RBC | At a county commissioner meeting earlier this month Meeker resident Mike Sizemore encouraged the commissioners to consider placing the issue of local term limits on the fall ballot. His suggestion has prompted a county wide discussion about local term limits. Commissioners Shawn Bolton and Jeff Rector are both against applying term limits at the county level. “Forcing an official to leave office with term limits actually limits my right as a citizen to vote for my preferred candidate if I want to see that official continue to serve,” Bolton said.
Rector said, “In our rural community we have a hard enough time getting really solid people in there. We will lose good candidates for those positions if they know they can only serve eight years and then have to find a new job. It makes sense in large metro areas, but not here.”
Sizemore countered their points saying, “The people that started our democracy never intended for career politicians. They were business owners who could bring good business sense to government. County level jobs are really good jobs with good benefits. There are plenty of people available that are more than qualified. They should have the opportunity to have those jobs. We should never have a 20 year sheriff or 30 year assessor. There’s just too much potential for abuse.”
Getting term limits on the county ballot would require action from the county commissioners, as current state statutes prevent citizens from petitioning county level questions onto the ballot.
In a previous version of this story, we inadvertently omitted the position of RBC Clerk & Recorder, currently held by Boots Campbell who is seeking re-election this year and is running unopposed.
If they are voted in they are the people’s choice. Getting people to fill those positions might be hard. Rio blanco county always has unopposed elections