When longtime Park County Assessor Pat Meyer announced his retirement in November, he envisioned being replaced by his top deputy, who he’d been preparing for the role. The Park County Republican Party Central Committee had other ideas.

At a Thursday night meeting in Cody, the party’s leaders and precinct committee members spurned Meyer’s deputy Terry Call, ranking him last among the six Republicans who applied for the open position.

The central committee instead nominated three other candidates as possible replacements for Meyer: Bob Ferguson, the party’s vice chairman and a financial adviser in Meeteetse; Allen Gilbert, a longtime teacher who recently moved from Pennsylvania to Powell; and Don Shreve, a Cody city councilman who currently works for the county as a youth probation officer.

Park County commissioners are set to choose a new assessor from among the trio during their regular meeting on Tuesday. Commission Chairman Dossie Overfield said the board will hear from each of the three candidates starting at 1:10 p.m. Their pick will serve out the final two years of Meyer’s term.

One of the reasons Meyer cited in retiring at the end of the year was the stress created by the skyrocketing property values and taxes that have stretched residents’ budgets and patience. In a lengthy weekend Facebook post about the replacement process, Precinct Committeeman Troy Bray blamed Meyer for the rising taxes and said “the people … want change in that office.”

Call has been with the office for 14 years and he told the central committee that the assessor has little control over property taxes. 

“It is not glamorous,” Call said of the job, saying it requires technical expertise and public service.

He also noted that, after initial opposition, Meyer advocated for capping and rolling back taxes in recent years. However, that pitch didn’t sway the conservative Republicans who control the majority of seats on the party’s central committee.

Bob Ferguson

Like other candidates, Ferguson said rising taxes prompted him to apply for the assessor’s role.

He’s spent 30 years in finance — including with Barclays in New York, as a fundraiser for the NRA, at Wells Fargo and in his current role as a financial adviser for Prudential. Beyond serving as the local party’s vice chair, he’s also the treasurer of the Wyoming Republican Party.

“… We need somebody that is a strong advocate for lower taxes,” Ferguson said in his pitch. “We need somebody that can keep property valuations under control — aggressively supporting property tax reform legislation in Cheyenne.” 

He argued that Meyer did not do enough.

“I can pledge to you right now that I will be down in Cheyenne testifying for every tax relief bill that's out there,” Ferguson said, mentioning his support for a 2026 ballot initiative that would halve residents’ taxes.

He also said he wants to get away from computer-driven appraisals.

Allen Gilbert

Gilbert has decades of experience as a special education teacher, insurance salesman and mortgage originator. He moved to Park County from Pennsylvania about three years ago because “this was the most conservative place I could live,” he told the committee.

When he first arrived in Powell, Gilbert’s property taxes were around $1,200 a year, he said. That was manageable on his teacher’s pension, Gilbert said, as it was well below the $9,000 to $10,000 he was paying annually in Pennsylvania. However, his tax bill has since doubled to around $2,450.

When he learned about the assessor’s position coming open, “I looked at this as an opportunity to get involved and to do something rather than sit around and blame,” he said.

One of the questions posed to all applicants was whether they could explain the role of the assessor, whether they’d read the statutes related to the office and whether they met the qualifications.

“I cannot, I did not and I don’t,” Gilbert responded, drawing laughter and big applause from the crowd. “But I’m a fast learner and I’m a really good student.”

“You’ll get integrity from me and you’ll get tenacity from me, and I’m for people,” he said, “and I don’t like what government is doing with our money.”

Gilbert called for more outreach about existing tax relief programs. 

Don Shreve

Shreve, meanwhile, would bring some experience in government. Not only has he served on the Cody council for the past two years, he served as a recruiter for the state’s Cowboy Challenge Academy for at-risk youth and now leads the county’s youth services. Shreve also spent over two decades practicing law in Nevada and Wyoming, but, according to bar documents, his license was suspended in 2012 for mishandling client funds and missing deadlines.

Shreve differed from the other candidates in offering thanks to Meyer and his staff “for doing a great job for us.”

With Meyer moving on, “we need to maintain some continuity of the good works that he has done,” Shreve said, “but I do not think that a fresh look of what that office does and what it does for its citizens should be out of bounds.”

For example, he said the county should take a hard look at ensuring properties aren’t being over-assessed and try to physically visit properties “far more frequently” than the every-six-year schedule required by state law.

“I am a staunch advocate for the citizens, and will do everything in my power to represent them,” Shreve said.

Other applicants

In his remarks, Call told the precinct committee members that his office has long been conservative in the way it values local properties and he’s “used every tool available to lower taxes and return money to taxpayers in Park County.”

He said the county’s values are always at the bottom of the range allowed by state rules — and he pledged to work with local lawmakers to deliver more relief.

“Taxpayers tell me, ‘We don’t mind paying our fair share of property taxes,’” Call said. “The problem for all of us taxpayers is the past few years haven't been fair at all.”

Another applicant, Paul Lanchbury of Cody, pledged to work for the people and complained that some assessors lobbied for tax increases. Lanchbury — who previously suffered a head injury that required brain surgery — owns a ranch and previously worked in the oil field and as an electrical lineman.

When asked to explain the assessor’s role, he quipped that it was “to lower my taxes.”

The final applicant to enter the race was Dave Baker of Powell, who worked as a tax appraiser in Fallon County, Montana, from 1988 to 1994. Baker missed Wednesday’s deadline to apply, but that was only because the party mistakenly listed the wrong email address when it began soliciting applications. As a result, Baker was allowed to join the field.

The process

In the first round of voting, the central committee members were directed to vote for their top five candidates. Under the rules adopted by the body, any ballots that contained more or less than five votes were supposed to be “declared null and void”, meaning the final tally should have been a multiple of five. However, the final tally included 417 votes — indicating that one or more of the 84 ballots cast included fewer than five votes but still was counted.

Park County Republican Party Chairman Martin Kimmet said Monday that he didn’t know why the results did not represent a multiple of five and indicated he would recheck them.

Ultimately, Call finished in sixth place in that initial “primary” and was eliminated from further contention by a single vote: He received 55 votes, while Lanchbury received 56. (Shreve led the field with 82 votes, Gilbert 79, Ferguson 76 and Baker 69.)

In the second round, party members voted for their top three candidates. Gilbert (64 votes) and Ferguson (61) earned two of the nominations in that round, while Shreve and Lanchbury tied for the third slot, with 46 votes apiece; Baker finished fifth with 26 votes while three ballots were spoiled.

The rules were then modified for the third round so committee members could just vote for their top pick. That resulted in a clear win for Shreve, who received 46 votes to beat out Lanchbury (27) and Baker (7), with two spoiled ballots.

The decision now rests in the hands of the county commissioners. In his Sunday post, Bray said he fears the board “will appoint the person they feel is least qualified or most corrupt … in order to send a ‘F[—] You’ to the people of Park County ” and urged people to express support for Ferguson.

Ferguson will make an excellent assessor, Bray wrote in part, adding that “the other 2 candidates [Gilbert and Shreve] were selected with the intent that the required 3 names be forwarded.”

If the commissioners fail to pick a candidate, the decision would fall to a district court judge, who could theoretically pick any qualified Republican.