Editor,
Thank you, Saratoga Sun, for printing the map of the special museum district proposed by the Saratoga Museum and Historical Association and for covering discussion of this proposal at recent Carbon County Commissioners’ meetings. To avoid sliding into the petty and personal, we should look at the blueprint for the creation of special districts; Wyoming Statutes, Title 22 - Elections (Chapter 29).
Briefly, authority shifts from property owners (signing the petition), county assessor (authenticating the signers and value of the property they represent), the county commission (assuring the proposal adheres to statute, hearing public comment, acting on the proposal), perhaps back to the landowners for a veto and then on to all voters within the proposed district. My comments are my own.
1. The purpose of a special district should be to provide specified “services” which meet an identified “need within the district.” First, the financial situation of the proposing entity cannot be considered a “service.” Secondly, “the need” is now met and shared by the Saratoga and other museums as described in the mission statements of all the museums in Carbon County School District No. 2 as, more or less, the gathering, preserving and presenting of local history.
2. The district proposed is a political unit. This may be convenient for balloting, but its boundaries are mutable, artificial when applied to culture. The commissioners “shall consider the benefit the proposed district will have within the territory in and out of the propose district.” The same paragraph gives the commissioners power to include or exclude territory, which led to removing three Ryan Park townships from the proposed district (the district’s area must be contiguous).
This action opens Grand Encampment Museum’s options, should it choose, to form or join another special district. Previous to this action, GEM had only the choice of joining Saratoga’s special district. An appropriate action, as Shannon Fagan-Craig observed Ryan Park history is a shared one.
Commissioner Jones eloquently pointed out our museums are concerned with one history and its preservation should be a cooperative effort. I also believe our story should not be fragmented by artificial boundaries into separate fiefdoms. From Leo to Blackhall Peak, from old Carbon to the Platte, we are tied by streams, creeks, trails, power lines, rails and, most of all, people. Then and now.
3. The commissioners approved the proposed district as amended and the “protest period” began. All protests at this point must come from the property owners. These may be residents or non-residents, corporations or partnerships. “If within 30 days after the adjournment of the hearing written protests signed by the owners of at least 35 percent of assessed valuation of property … in the proposed district are presented to the … commissioners, the proposal and the district shall fail.
4. Finally, assuming, such an action doesn’t occur, the voters within the district pass judgement on the special district and its directors.
This attention to our museums is gratifying. The issue is complex; no wonder Chairman John Johnson felt like King Solomon when faced with two mothers and one baby. In the meanwhile, I urge you to visit and then support one or all of our local museums with appropriate items, funds and time. The need is obviously there.
Signed,
Nancy Anderson
Encampment, Wyoming
Reader Comments(0)