The Devil We Know

The Preamble of the Constitution of the United States reads: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” This in and of itself speaks volumes to the American people, as a country and as a basis for governing ourselves at the level of a local government. Many citizens of Guernsey, with whom I have had the privilege of speaking, have answered my question with the same alarming statement.

Question: “If the current mayor is not doing his job, and you knew about his failure from the past administrations, then why did you vote for him again?”

Answer: “I voted for the ‘devil we know’ and not the devil we didn’t know…”

Politicians rarely have the interest of the public at heart. With that said, it begs to question the motives of why people chose to engage in public office to begin with. The genius of the Constitution of the United States is the fact of the document’s faith in “ordinary” citizens’ ability to govern themselves. Regardless of where one stands politically, on a national or state level, the individual certainly has a voice at the level of local government.

For at least a decade, the current mayor and many of the sitting town council, have blatantly silenced or ignored individuals, and the public at large, when it comes to providing for the “General Welfare” and the security of the “Blessings of Liberty”. As most of the populous understands, the cost involved with the operations of a municipality is quite extensive. But if you were to ask any member of the administration, they will tell you that the Town of Guernsey is a “not for profit” entity.

However, the State Constitution and the established ordinances of the Town of Guernsey, provide the provision of revenue streams to the town in the forms of utility billing, collection of fees and dues, contract for services and the like. Admittedly, this is not enough to provide for the common welfare for the town, therefore additional tax dollars are involved.

Appropriations from the State of Wyoming are paid to the individual counties, and then the counties appropriate the funding to the towns. Most municipalities hold budget meetings to make sure that the money appropriated to them is used to cover town operational expenses.

But there is a fatal flaw in the budgeting process of most towns and municipalities. The town has a provision, at the discretion of Town Council, to make budget amendments. Budget amendments involve taking money from one source and using the funds somewhere else. These amendments, used to fund pet projects, useless expenditures and mismanagement oversights, are very common.

In 2021, the Town of Guernsey, under Mayor Nick Paustian, adopted by resolution the Guernsey Community Development Plan, as an official Town policy. The Town of Guernsey received a grant from the Wyoming Business Council to have an engineering firm come to Guernsey for the purpose of conducting a “study”. The purpose of the study was to address the concerns of providing for the common welfare of the town. Housing/housing development, commercial interest, economic development, recreation, sustainability and other urban development aspects were considered in the study. Interviews and documentation were compiled and presented to the town for consideration.

From adoption to date, nothing has been accomplished regarding the recommendations of the plan, nor the development/implementation thereof. This was a huge expenditure for nothing other than to create the appearance that the town has the best interest concerning the people and their needs. When approached in 2022, Mayor Delgado said “We will look into it”. There has been no follow up.

This narrative is not just an indictment of the Town’s administration, but most importantly an indictment of the citizenry itself. The people of Guernsey need to wake up and shake themselves from the apathy that grips them. The people need to look beyond the threshold of their own front doors and realize that their town is in a state of decay and if something doesn’t change soon, the Town will die. The general lack of economic sustainability gives little wonder to why businesses and people move away from the area.

Guernsey can not remain in this state of stagnation. Guernsey also can not sustain or allow itself to keep reelecting individuals who continuously undermine the very ideas of which they took an oath to defend. This criticism of Guernsey’s citizens offers little reason to sympathize with the town, as they persist in reelecting ‘the devil they know”

The administration is a representation of the constituency population of the Town of Guernsey. We must make our voice known, heard and heeded, and hold the Town accountable to their action in all aspects of governance.

Your voice matters, use it to shape a brighter future for Guernsey.