Leading the next steps in the project to create the Wyoming State Shooting is clearly a popular undertaking. 

Five candidates applied for three open seats on the Wyoming State Shooting Complex Joint Powers Board on April 7. Only one of them is a current member of the board, although he decided to go for a separate, unexpired term vacated by another member who had recently resigned. 

James Klessens was appointed by county commissioners to the final two years of the at large term vacated by Cindy Thomas, while Katrina Southern and Jim Fontana will step into new roles on the board. Klessens has served a term on the board and said while initially he planned on the project being farther ahead by now, delays in funding have led to a slower start to construction. He wants to stay on long enough to get the complex up and running without committing to a full new three year term. 

Southern is replacing Klessens as the member representing economic development, while Fontana replaces Jason Byers of Gunwerks as the firearms industry representative. 

All initial board members were elected on staggered terms to allow for a smooth transition process, while new members are all elected to three year terms. 

Richard Jones and Amir Haskik also applied to the board but were not selected. 

Klessens, the former CEO of Forward Cody, has been involved with trying to draw the state shooting complex to Park County since the beginning, and was one of the original board members. Since being on the board he has spearheaded the construction and site preparation work from the board as chair of the infrastructure committee.

“I’ve basically been involved in this since the very beginning,” he said. “One of the things that’s important with organizations like this joint powers board is you need some consistency in the faces that show up around the table and sometimes a little institutional history is an important thing as well.”

Southern, who said she has a long history with firearms, has been on multiple shooting complex committees already and in her capacity as marketing director with the Park County Travel Council has been involved in the process as well. She said even before the complex plans came to fruition she had thought of Wyoming as the perfect Second Amendment sanctuary state. 

Besides her time at the travel council, Southern has worked in graphic design at Gunwerks in Cody and has assisted in marketing with the Cody Firearms Experience as well. 

“I’ve been on the ground floor of this through committee, this would just be the final step,” she said, adding, “I have an extensive background in firearms. I’m active in the community, and I also have experience in marketing for not only Park County, but in various aspects such as firearms specifically. So I feel like those parts of my training would benefit the shooting complex.”

Jim Fontana has a history in law enforcement, has designed shooting ranges and is an experienced firearms trainer who has worked at Cody Firearms Experience in recent years helping customers shoot everything from 1700s firearms to modern weapons. He’s already been involved in helping with the complex and has provided design input, as well as connecting with the head of the recently opened South Dakota state shooting complex, results of which he shared with state shooting complex members last year. 

“I have been doing SOPs, designing ranges for civilian, military and Game and Fish Hunter Ed for over 20 years,” he said. “I have been part of the Cody firearms community, most importantly in the tourism industry. I deal with tourists, I deal with members, I deal with students, and I deal with every business in the county.” 

Jones was a longtime member of the National Park Service who has been involved on numerous boards in Cody over the years, including planning and zoning and the Buffalo Bill Dam board, besides his other community involvement. He said he’s also been a lifelong supporter of firearms and was a police/NRA firearms instructor for decades.

“As a board member, I think it’s a very significant job giving direction to any project,” he said. “This is a major project, and I believe I can contribute to that. And my experience in finding zoning and other facilities, I think can bring a perspective that many people don’t have.”

Haskik, a real estate owner and developer, said he had experience first in Europe in military and law enforcement and then in various U.S. states, the last 3 ½ years in Cody, with business and international travel he said could be helpful for both boards. He currently serves on the Yellowstone Regional Airport board as a city appointee. 

“I just want to participate in activities and see how my skills, experience and knowledge can improve my city, my neighbors,” he said.

Discussions with the candidates often touched on the public perception of the state shooting complex, which has received both praise and criticism locally — it was Powell Sen. Tim French who was one of the most vociferously opposed to granting more funding to the complex in the recent legislative session, even as fellow Powell Sen. Dan Laursen was the biggest champion of giving the complex a full $15 million in state funding. 

Commissioner Lloyd Thiel, in talking with candidates, stressed the importance that, going forward, board members need to help ensure the shooting complex doesn’t need to rely on any more state funding. 

“Going forward, this needs to be self-sustaining,” he said, adding, “We need to make this one profitable.”

Candidates, and board members, agreed.