New Cheyenne mayor takes office with focus on local control

Mike Carroll is preparing to take the oath of office as Wyoming's next governor this week. He won the governor's race with more than 20,000 of the vote, finishing more than 40 points ahead of his challengers, Republican candidate Rebecca Kettle and Democrat James Ford. This victory marks the first time a Republican gubernatorial nominee from Campbell County has won since John R. Meehan lost to incumbent Ed Herschler in 1990.

Carroll said his administration will focus on keeping government close to the voters. He wants to ensure that decisions affecting daily life are made by local officials rather than the state legislature. Carroll noted that he served as a legislator for six years and believes his adherence to the Wyoming Constitution is paramount. He stated that after that responsibility, his duty is to his constituents and the citizens of Wyoming.

One of the major issues during the campaign was the balance of power between state and local government. Carroll supported a ballot initiative that proposed a residential property tax exemption. He argued that local control is essential for good governance. Carroll said that to have good government, communities need good information to make decisions. He acknowledged that voters rejected the initiative, noting that many people realized an erosion of property tax revenue would further alienate them from their government.

Carroll also outlined plans for energy development in the state. He said the state's toolkit for approving energy projects is limited to the industrial siting act passed in the 1970s. That era was different, when coal mines and power plants sprouted up more frequently. Carroll said he wants to see more power plants and coal mines, but noted that the state is seeing other types of development. He described a legitimate discussion about updating the industrial siting act to handle the volume of requests for potential development.

He noted that in the first five decades of the industrial siting act, there might have been two or three projects a year. Now, there are 30, 40, or 50 projects. Carroll said that takes a different level of resources, sophistication, and understanding because technology is moving fast. He also discussed the need to preserve local control while maintaining a tradeoff between future prosperity and keeping the government close to the voters. He warned that many school districts have endured since passing recalibration and predicted that the instructional side will win out when it comes to the instructional side.