Things could have turned pretty ugly in Salida, no matter what the City Council decided Monday night. A resolution opposing the war in Iraq was on the agenda, promoted by the Central Colorado Coalition on the Iraq War and supported by a petition with 561 signatures. Meanwhile, some City Council members reported threats of recall elections, coming from people who identified themselves as connected with the local American Legion Post.
Anger was in the air, threatening to divide the town even more than usual. One thing we’re good at here is fighting amongst ourselves over everything from leash laws to wilderness designations.
Salida certainly isn’t the only municipality that has faced this question. Nor is it the first time it’s come up here. Back in 2003, former Mayor Jaime Lewis asked for a resolution opposing the invasion of Iraq.
This issue is actually two issues. One is the invasion and occupation of Iraq, which is increasing, rather than diminishing, the number of anti-American terrorists, according to our own intelligence services. The other issue is whether a municipal government should take a position one way or another on a matter of foreign policy.
When I first heard of the resolution, I wondered how I’d vote if I were on the City Council, and decided I would abstain – not because I lack an opinion on the Iraq war, but because this is not a matter of city business that belongs before the council.
After all, it was not an issue in the last municipal election. Candidates were not asked about their position on the Iraq war. We don’t elect city councils to concern themselves with such matters. We elect them to deal with the police and fire departments, with water and sewer and street maintenance, with planning and zoning, with trails and parks.
It matters not to me if the council members from my ward are “stay the course” or “cut and run,” as long as clean water comes from my tap and the chuckholes get filled.
If the City Council is expected to render an opinion on the Iraq war, should it also have an official position on North Korea? The interest rate set by the Federal Reserve Board? The trade deficit with China?
But it’s hard to draw a line here. For instance, the Arkansas River to some degree falls under the jurisdiction of the Army Corps of Engineers, a federal agency. In Arkansas and Oklahoma, the river carries barge traffic, and the Corps has authority over navigable streams and their tributaries.
So if the Corps proposed some action or policy that affected the river and its banks in Salida, it would be reasonable to expect the Salida City Council to take a position on it, one way or the other.
The City Council might also take positions on federal actions outside the city limits. The Bureau of Land Management or Forest Service might decide to close a campground near town, or open a new one, or work with local officials on hiking and bicycling trails.
Again, it would be sensible for the City Council to support or oppose such federal actions because they directly affect matters of municipal concern. To my knowledge, no one told the city of Grand Junction that federal policies about drilling on Grand Mesa in the city’s water supply zone were none of the city’s business and should be addressed only by the U.S. Congress.
One might argue that the Iraq war affects many matters of municipal concern, ranging from interest rates on bond issues to the availability of federal grants and even, if one chooses to believe our president, the prospect that we would be fighting terrorists in the streets of Salida if we do not battle insurgents in Baghdad.
But there’s really nothing specific to Salida in these issues, the way there might be with the Army Corps of Engineers on the Arkansas River, or with Grand Junction and drilling on Grand Mesa.
Thus the issue really isn’t a proper concern of the city government, and the proposed resolution was needlessly divisive. People who disagree on the Iraq war should still be able to work together on streets and parks, but resolutions like this tend to keep that from happening.
Somebody needs to pay attention to streets and parks and dozens of other aspects of municipal life, and that’s why we have a city council. We can address the Iraq war elsewhere, and that’s what the City Council here sensibly decided Monday night in voting not to consider the resolution.
Now we can go back to arguing about the sign code.
Ed Quillen of Salida (ed@cozine.com) is a former newspaper editor whose column appears Tuesday and Sunday.
