GILLETTE, Wyo. — The 2024 election season is well underway, and County 17 has sent a list of questions to each candidate who has filed to run for a municipal office.
These questions are designed to give readers a better understanding of the people behind the names on the ballot. Except for minor grammar editing and clarifications, all candidate responses submitted to County 17 are republished as they are received.
Below, get to know Darin Edmonds, who is running for a seat on the Gillette City Council to represent Ward 1:
Who are you?
My name is Darin Edmonds. I have spent most of my life in Gillette and Campbell County and I work as the Superintendent of the Campbell County Cemetery District, a position I have held for the last 15 years. I have been married to my beautiful wife Tausha for 29 years and have 3 adult children. I served a three-year term on the Campbell County Public Land Board (two as chairman), and currently serve as the Vice President of the Wyoming Association of Special Districts.
Why have you chosen to run for office and what do you hope to accomplish should you be elected?
I have the heart of a servant. In my day job at the cemetery district, I am a public servant. My successful service on public boards, both local and statewide, is reflective of my desire to give back and contribute to the success of my community. Our community is at an inflection point now more than ever. With federal regulations threatening our legacy industries, it is more important than ever for good people willing to serve and lead us through this transition. Things will get better or worse. I choose BETTER. I have the skills, the vision, and the leadership to help steer us into the future, whichever way the wind blows.
How do you plan on accomplishing your goals?
Using my skills and experience I know that public entities are “forever” entities. Meaning the jobs we do, and the services we provide, have to be done forever, in good economies and bad. In my job at the cemetery district, we have adopted a “forever” approach for the last 14 years. We plan strategically and financially in 50- and 100-year increments, not just one fiscal year at a time. We are eternally mindful of our financial impact to the taxpayers and do not wish to increase our burden to them, now or in the future. I would like to bring this same mindset to city government. Develop the plan, finance the plan, and work the plan. It’s not impossible but takes decades of discipline and yearly focus to move toward and accomplish those long-range goals.
What about you, or your experiences, would make you a good steward of taxpayer dollars and a good representative of your community?
I am directly responsible for executing an annual budget that is on average about $5M a year. I know how public entities are supposed to work, and I work hard to deliver maximum value for the taxpayer by consistently underspending our budget every year by 7–10%. This saves the taxpayers money that can be used for other things while not having to levy additional amounts. The Cemetery District consistently saves taxpayers millions of dollars while delivering exceptional levels of service on a strict budget. Because we are a small staff, I get to participate in all levels of government spending, oversight and administration. I personally answer all the questions for our state-required audits and am the only candidate who fully understands government accounting procedures and requirements. In my position on the Land Board, I had many opportunities to work with city and county governments and elected officials to successfully achieve the goals and mission of the Land Board. In my position as Vice President of the Wyoming Association of Special Districts, I am fortunate enough to be a resource statewide to 652 small government entities by providing guidance and resources to local governments throughout the state that helps them become more transparent, accountable and efficient.
What major issues do you feel are prevalent in your community and how do you plan to address them?
The biggest issues I see are the economy, housing, and our community’s economic future. There are numerous and exciting possibilities being explored in Campbell County right now. Uses for coal and carbon products, the sequestration of CO2 gas, nuclear industries, uranium mining and rare earth minerals, and expanding tourism/sports tourism to name a few. There are a lot of smart people working on those solutions, and I truly believe that in the future there will be some exciting things created and headquartered here in Gillette. We want all these things to “land” in Campbell County, and in order to do so, we may have to build a few runways. A runway can be a simple ordinance that makes it easier to encourage housing developers to come here and build. Runways can take many forms and be big or small, but we have to as a community all be on board with navigating into the future and provide solutions for all these things to have an opportunity to land. Because if they don’t land here, they’ll land somewhere else. I have the dedication, skills, and experience to help us do that.
