BOCC: County Phone System
to be Replaced, New Recording Fee Schedule, Little Lots to Be Sold

by George Gramlich,
News and Commentary
The June 25, 2025 Custer County Board of County Commissioners regular meeting started at 9 a.m. at the All Aboard Westcliffe meeting room. All three Commissioners were present: Chair Bill Canda and members Lucas Epp and Paul Vogelsong.
In Commissioner Items, Lucas said he was looking over responses to RFP on IT Services. He wants a workshop on it. Canda has been working the Fremont VSO and Custer County’s VSO to coordinate services and will be having a meeting soon. He is also arranging to have Upper Ark Water Conservation give a presentation here on their plans.
In New Business Accounts Payable was first. The total two week amount of $125k was ok’d.
Next up was the VSO report. Canda reviewed the report. It was approved.
The next topic was the Rusk Conservation Easement Letter of Support. This concerns the land around the old Beckwith ranch which the owners want to conserve. The letter just supports the effort. It was approved.
Next was a request for proposals for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). Vernon Roth, Finance Director the county needs to consolidate all of our phone systems into a “cohesive ball” which would save the county several thousand dollars a month. This would also enable different departments to forward calls to other departments. Vernon noted that the new VoIP system would “ customizable “.Our current set up (with Century Link) is costing $5k to 7k per month. In terms of reliability, the new system would depend on internet connectivity.
County Clerk and Recorder, Kelley Camper, was up next: She said the new Recording Fee Schedule is starting in July. She needed the Commissioners to approve Resolution 25-31 to approve adopting the fees. The new flat fee for all recordings is $43.
Four Golden Arrow Valley subdivision lots the county owns was the next subject. (These are off of Oak Creek Grade just after the pavement ends. This area was originally intended to be an RV park and was cut up into tiny 50 x 100 lots.) A citizen wants to buy the four that the county owns. After a discussion, it was decided to put them out for bid at $2k a lot.
The last item was the West Custer County Library District’s request to approve a new Trustee member: Laurie Yarger. This was approved.