Commissioners table audit agreements

SIDNEY -- The Cheyenne County Commissioners Monday approved an agreement for budget preparation, and tabled two audit agreements.

The Cheyenne County Commissioners Monday approved an engagement letter from Rauner & Associates for 2025-2026 budget preparation.

County Clerk Beth Fiegenschuh said the letter is a type of contract that outlines Rauner & Associates' responsibilities and what they will do for the county. 

The commissioners also considered Engagement Letters from Dana F. Cole & Company for the 2024-2025 Keno Audit and 2024-2025 County Audit. Commissioner Randy Miller asked if there is a time frame, a deadline, for the Engagement Letters. He then moved to table the Dana F. Cole & Company Engagement Letters until the next meeting.

"We've looked in the past for a different auditing firm, and they're few and far between. Our local firm will not do it because they do the budget preparation for us. We hired Dana Cole and the person we hired before that was a gentleman out of McCook. He retired, so we went with Dana Cole. We couldn't find anyone else, and they're very, very expensive," Miller said.

He said Dana F. Cole & Company was hired to do a federal audit on the ARPA funds because there are even fewer accountants who do federal audits.

The Engagement Letters were tabled until the next commissioners meeting. 

In other business, the commissioners approved tourism grants for High Plains Arts Council, Sidney Oktoberfest and Cruise 'N Class. The Event Promotion grant for High Plains Arts Council is for $5,105; the Oktoberfest Event Promotion grant was approved for $5,674.50; and Cruise 'N Class was awarded an Event Grant for $3,860.

The commissioners approved appointing Anthony "Tony" Krajewski as Highway Superintendent and Skyler Saucedo as Assistant Highway Superintendent. Fiegenschuh said in order to continue receiving Highway Allocation funds, the county needs a licensed Highway Superintendent. 

"We have contracts with Dalton, Gurley and Lodgepole to act as their Highway Superintendent. In order to do that, and continue to get our Highway Allocation, we need to have a superintendent with a license. It'll be necessary to appoint Tony Krajewski as the superintendent and Skyler as the Assistant Superintendent, but nothing changes," she said.

Fiegenschuh said Krajewski will have the title of Highway Superintendent for signature authority on documents. 

An executive session for personnel matters was held at the request of Saucedo. Prior to the executive session, a county highway department employee said he had retaliation against him that morning for trying to explain to Saucedo how to do a windrow. The commissioners said they could not respond to his comments. He was encouraged to fill out a grievance form.