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Park County Planning Director Joy Hill has caught heat over the last few years for various decisions and recommendations to the county commissioners that drew controversy.
The spotlight on …
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Park County Planning Director Joy Hill has caught heat over the last few years for various decisions and recommendations to the county commissioners that drew controversy.
The spotlight on Hill has only increased through the process of crafting a new Park County Land Use Plan and the current work of adjusting the development standards and regulations to meet the plan’s goals.
Now, nearly 100 county residents have signed their names to an online petition that asks the commissioners to replace Hill as planning director.
The petition on Change.org describes the first round of the regulations process as a “complete and unmitigated disaster” and Hill “the common denominator in this planning debacle.” It also accuses her of having “minimized concerns from the public throughout this planning process.”
While only the most recent signees show up on the petition webpage, one early signee was actually a member of the group being petitioned: Commissioner Lloyd Thiel.
Thiel, a two-term commissioner from Clark who has had multiple disagreements with Hill, signed onto the Change.org petition along with a few of his family members. Thiel told the Tribune on Wednesday he signed it as a concerned citizen and not in his capacity as a county commissioner.
Hill has been the county planning director since 2018, coming from Big Horn County. She declined to comment on the petition.
The effort was launched on April 22 and had 95 signatures as of Monday afternoon. Thiel’s daughter, Breanne, was one of a number of people who shared the petition on Facebook and said signatures would be collected through early May. She noted in her post that she was not the one who created the petition.
Other signatories on the petition include people who have objected to Hill’s recommendations and county commissioner decisions or ran afoul of them. Powell City Councilman Troy Bray also signed on.
In a Monday interview, Park County Commission Chair Dossie Overfield said she had no comment on the petition, describing it as a personnel issue.
(Editor's note: This story was updated to clarify the fact that Breanne Thiel was only one of a number of people to share the petition to community social media pages. )
The Planning Director has one of the most thankless jobs in the County. She has to uphold the rules and regulations whether she likes or agrees with them or not. I worked for her for 5 years and am so very impressed with her integrity and dedication to the job. There is no way to please everyone. I find this petition extremely ironic as many of the items listed were decided by the Commissioners not by Joy and yet it is a Commissioner that signed it?! Hypocritical much?!