The Park County commissioners have a small space they’re willing to rent to the staff of the Wyoming State Shooting Complex Joint Powers Board, but they’re not willing to rent it for the initially thought-of total of $1. 

Commissioner Kelly Simone asked for the agreement to be taken from the consent agenda for discussion, which resulted in the board agreeing to have Chair Dossie Overfield go to the board at its Thursday meeting to work out an agreement on the space in the Park County Complex which has not previously been rented. 

Overfield said the idea is for them to rent the less than 300 square foot office space for a year as they work to build a complex planned tentatively to open in the fall of 2026, with a grand opening the following spring. The board currently has an administrator and is in the process of hiring an executive director.

Simone said, coming soon after a Northwest Healthcare lease was pulled from an earlier consent agenda initially in large part because of a lease that wasn’t consistent with others on county property — it was later rejected because of liability concerns — the county should maintain consistency. 

“In my opinion it needs to be equal, renters need to be treated the same,” she said. 

Commissioner Scott Steward agreed. 

“I just feel there needs to be consistency,” he said. “I think it sends a bad signal.”

Commissioner Lloyd Thiel said they’re comparing apples to oranges with a mix of for profit and nonprofit groups in the county buildings, not to mention the shooting complex board being a government entity. He suggested the best lease would be something between $1 for a year and market rate, which Simone said would be $429 per month based on the square footage. 

Simone also brought up the concerns of many in the area who want the complex to be self sustaining, not government funded — at least not after the initial building period, which is being funded by $10 million from the state, while state legislators are already working to pass legislation in the next session to add up to $5 million more. 

“The appetite from taxpayers is, this will be a self-sufficient operation,” she said. “If we give them rent for a year for a dollar … we are subsidizing.”