Campbell County Commissioners talk things out after accusations of 'secret meetings'

GILLETTE — Tuesday morning, Campbell County Commissioners had the chance to talk about their feelings following the chairman’s accusations against two members of the board.

Commission Chair Kelley McCreery used the public comment portion of the Gillette City Council’s Sept. 2 meeting to call out fellow commissioners Jim Ford and Scott Clem for attending what he said were “secret meetings.”

The commissioners had a meeting the very next day, but McCreery’s comments were not brought up at all.

“I surely figured the next day in our meeting somebody would be here to call me out on stuff and nobody did,” McCreery said Tuesday. “I didn’t think it’s my place to bring up the subject, I already did what I wanted to do, that is to bring to everybody’s attention that I think we have a problem about meetings.”

At the commission meeting this week, the members of the board had the opportunity to say their piece. Clem and Ford were none too pleased, to say the least.

“To have you go in a public setting without talking to me first, throwing my name under the bus — as well as Commissioner Ford. To me, that’s unacceptable,” Clem said to McCreery.

McCreery said this has been an issue that has bothered him for months, and that when he brought it up the first time to the other commissioners, no one said anything.

Ford told McCreery that if he was that concerned, a simple face-to-face conversation would have been easy enough.

“You could have very easily come to me,” Ford said. “Two meetings in public now, zero texts, zero emails, zero phone calls, zero interpersonal communications.”

“You haven’t talked to me about any of this,” Clem said. “Just ask, ‘What have you been up to? What’s important? What do I need to know?’ If you want that information I’m happy to give it.”

Clem said that he and Ford had been invited by the city to help plan for a nuclear energy informational meeting which took place Thursday.

“After that very first meeting, we came to an open session and said, here’s what’s going on,” Clem said. “We weren’t keeping it a secret. The board wouldn’t have known anything about it had we not opened our mouths.”

McCreery said he felt like he wasn’t “invited to the party,” and that his speaking out at the city council meeting was in the same vein as what Clem and Ford did.

“The only difference is, you heard every word I said,” he said. “I never heard anything you said at your meetings. That’s what drove me to do this.”

Clem said the county expects its employees to handle things in a professional manner instead of spreading gossip and rumors, and the commissioners should do the same.

“We don’t want gossip, we don’t want people with problems airing it out every which way,” he said. “If you have a problem with me, take it to the person who can fix it, which is me.”

“I think we can do better. I think we can communicate better. I know I’m not the best communicator in the world,” McCreery said.

The discussion Tuesday also delved into whether the commissioners need to do a better job of being transparent.

McCreery asked if the commission needs to have a policy where “commissioners need to tell either the chairman or executive director that they’re attending a meeting.”

“Commissioners want everybody to account for every penny that they’ve got in their departments, how come we can’t account for our time in our meetings that we have?” McCreery asked.

Both Clem and Ford said if that’s what McCreery wants, that’s within his purview as chair, but he needs to communicate that more clearly with the rest of the board.

“I’m guilty also. I haven’t been thinking it’s that important if two other commissioners are at somebody else’s meeting and I’m there also,” McCreery said.

Clem said he doesn’t go to John Patriot meetings “because I know two commissioners are going to be there.”

Commissioner Bob Jordan called himself a “wanderer” when it comes to meetings.

“City council, John Patriot, Girl Scouts —  doesn’t matter. I only wander in to listen, I have no agenda,” he said.

He added that whenever he meets with anyone on a topic that has to do with county business, he lets McCreery and County Administrative Director Sandra Beeman know.

At the Sept. 2 city council meeting, Means, Jordan and McCreery were in attendance, meaning there was a quorum of commissioners. Means said that when he was sitting in the chambers, Jordan sat out in the lobby.

“When Bob came in to speak, I got up and left,” Means said. “I don’t know why we have to go through those kinds of things when we’re just sitting there, but those are the rules.”

McCreery said he told Beeman that he was going to the city council meeting, and he “had no clue other commissioners would be there.”

“We’re going to need to sharpen up on this,” McCreery admitted. “If I see two other commissioners, I better turn around and stay out of it.”

He also asked that the other commissioners do a better job of filling him in on what meetings they’re having.

“If it’s none of my business, you can tell me straight up. However I would like a little more cooperation, transparency, and being on the up and up,” McCreery said. “If you know something’s coming at you, we don’t have to broadcast it to everybody, but if we (the commissioners) know, that gives me comfort that you’re not hiding anything.”

This story was published on Sept. 19, 2025.