked if the courts made any demands. The commissioners said the State via Feds have made demands and that another county was told the Feds were going to force them to close their jail and make arrangements for detention if updates were not made.
The Underfunded Court Security Commission, Printz said, has told the county that it needs a second court. It was not a mandate, but a strong suggestion.
Tom Flower said the commissioners would have something drafted to the Underfunded Court Commission to ensure that they will not lose the grant at the end of the year.
Mr. Flower also clarified to listeners that Piper Sandler is working on a contingency basis, (for the construction of a justice center and Britz will be compensated regardless for their services in assessing community willingness to fund the center.
John Britz said that any surveys the county has done in the past of this kind would be helpful if they could pass those along.
Consideration of the Special Use Permit (SUP) of the old golf course dba Rustic Happenings. Stephanie Carter with Rustic Happenings reiterated that the property was purchased and the project is a family venue with the intent to revert the property back to hayfields and later use the structures as a wedding venue to defray costs.
Jackie Hobby with the Planning Commission was in attendance and confirmed that in their
report, the Planning Commission recommended approving the plan which has 14 contingency clauses. Speaking for Rustic Happenings, Carter said the group accepted the contingencies. The Board voted to approve the special use permit (SUP). Jackie Hobby commended Rustic Happenings for their paperwork on the SUP.
Final Public Comment: None
The meeting adjourned.