(Lander, WY) – The five local residents running for Lander City Council in the 2024 general election had the opportunity to share their views with the public during a recent candidate forum organized by the League of Women Voters of Fremont County.
The city council race involves three open seats, with incumbents running for re-election to each one: Dan Hahn in Ward 1, Julia Stuble in Ward 2, and Melinda Cox in Ward 3.
Hahn and Stuble both face challengers this year as well, with Jenny Young running for the Ward 1 seat and Zachary Mahlum running in Ward 2.
Ward 1
In her opening statement, Young said her background in special education has taught her how to “advocate, solve problems creatively, and find solutions that work for everyone.”
“In times of change, these skills are essential,” Young said. “Our world is evolving, and Lander is no exception, (but) the changes we experience don’t have to erase what we hold dear. … My goal is to ensure that, while we move forward and embrace change, we also protect the values, traditions, and identity that make Lander a place we’re all proud to call home.”
Hahn used his opening statement to outline some of his beliefs related to city government.
For example, he said he believes in fiscal responsibility, a healthy water supply, improving local infrastructure, maintaining an active parks and recreation program for local youth, and supporting the local police and fire departments.
“I believe in Lander continuing to be a beautiful western town people would love to live in,” he said. “I believe in upholding local western traditions and respecting our veterans. … I believe it’s my responsibility to take all concerns to City Hall and not have my own personal agenda, (and) I believe in everyone being treated equally – no special privileges.”
When the candidates were asked to name the items they find most important on the city’s list of strategic priorities, Hahn placed the municipal water supply at No. 1, followed by safe routes to school for local children, while Young pointed to local infrastructure and attainable housing, though she also echoed Hahn’s comments about safe routes to school.
The housing topic came up again later in the forum, with both Ward 1 candidates agreeing that the city should explore ways to limit the number of rental properties in town.
“We need to make it so that people can have houses they can buy … instead of somebody who already owns land just building a bunch of apartments on it and profiting,” Young said.
Hahn focused most of his housing comments on investors who purchase “lower-priced houses in town” and use them as short-term rental properties.
“That is taking … houses away from people, (and it’s) the houses that people, especially young people, can afford,” he said. “They’re being bought up.”
Ward 2
Stuble also talked about limiting the number of short-term rentals in town, and she listed housing as a top priority for the city as well.
“We have got to solve the housing problem that we have and provide (an) array of different types of housing options in Lander,” she said, adding, “We can do so (while) maintaining the character of our community.”
Mahlum, who currently chairs the Lander Planning Commission, pointed out that the city has “very few tools” at its disposal to “actually move the needle on housing affordability” by increasing the supply of available houses, but he said the recently proposed changes to the municipal zoning code represent “compromises” that could “increase housing supply in a modest and deliberate way” by allowing landowners to “get a little bit more creative with the houses that you can put in town.”
He pointed to code enforcement and safe routes to school as his top priorities for the city, while Stuble mentioned infrastructure, open government, and public safety in addition to housing.
Economic diversification needs to be a priority, too, Stuble said, calling the city an “important player” when it comes to providing the infrastructure – like streets, parks, and water and sewer lines – that “makes Lander a place where businesses and people want to be and live.”
Once the “foundational aspects of economic development” are covered, Stuble said the city should “be in partnership with the entities and the experts … who can talk about actual business recruitment and retention at a level that we cannot.”
Mahlum agreed that “it’s important to have a diverse economy,” but he cautioned that any public funding that goes to private businesses – like some of the half-percent sales tax revenues for economic development have – should come with “checks in place to make sure that money is going (to) develop the economy long-term and provide good jobs for people in Lander.”
Later, Stuble expressed support for the economic development sales tax distributions Lander has made, referring to the process as “an experiment to have a city distribute grant money to private business, per the will of the voters.”
“We learned a lot, and we have made adjustments to make sure we are granting money to competitive businesses who are bringing jobs and new money into town, achieving those economic development goals,” she said.
Ward 3
Cox is running unopposed for re-election to the Ward 3 seat she currently holds on the Lander City Council.
Like Hahn, she named water infrastructure as the most important topic on the city’s list of strategic priorities, followed by fiscal sustainability – an item that isn’t technically on the list but that “drives a lot of these decisions and what we’re trying to accomplish.”
Cox said she would also like to see Lander develop “a solution to our flood mitigation.”
“That has been lingering for a long time, and we’ve not resolved it,” she said. “I want us to finish that up.”
The mitigation plan “cannot cause any harm downstream,” Cox explained, and “that’s why we’re sort of at a stalemate – because there is some harm that can be caused downstream with some of the mitigation plan now.”
Engineers and other experts working on the project have been looking into “other options” to mitigate the local flood risk while also alleviating costs to homeowners, Cox said, and “that needs to be a priority.”
“We need to come up with a solution … so that we can move forward,” she said.
Click here to watch the entire forum.