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By Darla Downs,
Northern Plains Independent Publisher As we await the outcome of the Montana Attorney General's office's review of the documentation regarding the Nygaard pit gravel sales to Roosevelt County submitted for review, we can only wonder what took Roosevelt County Attorney Frank Piocos nearly five months to even begin the investigation.
Roosevelt County Commissioner Gary Macdonald spoke to Piocos in late May/ early June 2021 and gave him copies of the documentation that had been provided to Macdonald by concerned residents Deb Matejovsky and Bill Juve — nearly five months before Oct. 21 when Matejovsky, Juve and members of this newspaper's staff met with Piocos to get an update of the progress of his investigation and the date that Piocos chose to use as the date of the formal complaint.
During that October meeting, Piocos admitted to having possession of the documents given him by Macdonald and called it “a s#$t sandwich on the corner of his desk.” Piocos stated at that meeting that he didn’t realize it was his job to investigate alleged misconduct of other county officials and noted that he had contacted the Attorney General’s office for direction.
As to why Piocos determined charges were unwarranted, he claimed that the applicable statutes are misdemeanors and must be charged within one year.
Because it is true that misdemeanors typically have a one-year statute of limitations, the actions from 2018 and 2019 may be beyond the reach of the justice system.
However, gravel sales from the Nygaard pit continue to today. The only difference is Century Companies of Lewistown is purchasing the gravel from Nygaard and then selling it to Roosevelt County. The commissioners, including Duane Nygaard, approved payment for a claim from Century Companies on July 19, 2021, in the amount of $78,750.
This would appear to still be a conflict of interest by commissioner Nygaard — and would definitely be within the statute of limitations.
