Valley County Commissioners Hold First Of Many Community Meetings

The Valley County Commissioners held their first of many community meetings on Sept. 27, at the Valley County Courtroom for Glasgow residents and then traveled to Frazer and Lustre on Sept. 30, and then to Hinsdale on Oct. 1. These meetings were the first community meetings held throughout the county since 2022, since weather impeded the Commissioners to travel in 2023.

Approximately 30 people were in attendance and throughout the two-hour meeting in Glasgow, expressed their frustration and disappointment in recent decisions made by the Commissioners.

“This is about your meeting. We would like to hear about your concerns and answer any questions that we can,” Commissioner Mary Armstrong started off the meeting by stating to the crowd. Adam Arenson started the conversation off inquiring why local county businesses were not considered for recent county business, specifically the re-roofing project of the Valley County Pioneer Museum as well as for the recent purchase of a County skid steer.

It was explained that the Pioneer Museum re-roofing project did go through a bidding process, of which only two interested parties placed bids, none of which were local. The County did reach out to a local contractor that was qualified for the project to express their interest in working with him on the project, however he felt the project was too big and therefore did not participate in the bidding process.

The skid steer purchase was made earlier in the month of September when the three Commissioners approved the purchase of the steer to be used at the Valley County Landfill. The two bids obtained included a bid from John Deere, for $123,624, with a broom, forks, grapple and snow pusher with a five-year warranty. The bid from CAT was for $124,450 with broom, forks, grapple and snow pusher, with a two-year, 2,000-hour warranty. The Commissioners voted 3 to 0 to accept the bid from John Deere. During the decision-making process and during the community meeting on Sept. 27, those in attendance believed the decision to purchase the skid steer from John Deere, and not receive a bid or even look at local purchasing options, was too quick of a decision.

According to Commissioner John Fahlgren, the Commissioners used a government clearing house called Sourcewell, which they have utilized in the past every time the Commissioners have looked into and wanted to purchase construction equipment. “Because we’ve never bought construction equipment from C&B up here before, we just did not think of it,” stated Fahlgren when asked why local businesses were not considered for the bid. “We did do about $65,000 worth of business with them this year. It was an oversight. We’ve talked to Mike up there. He’s definitely interested but the thing that we didn’t know is that there is a category called mini construction equipment. He can’t sell heavy construction equipment, but he can sell mini construction equipment and we weren’t really aware of that,” explained Fahlgren. “Next time we are buying another skid steer, we will definitely be giving them that opportunity. This Sourcewell Clearinghouse, what Mike says, in which we weren’t aware of either, is that he’s also got connection with so when we go to do something like that again, I would say the choice we should make since that kind of equipment is here locally.”

Another point of concern that was clear throughout the meeting was the sharing of employees between the Valley County Road Department and the Valley County Landfill, as a result of employees either being terminated or deciding to leave the landfill. This past summer the Valley County Commissioners terminated the employment of Brian Austin, the Valley County Landfill Manager and Valley County Refuse District Manager for 25 years and an employee of the Valley County for 30 years. Once the termination occurred, there was high turnover with other employees leaving the department, which prompted the Valley County Commissioners to have Valley County Road Department Supervisor James Gibson take over supervisory roles in both departments, which includes oversight and the budget in both. He also has an assistant road supervisor and a foreman of the landfill which would oversee the managerial roles of their departments and be more on the operational side of running the departments.

When questioned on how the shared staff is getting all of the tasks done to keep the road department and the landfill running, Mary Armstrong commented that it was true that there is nothing that’s not getting done at the road department because of the shared staff. “They’re doing the best they can with what we have. We are short one person at the landfill right now,” explained Commissioner Paul Tweten. In addition, the gravel crew and the bridge crew are all operational with eight operators running the eight blades.

The third main topic of concern was the holding of the weekly Valley County Commissioner meetings which are held at 10:30 a.m., in the Valley County Courthouse. Many in attendance expressed their frustration of not being able to attend these meetings and make their voices heard as they are during work hours. Frustration was also expressed regarding the lack of transparency of agendas not being posted.

According to statute, agendas only need to be posted within 48 hours at the Courthouse, at the Board of County Commissioners office and at the Clerk of Court. Though it’s often available on the Commissioners website, it doesn’t have to be per statute. When questioned why the meetings can’t be held at a different time to allow Valley County residents to attend and express their concerns, Commissioner Tweten stated, “It’s difficult to do that because a lot of things we need notarized and recorded and the clerk and recorders are not in there. A lot of times we have County employees and Department heads come in and explain what they would like voted on, on the agenda.” Commissioner Tweten also expressed that residents can call in and state concerns or email in concerns outside of the meeting time.

“I don’t think it would work for after work because you know, we’re running the business of the county and all of our employees are here during the day, for the most part, unless if you are working shifts. We bring our department heads in to present on the Wednesday when we’re making decisions,” explained Commissioner Armstrong. “We are committed to putting [the meetings] on the website,” stated Commissioner Fahlgren as an alternative for people to view the meetings.

“I personally think I’m always looking out for Valley County and what’s best for the residents in Valley County because that’s what my job is. Do I make mistakes? Yeah, absolutely, every day. But always I have the best interest of Valley County in mind when I make decisions,” reflected Commissioner Armstrong during the meeting.

Valley County Commissioner meetings are held at 10:30 a.m., every Wednesday morning in the Board of Valley County Commissioners located inside of the Valley County Courthouse. When made available to The Glasgow Courier, agendas are posted on our website, http://www.glasgowcourier.com.