County letter alleges $75,260 catering contract sent out of state; officials say facility approval and fast timeline drove choice

A letter from a local business owner, Jesse Romanesha, read into the record at the August Billings County Commission meeting accused county leaders of awarding a $75,260 catering contract for the library/unified-command event to an out‑of‑state company without first giving local businesses a chance to bid. “I was surprised to find out that the contract was worth $75,260 … and that $75,260 of taxpayer money was sent directly out of state,” the letter said.

The county’s event lead, addressed in the meeting as Dean, responded during his department report and described how the decision unfolded, saying staff met with the school that owned the kitchen facility and followed the facility’s recommendation. Dean confirmed the $75,260 figure and said the county was under the competitive-bidding threshold: “We're not required to do that. It's a $100,000 is what is required, and we were under that,” he told commissioners.

Dean added the volume and timing of the event — including feeding up to 450 people on a day when a national-level visitor was present — influenced the choice of a caterer the school could support: “We went with what the school had suggested … I don't have anything — in fact, we got great comments from all the first responders that were there,” he said. The county also said it returned unused dry goods and sought credits where possible.

Commissioners agreed the sheriff (or appropriate emergency-management staff) should provide a formal response in the record; the meeting record shows staff planned to address the concern in the sheriff’s report. No formal audit or procurement review was announced at the meeting, though commissioners said the letter will be answered in the record and the sheriff or event coordinator would follow up with the letter writer.