There are other ways to have an impact on public policy

Dear Editor,

From following the discussion in your letters pages, it seems to me that some of our citizens have forgotten that a meeting of the Town Council (or School Board or Legislature) is just that, a meeting of the people elected to conduct the Town’s business.

In accordance with Wyoming Statutes these meetings are held in public so that the citizens may hear the deliberations of their elected representatives.

The people should have no expectation that they can enter the debate of the issues at hand, that is the responsibility of the elected officials in these types of meetings. Our Town Council has extended the courtesy of allowing citizens of the Town to speak to issues concerning them and have put reasonable guidelines on this privilege.

There are a couple of other ways that individuals can have an impact on Public Policy such as speaking to your representatives outside of the meeting about your concerns, volunteering to serve on one of the Boards that help the Council develop policy, or running for elected office in order to have a voice and a vote at the table.   

Being an elected official is in many ways a thankless job, many decisions have lots of people on both sides of the issue so that you are assured that you are going to make someone mad no matter which way you vote. While I don’t always agree with the decisions made I am confident that the people elected to office are doing what they sincerely believe to be in the best interests of the Town and shouldn’t have to put up with rude behavior while they are trying to do it.

Remember there is a way to change things ... The ballot box.

Sonja Collamer

Saratoga