Continuing the Crook County News Since 1884

Our View

We, the people, don’t need gatekeepers

We are troubled by the commission’s decision not to form a solid waste district for Crook County. Not because we feel one way or the other about the county’s trash issues, but because this is not how our democracy is supposed to work.

We believe the commission has made what it feels is the right decision in light of what they believe to be the mood of the people. Unfortunately, we’re not sure they realize that, by doing so, they have taken a crucial decision about the county’s future out of the hands of its citizens.

The original request from Mayor Dick Claar of Moorcroft was simply to form a district, which would then seek the best solution to save the county’s last remaining landfill. It was likely this solution would require a cash influx in the form of a mill levy. If so, the voters would be asked to decide if they were willing to pay that mill levy on the next available ballot.

We don’t know exactly what this best solution would have entailed, or whether a mill levy would have been necessary, because a district was never formed. There appeared to be discomfort in the commissioners’ room that the question of a mill levy would go directly to the voters, bypassing the commission’s oversight. Forming the district would thus be their only meaningful contribution, and the rest would be left up to us.

They appear concerned that the issue would end up running over them, preventing them from protecting their constituents, but this ignores a fundamental truth: taking the question to the people is the best and only way to honor the idea of democracy.

How could it ever really be a problem to ask voters for their thoughts directly? Isn’t the concept of listening to every voice precisely the ideal our nation was founded on?

In the commission’s attempts to do their best for the community, we think this truth has gotten lost. For a decision that impacts every person in the county one way or another, don’t we want every person to have their say?

We do not need gatekeepers to stand between the voters and the issues affecting them. It should have been a no-brainer to take this directly to the people via the ballot.

Our commissioners balked at the idea of a district because members of the community called them, and all of those people reportedly spoke against the idea of a new mill levy. That’s fine, we adamantly believe that every person’s opinion counts towards this decision, but we shouldn’t be making it via straw poll.

Unless every county resident called one of the commissioners, we have not heard anything close to the full story. We have only heard from those who are concerned enough to make a phone call, as is always the case with big changes and public decisions.

We can’t find the logic in refusing to form a district. Perhaps the commission’s worry is that asking everyone to vote would cause a bias towards residents within the municipalities over those who live out in the county. But on the other hand, they have decided to appoint an eight-person committee split equally between the two types of citizen.

They did this because there are as many people living outside city limits as inside them. If that’s the case, doesn’t it follow that a vote could not be biased towards the towns?

And even if it did lean more towards a certain type of citizen, that could only happen if there were more of them registered to vote, which still doesn’t go against the spirit of democracy.

Was this done out of concern that the voters would pass the mill levy, against the wishes of those people who made the phone calls? Surely that can’t be the case, because it would mean the commission was favoring the people who called them over everybody else, and we don’t believe they would knowingly do that.

At this point, we’ve run out of reasons not to form a solid waste district. Everything about Claar’s request was reasonable and within the spirit of democracy.

To us, it seems perfectly logical to appoint a board of experts to delve into the details and come back with the best solution they can find. Letting us vote on that solution, making up our own minds as to whether we are willing to institute a new mill levy, is the most democratic path forward from that point.

We, the people, do not need gatekeepers to decide whose opinion is most important or should be considered more valid. We know our elected officials are seeking to do their best for us, and we implore them to realize a district is the answer. All we need – and all we ask for – is a chance to make our voices heard at the polling station.