04/30/2024
To the people of Grant County,
Listen up - the Commissioners are charging ahead with a new jail Request for Proposals.
Well if that doesn't top everything. The commissioners hired a lobbyist for $15,000 to insert an amendment in state law that may allow for the raising of only Grant County income taxes to build a new jail. This was done in secret by Commissioners Bardsley, Wright and Stewart, and the secret did not slip out until the dirty deal was done.
They want you to think that a new jail will make you more safe. They don't want you to notice how the county spent millions to remodel the jail back in 2018, and it was supposed to last 15 to 20 more years. Well it could have if the maintenance was kept up by the commissioners. All of our county buildings are needing maintenance work which is the commissioners' responsibility that they have neglected to do. Commissioner Bardsley and Wright want to reward the architect firm, DLZ, with a contract for a new jail, and people should notice DLZ donated $1000 to each of Bardsley and Wright's election campaign. Commissioners Bardsley and Wright left off their campaign finance reports the in kind contributions they received from the mass mail flyers. Those were worth many thousands of dollars.
We have seen a pattern lately by Commissioner Bardsley and Wright. Some people have been paying attention in this county and realized our commissioners have gone bad. Bardsley began colluding with the solar companies back in July of 2021, to give those few out of state developers the solar ordinance of their dreams. He sold out the residents of the county and turned down the people's ordinance for solar. We have the proof from Bardsley's email correspondence, concerning the solar developers, thanks to a freedom of information request.
Commissioner Bardsley eliminated the Board of Zoning Appeals from doing their job and gave the responsibility to himself and Commissioner Wright to approve the solar developers zoning. In his solar ordinance Bardsley gave himself and Wright the approval of the solar companies' development plan which is illegal since it is required by state law to be approved by the Area Plan Commission. The APC is also supposed to set fees for the projects, but Bardsley took that responsibility also and cut the fees in half in his final draft of their ordinance.
Notice how Bardsley and Wright placed themselves in approval of all things solar for the developers and against the people of the county. The people's solar ordinance had many protections for the residents of the county. Bardsley and Wright would not sign that ordinance which was passed by the APC after a public hearing because they were working for the solar developers, not you! A public hearing by the APC is required by state law for an ordinance, but Bardsley did not have one by the APC. If he had, it would be obvious this ordinance was a gift for the solar companies. Bardsley and Wright just signed their ordinance without the required hearing for transparency. They would not even listen when Ed Hartman tried to tell them the ordinance was illegal. Bardsley said to sit down.
One cannot help but wonder why Bardsley and Wright are working so hard for the solar developers and their PACs instead of the people of Grant County. These two commissioners conduct their business in crooked back room deals. They claim they are for transparent government, say Bardsley and Wright, but don't be fooled. There is so much more on the crooked behavior of our two commissioners that we could write a book.
So for now, all you can do is vote republican on May 7th for Shane Middlesworth and Chuck Poling for commissioners. Calling all Democrats, get a republican ballot when you go to the poll, and vote for Chuck and Shane on May 7th. Democrats can switch for the primary 5-7-24, and switch back for the general election in November. There is no paperwork required.
We need to throw out Commissioners Bardsley and Wright to really get a transparent and honest government. Character matters. They have lost our trust.
Long live free elections in the USA.
Ed Hartman
