BROKEN BOW – The Custer County Board of Supervisors held their mid-month regular meeting on Tuesday at 9 a.m. in the Custer County Courthouse; all members were present.
District Court Clerk Amy Oxford and Deb Hansen, Clerk Magistrate of the County Court presented a proposition from the State Court Administrator’s Office to the board; the office is looking at upgrading courtroom technology for both the County and District Courts.
According to the proposal, the state court system has money allocated due to COVID-19 which would allow for a $55,000 update to the County Court’s technology, and a roughly $75,000 update for the District Court.
Hansen explains that given the relative youth of the Judicial Center, and its current technological infrastructure, the State Court Administrator’s Office estimates the cost to the county for the improvements might not total more than about $2,000.
“They said the cables are there, the electrical boxes are there. Since we’re a newer facility, everything should be there.”
One drawback of the proposal is that the state system would expect each county to take over the improvements after a period of five years, which would mean repairs and troubleshooting would fall on the shoulders of Custer County. The board tabled the topic for a later date in anticipation of an exact calculation of what the project would cost the county.
Scotti Ross of the Custer Economic Development Corporation (CEDC) presented two items to the board, both pertaining to the CDBG program. The first proposed releasing the deed of trust of a recently-closed business in Callaway started with a CDBG loan. The loan had been repaid, and the owners are looking to sell the property.
The second was a request for loan forgiveness for another Callaway business started with CDBG money. The newly-proposed terms, approved by the CEDC’s board, would require the business to pay only interest on the current loan, with the remainder to be forgiven. The board of supervisors voted unanimously to approve both proposals.
Sheriff Dan Osmond came before the board to express concern regarding the financial burden of taking in an inmate who in January of 2022 was arrested for assaulting a jailer, and has recently been found competent to stand trial. Osmond explains that to protect his department and staff, the Sheriff’s Office will have to foot the bill for an indeterminate amount of time.
“He will have to be housed again until he has his trial, and he’s not going to be housed here. I don’t know how long this is going to take, or if there will be an agreement, but it’s going to affect my jail budget either way. You’re looking at $100 a day minimum plus whatever medication he’s taking.”
The agreement reached was an offset from the county’s general fund to cover the cost of housing the inmate elsewhere.
The County Highway Department proposed streamlining its timeclock issues by introducing a department-wide cell phone plan; according to the department, nearly 75% of its employees won’t use the county’s timeclock app on their personal phones, resulting in insurmountable piles of physical paperwork, which ends up costing the county about $10,000 a year. A decision was tabled, as research into various plans and prices continues.
Custer Public Power District’s application to cross the county right-of-way was approved for work to take place about 9 miles southwest of Arnold, and the board voted unanimously to begin updating the county’s history section on its website with the assistance of the Custer County Historical Society. That project is expected to be completed by summer.
Resolution #8-2023 passed unanimously, which named 2 tar kettles and a 1990 GMC dump truck as surplus property.
The board approved the minutes, committee reports, and middle-of-month claims unanimously, as well as the February monthly fee reports, as well. The meeting adjourned at 10:44 a.m.
