The Fremont County Board of Commissioners held an extended discussion July 11 about how the county should evaluate petitions to adopt privately built roads into the county maintenance inventory.
Commissioners said the formal process — in which the board appoints a viewer who inspects a proposed road and files a report that the board considers after public comment — is governed by state statute, but commissioners asked staff for clearer written guidance about how viewers should evaluate “public interest.”
County staff recounted how the viewer historically examined the road’s course, the need for alternate access and whether the road served a substantial public interest such as emergency access, commercial connectivity or access to public lands. Commissioners repeatedly stressed public‑safety factors (emergency vehicle access and alternate routes), the number of residents affected and the budget implications of adding more road miles to county maintenance.
Staff noted that some subdivisions (described in the discussion as Fox Hills and Painted Hills) have upgraded roads to county standards at developers’ expense and provided recorded easements; those roads are now ready for a viewer inspection. Commissioners asked staff to return with a recommended decision matrix that would give viewers and the board consistent criteria (safety, number of affected households, whether roads provide alternate/access routes, maintenance costs and seasonal service burden) to inform adoption decisions.
Commissioners also raised the practical constraint that transportation budgets have been reduced and that adopting new roads without added funding would increase maintenance obligations. Several commissioners said the county should not accept roads unless the budget impact is sustainable or additional revenue is identified.
Ending: County staff will prepare written guidance and a draft decision matrix for the board and for viewers to use when preparing reports on road-adoption petitions; no final adoption decisions were made at the meeting.