Basin Town Council write-in candidate’s eligibility questioned

At the Sept. 26 Basin Town Council meeting, Linda Weeks read out loud a letter she sent to the editor for publication in the Basin Republican Rustler. The letter was published in the paper that day. Weeks thanked the council and mayor, and added she is not really asking for anything from the council. She is there to make a public comment. “Because the person I’m talking about happens to work for the town.” 

That person is Mike Dellos. He is the Public Works foreman. Dellos’s name was written in for one of the two Basin Town Council seats in the primary election in August. He received a letter from the county that told him he had enough write-in votes to qualify to be on the ballet for the November 2024 election. The letter told Dellos he had until August 30 to accept the nomination. He chose to accept it, paid the $25 filing fee and filed the nomination form with the town of Basin. 

Weeks stated she went to the Wyoleg.gov and Wyoming Secretary of State websites to make sure she was qualified to run. She read statue 22-23-301. The portion of the statute Weeks contends applies to Dellos reads “a resident of the municipality and ward which he seeks to represent on the day the petition is filed and shall not be an employee of the municipality.  s used in this section, the term ‘employee’ includes only those persons receiving an hourly wage or salary from a municipality.   person who provides volunteer services to a municipality shall not be considered an ‘employee’ under this section based solely upon coverage under the Wyoming Worker’s Compensation Act or other pension, death or disability program.” She continued that Dellos didn’t do research to see if he was qualified to run. She concluded, “I honestly think if he doesn’t withdraw that he needs to resign from the town.” 

Town Attorney Kent Richins responded to Weeks, saying, “I agree with you that the statute does say that. The statute seems very clear that you cannot run for office when you are an employee. However, if you look behind the scenes, that statute has been challenged in a case just like this. The Supreme Court held that you can run while you are an employee, but you must resign before you take the oath. That is case law.” 

He continued that Dellos has the right to run. “The statute itself doesn’t say that. To me, I read the statute as very clear that you cannot run when you are an employee, but it was challenged. The case is Dennis Hayes vs. The City of Sheridan and it held essentially that you have to resign before you take the oath.” 

Later in the meeting, when asked by Charlie Weeks if he (Richins) had talked to Dellos about this subject, Richins said no. He read the letter to the editor in the paper and did research. 

Weeks responded, “I’m just going to say that’s fine and I know that you as a town don’t want to challenge it or take the opportunity, but from an ethical perspective, from the town perspective, I think it is unethical for him to do it. Like I said, I’m making a statement. I’m not asking for anything from any of you. I would like him to withdraw because I believe that is what he should do. But he’s obviously not going to and so I’m going to take it further and go to the Secretary of State. I understand. I knew that coming in here.” 

Richins said he was pointing out from a legal perspective not the ethical. The ethical perspective is neither his nor the council’s decision. It would be up to Dellos. Weeks said that was her point. 

Audience member and town resident Peggy Danner commented that Dellos had no intention to run for council and is only running now because he was written in on the ballot. She doesn’t believe that there was any house-to-house campaigning by Dellos as mentioned in Week’s letter. She assumes that if Dellos is elected he will resign before being sworn in. 

Weeks replied she understands Danner’s point but, on the form, Dellos signed when accepting the nomination it says, “You are not holding an office that may conflict or be incompatible with the office for which you are filing. Your employment is compatible with the office you are seeking.” She believes that when Dellos read this he should have done some research. To her, it is an ethical issue. 

Mayor CJ Duncan stated, “I don’t think this is the time or the place to have the conversation. I appreciate you presenting your information. Mike’s an employee. He’s been working for us and has announced his retirement somewhere in the near future.” 

He added that the town doesn’t want to debate the issue, then continued that he has always encouraged people with concerns to run. “Mike chose to accept the nomination. Moving forward, I think you both have the right to proceed how you see fit.” 

Dellos also spoke at the meeting. 

“They say petition the people. I never got into the primary. I did not ask anybody to vote for me, to write my name on the ballot.” He added that neither his wife nor him wrote his name on the ballot. He didn’t ask the county to send him a letter to accept the nomination, but they did.

“I thought it over. I’ve/

 announced my retirement. If elected, I will not serve on the council without retiring. We’ve talked to WAM [Wyoming Association of Municipalities], [both] the executive director and the president of the board, and asked these very questions because we wanted to be upfront with it. They said the same thing. I could run. It’s not an ethical issue. I have the right to run as long as I resign if elected. They said the intent of the law was not to have an employee on the council and I don’t intend to do that if elected.” 

Dellos finished by
saying that he feels it is an integrity issue and
doesn’t feel he has done anything wrong. 

Duncan thanked both Weeks and Dellos for their comments and ended the discussion, saying, “Both of you now can proceed as you see fit. I would encourage anyone that wants to be involved in their city government to run. The election will decide what happens.”