One thing we don't need? More studies

From the front page of the Bonner County Daily Bee, Oct. 19, 1995, when mayoral and council candidates were addressing the issues facing the city: Several called for a return to basics in city government, saying things had become too complicated and more attention had to be paid to what residents wanted in their city government.

“We need some common sense in government,” said mayoral candidate John Conlan. “We need to solve things, not study things until they’re so complicated that no one can understand them.”

The single most important issue facing the city is to bring the people back into the system, said council candidate Francis Ogilvie. “We really need to get the voice of residents back in the city council.

In order to move forward, many candidates said the city must find out from residents what kind of a town they want Sandpoint to be and follow that path.

My recollection from 24 years as Sandpoint’s city clerk is that Councilman (and later Mayor) Ray Miller frequently said that the one thing we didn’t need was another study. I agree with his sentiments and applaud the recent comments of former city public works director Kody VanDyk.

It's now been seven years since the city hired an administrator to run our city. I’ve lost track of how many “studies” and “plans” the city has paid for. Abdicating their leadership roles as a city council didn’t work in the late 1970s and it sure isn’t working now.

HELEN NEWTON

Sandpoint