On Thursday afternoon, the Craig City Council voted to extend a contract to former Moffat County Sheriff KC Hume for the city manager position.

The motion to approve the contract was made by Council member Joe Herod and seconded by Council member Derek Duran.

In discussion before the vote, Council member Randy Looper expressed reservations about approving the contract, noting that Hume lacked experience related to the position that might affect his ability to hire key staff, particularly an assistant city manager/economic development director.

Council member Duran echoed Looper’s concerns.

Council member Herod pushed back on Looper and Duran’s concerns and said one of the council’s priorities should be hiring someone who would make the city look good.

“You want people who make you look good,” Herod said. “I just feel like he’s got enough knowledge and enough leadership skills that that’s what will happen. If it doesn’t, then we can fix the mistake, but I don’t think it’s a mistake.”

Nichols then outlined the reasons he was supporting the hiring of Hume.

“We had discussions. We all recognized KC has weaknesses in experience with economic development and multidepartment leadership,” Nichols said. “But in the contract, the negotiating team tried to complement or set the city manager up for success in those areas, knowing that the council has a goal to approve the assistant city manager and economic development manager position. That should help that co-position pay what it will take to attract talent in that field, so I think we are covering those areas.”

He went on to state that the contract gives the city “certain outs” that made him feel “a little bit better about it.”

“I feel that KC’s weaknesses are kind of the biggest issues for the next two years,” said Duran. “That is my only concern. I think he’s a good leader and stuff, but economic development and other things are the biggest issues we have coming up.”

Following discussion, council members Gottschall, Linsacum and Herod voted “yay,” while Duran, Tucker and Looper voted “nay.”

Nichols, laughing, cast his vote after saying, “It comes down to the deciding vote here, huh?”

“You know, I’ll say ‘yay,'” he said. “I think we addressed the issues the best we could in the contract.”

During a regular meeting Tuesday, the Craig City Council voted unanimously to amend its agenda by removing a resolution that would have approved the contract for Hume as city manager. Resolution No. 12 (2026), initially listed as agenda item 7I on the March 10 agenda, was pulled during the agenda approval process following a motion by Looper and a second by Duran.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.