Company continues family focus

Walter Sprague
Art and Culture Reporter
 
When Dan Roe, of Sturgis, approached Kim Rhoades about buying Weston County Title in March 2019, Rhoades said she was a bit reluctant to sell. But when she talked it over with her husband, Rocky, he said that it was the right time in their lives. His retirement from the U.S. Postal Service was coming up fast, he said, and it would free them to spend more time with the extended family, most of whom still live in the area. Kim said she was put at ease when she found out that Black Hills Title, Roe’s company, was a small family- and community-oriented business. So on Aug. 23, the sale of the company was finalized, and Weston County Title became Black Hills Title.
Kim still works in the office but now can enjoy life with her husband more often, such as visiting her many aunts, uncles and cousin. When she was the owner, she said, the responsibility tied her down to some extent. That pressure is no longer as immense. Kim said she still enjoys helping the people in one of the more mundane aspects of a real estate transaction. However, since Rocky’s retirement on Aug. 30, it is nice to be able to step away when she wants to, she said.
Roe is also family focused. It is the importance of family and community, he said, that drives him to make his business a model of good ethics, in work as well as how the staff and the surrounding community are treated. In 1986, Black Hills Title was founded under the name Meade County Title by Roe’s father, Wayne, in Sturgis, South Dakota. Back then, the company conducted business in the back of a utility company in one room, Roe said. At first, they only did abstracts but branched out into title insurance as the years went on. Dan started working for his father in May 1996. He became president of the company in January 2001. At that time, while still technically working for the company, Wayne stepped aside, Roe said, and took a more hands-off role. Wayne officially retired in 2009, but he really hasn’t been in the office much since 2002 and has left the running of the company to Dan.
Then in November of 2015, the company expanded into Spearfish and Belle Fourche, both in South Dakota. That is when the company’s new name of Black Hills Title was born. 
According to Roe, he loves the work. While he enjoys the research that goes into title searches, he said, it is the help he offers that is the most important. “It is complicated and a bit intimidating. We help facilitate probably the biggest purchase a person will do in their lives,” he said. 
There is enough pressure on people when buying a home, Roe said, and he is happy that he can take much of that off of them. And not just for the time of the purchase. Having an abstract and a lawyer sign off on it only goes so far, he said. Roe indicated that in some states without title insurance, an outside party can lay a claim of interest in a piece of property after seven years of the sale. Title insurance keeps such claims at bay for the entire time the person owns the property.
But it is Roe’s involvement in the communities he’s branched out into that is so important to him.  As he has done in Sturgis, Belle Fourche, and Spearfish, Roe said, he likes to invest in the cities. Roe’s hope is for Newcastle to be the hub of Black Hills Title for a couple of other towns in northeast Wyoming. Right now, he employs 23 people in his offices, bringing with them more than 300 years of experience. Making Newcastle the center of his Wyoming expansion should add one or two more jobs here, he said. Roe stressed said that local people will fill those positions. 
Roe also said he wants “to always have a small business feel, where the employees are free to take care of the family.” He also does not want to outsource any aspects of the work but will, instead, use technological advances to facilitate and make it easier for staff.
According to Roe, he is eager to help in sponsoring events such concerts or shows. He also said that, as a sponsor, he would love to supply some needed materials for the tunnel mural project currently in the planning stages. Working with the Weston County Arts Council in this capacity is something Roe said he is looking forward to. 
All in all, Roe said, he is looking forward to building a good relationship with the people of Newcastle and being a helpful service and friend to the community.