Three Lander City Council Ward 1 candidates outline priorities at forum

(Lander, WY) – Three of the four candidates running to represent Ward 1 on the Lander City Council participated in a forum earlier this month at the Lander Library: George Case, Oakley Corsick-Boycott, and Jenny Young.

Another candidate who filed for the seat, Mike Box, did not attend the forum.

Two of the candidates running in the primary will continue on to the general election this fall.

Current Ward 1 Councilmember Josh Hahn did not file for re-election to the post.

Case

Case introduced himself to the audience as a local business operator, the president of the Lander Rotary Club, a member of the Lander Ambassadors, and someone who has a “great relationship” with the Lander Chamber of Commerce and other local businesses.

“That’s what landed me here – just the relationship I have with the community and the knowledge that I’ve gathered just living here, running a business, and making sure that Lander is the best ever (place) to live,” he said.

He said his vision for Lander is to “be a place that people can live, develop, chase their goals, and stay here.”

That scenario requires “affordable housing and good infrastructure,” Case said – and a local government that doesn’t “hold you back.”

“Your goals should be there for you to grab – not for someone else to be in the way of,” he said. 

Specifically, he said the city should avoid getting in the way of the “private sector,” which is responsible for much of Lander’s economic development. 

Instead, he said the city should “educate the community on what we can do” to support economic development. 

With regard to housing, Case said the city should “do everything in its power to change ordinances and zoning” – and not necessarily promote new construction in Lander.

“I don’t think the answer to affordable housing is new construction, just because of the cost of  materials and labor,” he explained. “To me, it doesn’t really seem affordable.”

He expressed support for the .75 percent sales tax measure that has been proposed to support commercial air service, public ground transportation, and the local ambulance system – though he criticized the “lumping” together of all three service areas under one sales tax initiative.

“We, as voters, are stuck voting yes or no to all three,” he said. 

Regardless, he said he supports the measure because the revenues from the proposed tax would help sustain Fremont County’s ambulance system, which is currently facing a potential budget shortfall. 

“It scares me to death to know that there could be … less services of EMS in Fremont County,” Case said, noting that he has experienced what it’s like “waiting for an ambulance for a loved one that we didn’t know was going to take 45 minutes.”

Case was also critical of the budget the Lander City Council passed this year, which he said included some “fat” that needs to be “cut” – like the “atrocious engineering fees and studies” the city funds for “projects that likely won’t get done.”

“(It’s) sickening to me,” he said. “If the taxpayers in this town really knew what was going on, I think they’d jump out of their clothes.”

Corsick-Boycott

Corsick-Boycott – who currently works for Anam Cara Caregiving – said she was motivated to run for a seat on the city council “largely out of concern for the accelerated data center development across the state and country.”

“Whether I am elected or not, I want to be a part of that conversation (by) ensuring that data centers come nowhere near our community and we are truly investing in a future beyond our lifetimes,” she said. 

Her vision for that future is a Lander “that we can all be a part of,” including elders as well as younger people – two groups that have both been impacted by a lack of affordable housing options in town.

“That’s an issue across the generations,” Corsick-Boycott said. “I don’t want to see our elders struggle, and I don’t want to see our young people struggle in order to stay in the place and the homes that they love.” 

Asked how she would address the high cost of housing in Lander, Corsick-Boycott offered an idea that she acknowledged wouldn’t solve the problem on its own, but that “needs to be a part of a larger community conversation” regardless: capping the number of short-term rentals allowed in town.

She agreed with Case that the city could change some of its zoning laws to help address the issue, too – but she also expressed hope that local residents could come together and “take action” to reduce the amount private property owners charge for home rentals in Lander. 

“I understand that (rental income) is like a lot of people’s livelihoods,” she said. “(But) more often than not I’m disgusted by it and horrified by it. … Like, don’t freaking charge so much for rent, my God.”

Like Case, Corsick-Boycott said she supports the optional .75 percent sales tax measure to fund commercial air service, public ground transportation, and the local ambulance system, calling those “services that I don’t think that we as a rural community can do without.”

“Just because you don’t use them in this moment … doesn’t mean that (you) might not need them someday,” she said. “And though I do agree that it is more of a band-aid on a larger problem, if you don’t choose to go forward with it … then those things will simply not exist. And that’s an even bigger problem.”

Young

Young moved to Lander from a “densely populated area in northern Utah” 13 years ago, and she said she is “so grateful” that she has had the opportunity to “live here and raise my kids here.”

“I love Lander, and I want to be able to be of service to Lander,” she said. “I want to be able to be the person that you can count on to listen to you and to be your voice on city council.”

Her vision for Lander is to be “a place where my children can grow up and stay here and raise their own children here.”

At this point, however, she doesn’t see that happening.

“Right now, I do not foresee my children being able to stay here,” Young said. “And as a former teacher in the Lander schools, I know that that is a shared concern with parents and families throughout our community. We want our children (and) our grandchildren to be able to live here, and to live a thriving life.”

Like Case and Corsick-Boycott, Young said she would prioritize infrastructure needs as a focus for the city council moving forward.

She also pointed to the need for more housing options as people attempt to move from starter homes, to family homes, to “empty nester” homes throughout their lives.

“You can’t transition homes (here) the way that you can in other communities,” she said. 

Asked how she would help address the need for more affordable housing in Lander, Young talked about the high cost of building materials, agreeing with Case that “building new homes is not necessarily the best way to go.”

“People can’t afford what can be built,” she said. “But … there needs to be homes for people to buy to live in – not just rentals. And I do think that short-term rentals are a problem.” 

Young said she supports the .75 percent sales tax option as well, explaining that it would help “provide essential services to the Lander community.”

“I strongly believe that access to public ground transportation and ambulance services are essential services, (and) I also find value in making the local commercial air service reliable and available for locals to travel,” she said.

She added that it’s important that the entities receiving funding from the potential tax offer “budget transparency” and “evidence of where the money is going – (because) that is the people’s money, and they deserve to know where it’s going.”

Young was the only Ward 1 candidate at the forum who said “no” when the moderator asked whether she would support allowing open containers of alcohol in town for the Fourth of July.

“I’m running for Lander City Council because I believe in the power of our community and the promise that we can achieve together,” she said during her closing statement. “We can continue to build a city that reflects our shared values and aspirations – a city where integrity, honesty, and compassion guide us in all that we do.”

To watch the entire forum, click here.