County candidates

The second of two primary election forums hosted by the Valley Service Organization (VSO) took place at 6 p.m. on July 25 at the Platte Valley Community Center. During this forum, candidates for all contested county seats were given the opportunity to address the audience. The second night saw noticeably more attendance than the event held on Monday night as both the Carbon County Attorney and Carbon County Sheriff races have been watched closely by county residents as evidenced by people leaving after the attorney and sheriff portion of the forum.

VSO member Kassey Westring moderated the entire event while fellow VSO member Sue Jones provided audience members with a microphone to ask questions and Saratoga Sun staff again live-streamed the forum on social media.

Carbon County Assessor

The first candidates were those for Carbon County Assessor. Renee Snider, who currently serves as Deputy County Assessor, was joined by Lindsey West and James "JJ" Spencer.

During introductions, Snider told the audience that she was the only candidate currently employed with the Carbon County Assessor's office. West told the audience that she had previously been employed by the Carbon County Assessor's office and had held the position of Deputy Assessor.

Spencer told the crowd that he was the only candidate of the three that did not currently have any experience, but he had chosen to run because he felt that more transparency was needed with the office.

"I'm currently not certified in the office, but I've taken the initiative and have already been in touch with the Department of Revenue," Spencer said.

Westring asked the candidates if they felt the assessor's office should have a role in ensuring that residents are not forced out of their homes due to rising property taxes. Spencer was the first to answer the question, but all candidates agreed that the assessor's office did not set tax policy and were governed by the Department of Revenue.

With a limited number of questions, the candidates for assessor returned to their seats. The Carbon County Attorney candidates, Seth "Turtle" Johnson and Ashley Mayfield-Davis, were the next to take their seats in front of the audience.

Carbon County

Attorney

The discussion between the attorney candidates ranged from the drug problems facing Carbon County to the proper application of deferrals and the role of the Carbon County Attorney.

"I think that this county is in need of some new leadership and, just basically, a person that is willing to implement new ideas and new technology to make Carbon County a competitive place," said Johnson in his introduction. "Not only for lawyers to practice law, but for businesses to come and to make this their hometown. To make sustainable jobs and opportunities for the people here."

"One of the reasons I think I'm qualified for this job is my experience. I've been working with the Carbon County Attorney's Office for the past 10 years. I'm currently the Chief Deputy," Davis said in her introduction. "I have three children and it's very important to me that they are safe and we do this by prosecuting cases. I have done that approximately 3,000 times. That's how many criminal cases I've prosecuted in the course of my career."

The first question centered around how they would address the drug problem in Carbon County.

"We currently are addressing it through treatment. One of the biggest places we see the drug problem, unfortunately, are families. One of the things we do in juvenile court is to address that treatment for the whole family and try to reunify that family," answered Davis.

Johnson answered that he believed that the issues of drugs within Carbon County was "the result of an endemic problem "that came from a lack of opportunity, education and competitive infrastructure."

"What I would do to treat the drug abuse problem is try to afford people counseling options, try to afford them job opportunities and make them understand that their choices affect everyone else in Carbon County," added Johnson.

Another question asked the candidates' philosophy on first time nonviolent offenders. This question led to verbal sparring between the candidates as Johnson brought up "301 deferrals" as outlined in Wyoming State Statute 7-13-301.

"Carbon County does not currently allow citizens access to 301 diversionary programs, which is a first-time nonviolent offender program," answered Johnson.

"That is simply not true," replied Davis. "Every case is decided on a case-by-case basis. 301s have been given in our office. They are given in cases where they are deemed appropriate. Mr. Johnson has not pulled any cases since we last talked, but 301s have been given by this office in the past 10 years. Occasionally for a DUI, sometimes a domestic violence situation."

Carbon County Sheriff

Incumbent Sheriff Archie Roybal was joined by challengers Walter Hagan and Thomas "Thom" Gamblin. All three candidates, in their introductions, cited their experience within law enforcement as reasons they felt they were qualified for the position.

The first question concerned the lack of law enforcement in smaller municipalities such as Medicine Bow and Riverside.

"Someone said something about 'mandatory relocation of officers.' That is not what we're planning, that is not what was discussed in our last forum," said Gamblin. "We're not mandatorily moving anybody, but what we want to do is scheduling. Moving people out. Working with the towns, cooperating with them."

"Here's my perception on this," said Roybal. "We have 8,800 square miles in this county. We have 10 towns in that county and it is very difficult for our agency to cover everything at all times. We have more than just the big county to consider. A lot of the things we do in the smaller communities is we try to have a presence, just because you don't see us doesn't mean we're not there."

As the discussion continued, it covered each candidate's law enforcement style, improving technology for the department and assessing the performance of the sheriff's department. As the time for the candidates was coming to an end, Medicine Bow resident Kenda Colman requested the chance to ask one last question.

"Excuse me," Colman said. "I really think I should have my say because I'm from Medicine Bow and if there's any community that's been run around this whole thing, it's mine and I have a question."

Jones informed Colman that time was running low and questions and answers would be limited to 30 seconds. Colman replied to Jones that she was fine with the time constraints.

"I'm from Medicine Bow and how are you guys going to help us? We're trying to put in a cop force to help you, but in the same sense we need direction. There's a criminal influence in my town. How are you going to get it out?" asked Colman.

Hagan was the first to answer. "The best thing to do is get deputies in that area for patrol. The other thing is, as a citizen, if you guys are concerned you need to let us know. We can't see everything," said Hagan.

"We're trying to do the best we can, to the best of our ability, but we don't know until people tell us," answered Roybal. "If we don't know there's a situation, we can't fix it."

Gamblin proposed a night shift and rotating officers through both night shift and day shift.

"Night shift. Crime is afoot under the cloak of darkness," finished Gamblin.

Carbon County

Commissioner

Following the candidates for Carbon County Sheriff, and finishing up the evening, were six of the candidates for Carbon County Commissioner. Incumbents W. John Johnson and Robert "Bob" Davis were joined by Terry Weickum, Travis Moore, Duane Stolns and Byron Barkhurst. Questions asked ranged from the impact of the incoming wind energy projects in Carbon County to the need for affordable housing.

While all the candidates agreed that affordable housing was an issue for the county, each had their own answer for how to address it.

"Affordable housing is dependent on the labor that is coming in. We have short-term labor such as turnover at Sinclair when they're doing their turnarounds up there then we have the long-term economy or housing needs and those are for the permanent jobs that are left behind from our boom and bust cycle," answered Davis.

Johnson stated that he felt what was needed was to diversify the economy and it would hopefully lead to good paying jobs. Weickum added that he believed the commissioners should talk with the largest employers in the county, such as the Sinclair refinery and the State Penitentiary, about working with developers to build affordable apartments.

"I think Terry was on to something with the affordable apartment-type housing," said Moore. "The biggest question is: it's a one-time expenditure and who's going to take care of it after? In my experience, I remember people living in tents during the first boom. They lived in tents and trailer parks filled up. Then, after the fact, when people came to stay, they built housing developments which, now, have been bought up and the rental prices are pretty high."

Stolns added that he felt the biggest issue in affordable housing, whether it was the developer or the municipality, is that someone needed to "control the checkbook." Barkhurst suggested that Rawlins, as well as other towns like Saratoga and Encampment, consider annexing land for the purpose of developing subdivisions for affordable housing.

The other largely discussed issue facing Carbon County was that of the impact of wind turbines in communities."Wyoming, for the long haul, is an energy state. It provides a great deal of energy for a lot of places and, the fact of the matter is, private industry will come and try to exploit us for those things as long as it's here," answered Moore. "We need to embrace the fact that we're an energy state. Not just fossil fuels, but energy state."

Stolns stated that he believed some foresight should go into the construction of wind turbines, on both public and private land, so as not to disrupt the wide-open spaces of Carbon County.

In Barkhurst's response, he noted the amount of income that would be generated from the wind energy industry in county. "Of the wind energy projects that have been approved in my tenure on the planning and zoning commission," said Barkhurst, "at the current six percent tax revenue, will be close to $30 million in sales tax generated on just those turbines alone."

Davis expressed his desire to the crowd to take advantage of the cards Carbon County had been dealt in terms of the proposed wind projects. Johnson added that he felt the county needed to figure out how to tap into the energy being produced and not just be an exporter of it.

Winding Down

With the two hour mark surpassed, the forum was concluded and the candidates were thanked for their time.