Letter to the Editor from Jim Wycoff

The voters of Gallatin are about to take part in one of this nations most sacred traditions… voting for fellow citizens to represent them and help make the leadership decisions that will guide our community for the next two years.

I have had the privilege of being present for many meetings of Gallatin’s Board of Aldermen, starting in 1999 and ending in 2004. During that time I was able to witness many very good people taking on the regularly thankless job of trying to do the right thing for their town. I have witnessed a few people, elected or appointed to that body, who were misguided. But for the most part the majority of these leaders were doing what they thought was best for the town, and honoring the sacred oaths they took to do just that. The fact is that the vast majority of the people who fill these few leadership positions for our city have had pure hearts. They did the very best they could to do the right things for us all.

I am sure that the good people of Gallatin… the majority, lets say, will do what they regularly do. They will take some time from their lives on Tuesday, the 4th of April, to go to their voting places and cast their votes for people that they feel will continue this tradition of trying to do what’s right for our town.

In this particular election there are a couple of people, though good of heart and solid citizens, who are running for office to advance misguided agendas, or who feel that they need to get onto this legislative body because they wrongly believe that the people who are there now, or who have been there the majority of the recent past, are/were ‘violating their oaths’, or are otherwise purposefully not performing their duties honestly. It is unfortunate when these types of folks come forward and make poorly based decisions to change things for the wrong reasons, but it has been my experience, during my relatively short time in Gallatin, that the good citizens of the city… at least a majority of them, usually make the right calls and put people into the leadership that are not motivated by incorrect or poorly based assumptions about those who they will replace, or join, as Aldermen or as Mayor.

I was surprised to see that a particularly misguided individual, who has served as an Alderman and as Mayor for Gallatin, has had legal action taken to keep him from his practice of interfering with the operations of the city government. I know this man and I respect him in many ways. The fact is that he has taken a position regarding how the city should be run and within that incorrect position he believes in his heart that he knows better than those in elected leadership positions how things should be run. He believes current and previous Boards have or are violating their oaths and are dishonest people. To Prove his misguided points he uses a large amount of his time coming to city hall and demanding documents and disrupting the busy people who are trying to keep the day to day operations of the city running smoothly.

I have seen several types of solutions attempted to reduce this man’s disruptive impact on city employees and their efforts to do the work of the city. I have seen all of them thwarted or defeated by his failure to either abide by agreements he has made to limit his presence at city hall, or simply ignoring requests of him to limit his actions, or make appointments so that the employees can be prepared to help him with his requests, that constitute interference with the staff. I have witnessed his actions at city hall. I know that the facts that make up the contents of the information provided to the court about him are true.

It is a sad day when this type of action is necessary in order to keep from having dedicated and competent staff from resigning and leaving the jobs they do well. It is unfortunately necessary to retain competent staff and keep city government operating efficiently. What they are doing is the only reasonable step they have left to obtain some relief. I think that the basic principles of open government won’t be harmed by a successful outcome for the city in their petition for relief to the court.

What I am sure is not news to most of those interested people in Gallatin is that at least two of the people running for Alderman positions, one in each of the two city wards, are people who I believe, are believers in this man. I believe that they will be disruptive influences if elected and they, therefore won’t get my vote.

I am counting on the good sense of the voting members of the public in Gallatin to also recognize the above facts and vote in those candidates, both listed and/or write in, whom they know have no agenda beyond doing what is right for the community. I know most of those running for office, both incumbent and running for open seats, and I know which ones have the good of our community at heart. I also know many of the people who vote in Gallatin and I believe that the American system will again prove itself to be the best in the world in this small portion of our great land.

Please come out and vote on Tuesday the 4th of April… it’s the right thing for all of us to do.

Jim Wycoff