Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Budget conversations and road work updates continued this week at the Cloud County Commission meeting at 9 a.m. on Monday, June 30, at the Cloud County Courthouse, 811 Washington Street in Concordia.
Cloud County commissioners Ron Copple, Dannie Kearn and chairman Mike Cleveland attended the meeting, alongside Cloud County Clerk Shella Thoman.
The first appointment that commissioners attended was with Cloud County Resource Center (CCRC) Executive Director Tonya Merrill, who presented the department’s 2026 budget request to county staff.
According to Merrill, CCRC asked for $5,000 more than it requested last year due to rising grocery costs for the Cloud County Food Bank.
“We wanted to see what it was like if we actually had to buy these things at the stores, so we went out and packed a cart like we would pack it through the food bank,” Merrill said. “Each cart is about $120… and we generate anywhere between 50 and 60 of those a month in order to feed our 2,000, just under 2,000 people.”
At that rate, CCRC provides more than $7,000 in groceries to the community each month, which is around $84,000 per year. The local resource center also provides other benefit pantries, including a crisis utility bank, pet pantry, hygiene pantry, infant care supply pantry, and a homeless pantry.
Merrill said that the number of new clients at the CCRC pantries continues to climb by about 3-4% each month. Commissioners will review the budget request and make a final budget decision at a later date.
Cloud County Highway and Weed Administrator Rod Michaud presented to commissioners after Merrill. He focused on his recent work on rural county roads.
Michaud said he and his team have moved on from Camp Road over to 90th Road for patchwork repairs.
After some discussion about pasture rent rates for county land, Michaud asked commissioners for a 20-minute executive session. Commissioners took no action following the executive session and continued the meeting.
CloudCorp Executive Director Tim Beims joined the meeting after Michaud to present an update about the Get in the Cloud Grant applicants. Beims said that there were fewer applicants this year, with some prospective applicants missing the deadline.
Beims said that even though these organizations missed the deadline, he felt that their missions strongly aligned with the Get in the Cloud grant criteria. Because of this, he asked if CloudCorp could provide a second round of Get in the Cloud grants later in the year.
County Clerk Shella Thoman told commissioners that CloudCorp has done multiple rounds of grants in the past, which the commission responded favorably to.
“I think that’s fine, rather than hurry it all through to try to slam it all down one time,” Cleveland said.
Another topic Beims brought to the commissioners was the Workforce Relocation grant dollars, of which the organization still had $9,000 to spend. Beims also reported that another grant program, Make My Move, will end in August.
After some further discussion, Beims said he’d return to speak to the Get in the Cloud committee about providing another chance at the grant dollars later this year.
Cloud County Health Department Administrator Tonya Sulanka joined the meeting after Beims finished his presentation and began budget discussions.
Last week, Sulanka said she attended a state-wide conference that had invited local health departments. One thing that Sulanka has continued to inform the commission about is how many health departments across the nation are facing funding issues due to a decrease in federal grant programs that health departments historically relied on.
Sulanka said that state and federal employees also attended the conference, but had few answers on how local health departments plan to obtain funding for their programs.
“Some said, ‘Well, wait until the end of July because they’ll accept them,’ and I’m just like, ‘Well, it’d still be nice to know,’” Sulanka said. “So, no one knows… there was one state (organization) that was there, and half of those state people didn’t even know what the other state people were even talking about. They said, ‘Well, we know as much as you know.’”
After discussing some other financials, they began discussing the location of a new generator for the Cloud County Health Department.
Cloud County Emergency Manager Kent Ottot joined the meeting next and provided a quick update on his position and the other departments he’s met since he began his role on June 23 this year.
According to Ottot, he assisted with a few emergencies, like a car crash near Jamestown and a house fire call in Concordia.
Cloud County Treasurer JoDee LeDuc and County Attorney Rob Walsh joined the meeting after Ottot’s report, and held a 10-minute executive session where commissioners took no action.
Once the executive session ended, commissioners tackled the week’s routine business items like approving the previous meeting’s minutes, this week’s abatements, and a few employee evaluations and appointments.
The next Cloud County Commission meeting will take place at 9 a.m. on Monday, July 7, in the Commissioner's Room at the Cloud County Courthouse.
