Sheridan County commissioners elect Lonnie Wright chair; approve airport sublease extension and accept FY2023–24 audit

The Sheridan County Board of County Commissioners on Jan. 7, 2025, elected Commissioner Lonnie Wright as the board—s 2025 chairman and approved several routine and substantive items, including a one-year extension of a sublease at Sheridan County Airport for Bighorn Flying Company LLC and acceptance of the county—s fiscal year 2023—6 financial and compliance audit.

The nomination of Commissioner Lonnie Wright as chairman passed after a voice vote; commissioners approved a 15-item consent agenda and the board—s 2025 committee assignments earlier in the meeting. Commissioners also approved a lessor—s consent to an amended sublease between Bighorn Airways Inc. and Bighorn Flying Company LLC that extends an existing arrangement through 2025, accepted an unmodified audit for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, and moved appoint Ken Mueller, county engineer, as viewer for a separate street-vacation petition. The board voted to deny a petition to vacate a portion of Fourteenth Street between Blocks 39 and 40 in Downers Addition.

Robert Gill, Sheridan County airport manager, briefed the board on the sublease request. "In the spring of 2024, Bighorn Airways sold its agricultural division to Bighorn Flying Company," Gill said, and added that the sublease covered equipment space used for agricultural spray operations and that the amended sublease would extend the term through 2025. Commissioners asked whether the company sought a longer-term base at the airport; Gill said Bighorn Flying Company was "looking at all options on where to set up a permanent base" but that he was not aware of any purchase discussions.

Commissioners raised a separate administrative concern about inconsistent dates in the draft sublease documents; staff and the board agreed to correct the effective-date language before final signature. The motion to approve the lessor—s consent to sublease passed on a voice vote.

Cameron Duff, administrative director, told the board the county received an audit from Porter, Muirhead, Cornia & Howard (PMCH) dated to the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024. "This is an unmodified audit, which is actually good news," Duff said. He told commissioners the audit contained five findings and that county staff had put corrective actions in place; PMCH will hold an open meeting in mid-February to answer questions about the audit.

On land-use items, the board appointed Ken Mueller as viewer for a petition to vacate portions of McKinney Avenue, Elm Avenue, Sixteenth Street and an alley in Block 65 of Downers Addition; Mueller said he would "view it like all the others I—ve been doing." After receiving the viewer—s report on a separate petition concerning a short piece of Fourteenth Street between Blocks 39 and 40, the board adopted the viewer—s recommendation to deny the vacation. The viewer—s report cited concerns that vacating the segment could eliminate future utility connections and noted that the City of Sheridan owns adjacent street segments (Yankee and Holloway) and that an MDU high-voltage three-phase line runs in Fourteenth Street.

Votes at a glance: the meeting record shows the following outcomes (voice votes unless noted): consent agenda approved; Lonnie Wright elected 2025 chairman; 2025 commissioner assignments approved; lessor—s consent to sublease (Bighorn Airways Inc. / Bighorn Flying Company LLC) approved; acceptance of FY2023—24 financial and compliance report (Porter, Muirhead, Cornia & Howard) approved; appointment of Ken Mueller as viewer approved; petition to vacate a portion of Fourteenth Street denied.

The board closed the meeting shortly after the Fourteenth Street vote. PMCH—s open-audit meeting is scheduled for mid-February, and county staff will finalize corrected dates in the airport sublease paperwork before signatures are circulated.