Park board approves amended Blacktail grazing lease, authorizes chairman to sign

The Williams County Park Board approved an amended grazing lease for Blacktail and authorized the chairman to sign the revised agreement, the board voted unanimously during the meeting.

Board staff presented an amendment that would simplify payments by having the tenant pay the full annual rent and the park board accept responsibility for property tax billing. "Rather than having him pay part of the rent and then he gets a tax statement and then pays that, the idea here is to actually just make him pay the whole annual rent ... and have the tax statement just come to the park board rather than sending a separate tax statement to Nevan Sorensen," a staff member said while presenting the amendment.

The amendment was moved and seconded; a roll-call vote followed. Board members recorded yes votes for Steve, Corey, Beau, Chris, Shanda, Barry and Brad. The motion passed and the board authorized the chairman to sign the amended lease.

Meeting discussion also noted the water board is considering a similar arrangement for its grazing leases and that the park board could pursue leasing adjacent water board land in 2026 if existing tenants do not renew. Staff said the annual rent was presented aloud as "$3.18 80" in the discussion; the transcript rendering of that number was unclear.

The amended lease takes effect once the chairman signs and the board's administrative staff processes the revised billing arrangement. The board did not identify any additional conditions tied to the authorization during the motion.