Last week, Town Council member Stan Holt wrote a somewhat sarcastic (but nevertheless entertaining) letter to the weekly Pagosa Springs SUN:
Dear Editor,
Job vacancies — attention town soothsayers, magi, astrologers and those who know it all. There will be an election to fill three at-large vacancies on the town council come April. In addition to the legal requirements, the following commitments are necessary: 1) giving 200-300 hours of your personal/family time each year for four-year term of office; 2) furnishing computer, office supplies, transportation, cell phone and monetary funds to use while in office; 3) a willingness to work for no pay; 4) a willingness to endure vilification, condemnation, innuendos and falsification; 5) a realization you will be wrong in the public’s eye most of the time; 6) a strong heart and stomach; and 7) good sleep habits. So, now you can quit complaining! Pick up a nomination application at Town Hall and run for office in hopes that you can put your superior knowledge and crystal ball to good use.
— Stan Holt
I was amused by Mr. Holt's January 26 letter — which is, on its face, an appeal to those who think they know better than the current Town leadership, and a suggestion to step up and run for three Town Council at-large vacancies this coming April. Mr. Holt notes, among other things, that the position is entirely volunteer, takes many hours of your personal and family time and requires “a willingness to endure vilification, condemnation, innuendos and falsification.”
I would say that is an accurate description of the job — especially the falsification part.
It's unfortunate that the legal requirements to run for Town Council exclude 86% of the community’s voters who are denied the right to elect the representatives who spend their tax dollars.
 It saddens me to hear over and over that a majority of those remaining 14% who live within the Town boundaries reside in a culture of fear and are reluctant to involve themselves in local politics. Maybe that's why those who openly oppose many of the Town decisions — those of us with crystal balls and superior knowledge as Mr. Holt mockingly suggests— have been gerrymandered outside Town limits and therefore are ineligible to serve on the Town Council.
The concentration of Town voters within a short walk of the Mayor’s house, in spite of sprawling annexation of commercial property for five miles along Highway 160, was the intended design of the Pagosa Springs Town leaders. We are experiencing their intended consequences.
So, dear fellow community members that reside within the Town, I wish you well, filling your Town Council vacancies. |