Disincorporation?: Lamont weighs shutting down town

Jana Mathia, Gazette Reporter | Mar 29, 20180

With a lack of residents to serve on the town’s council, Lamont officials have been looking into the possibility of going from an incorporated town to an unincorporated community.

“It’s not that we want, as a council, to be unincorporated,” said Lamont Mayor Steve Ulrich.

The Lamont town council is supposed to have five members including the mayor. However, they have only been able to fill three of those seats which is just enough for a quorum. Ulrich and his wife would like to step down to deal with family obligations and travel, but are unable to find anyone to fill the slots. They have been asking around the town, but have not been able to get anyone to join the council.

“We’d probably take anybody willing to sit there and vote on things,” Ulrich said.

So far, the council is just looking at options. And while disincorporating would negate the need for a town council, there would still need to be a water district and board with the same issue of needing volunteers.

Ulrich also pointed out the town would lose things if it went unincorporated; plowing the streets would be left to the county and there would not be someone to mow the lawn at the park. Water rates would also go up.

In the town with a population of about 70, a lot of the citizens have already been on the town council, Ulrich noted. Before his time, council meetings could be long and contentious, which Ulrich thinks may have given people a bad taste for the positions.

“We get along pretty well,” he said of the current council.

If the town was no longer a town, it would lose its voice in speaking with the citizens. When issues of dogs or garbage come up, it falls on a member of the council to deal with, which is usually as simple as talking to the citizen about the complaint.

“It does help a lot to talk to people,” Ulrich said.

Mostly, the job is just attending the regular meeting once a month at 6 p.m. on the second Tuesday. The meetings generally last an hour or less. Sometimes the council has to look into bids for tree trimmers and such, but Ulrich estimated each person puts in less than 10 hours per month toward town business. He has a few added duties like turning on water for people moving into vacant houses and does not think he puts in more than 10 hours.

The job is not glamorous. It does not pay anything, is generally thankless while dealing with complaints. But it is still vital and keeps the town going.

“We’re doing it to serve,” Ulrich said.

It has been a good experience for him to see how the town runs and be a part of helping keep the community going. Like most people who sit on the council, he was appointed to fill vacancies; first as a councilman then as mayor. After being appointed, he has been re-elected unopposed.

“I just want the town to run well,” he said.

If the town were to disincorporate, there would have to be a petition signed by the majority of the registered voters. An election would be held on a regular ballot and citizens would vote for or against dissolution and vote on a candidate to be receiver who would wind up all the town’s affairs. Upon disincorporation, the powers and privileges would be surrendered to the state. The receiver would take control of all the property, money, vouchers, records and books of the town. Control and care of the streets would pass to the county.

Ulrich is still hopeful they can recruit more council people and keep the town going.

“You have to have involvement,” he said.