Park County Commissioner Lloyd Thiel is running for a third term for the same basic reasons he ran for a first term. 

He’s doing it to ensure his grandchildren can grow up in the same great county that he and previous generations of his family have been able to. 

“My concern is the direction which Park County is going. It's still a major concern,” he said. “I know there are changes coming, changes sometimes good, sometimes not so good, and if I can steer it, if you will, in a direction that I think many generations of myself and others that have lived here and built and sacrificed blood, sweat, tears and lives to build the county we have, then I really want to see that move forward with my grandkids.”

In his first two terms he’s pushed for and established a procurement policy for the county, advocated for less regulations in planning and zoning issues and worked on the land use plan and regulations process. 

Thiel, descended from a line of early northwest Wyoming residents although born in Red Lodge, has been married for 41 years and has three children. He has spent his career in contracting, taking over from his father and having now handed much of the business to his son. He also operates a ranch with more than 100 head of cattle in Clark and said as he transitions his son into taking over the contracting business, he plans to focus more on his true love of ranching. 

Thiel also noted that as he’ll be 65 in the final year of his third term if he is reelected, that his next term would likely be his last, as he wants to be able to enjoy retirement with family in Clark and up at his Alaskan cabin. 

The reason he’s not content with two terms, he said, is there’s still much left to be done regarding his three main issues he sees coming up: dealing with less county revenue if the fall ballot measure to halve residential property taxes — which he supports — passes; overseeing the final rollout of the new development standards and regulations process and dealing with the enforcement of the new regulations and the likely changes that will need to be made going forward; and continuing to provide leadership for the overall direction of county government and collaboration with area partners such as the Shoshone National Forest and Bureau of Land Management, which together control the vast majority of the county’s land. 

Thiel, who said he initially got on the board thinking everything should go his way, has also learned the importance of collaboration and of compromise. 

“As long as that person is willing to listen to my side, you know, I can listen to theirs, and I've changed my mind on some issues after looking at it from another angle,” he said. “So, I think that's very important. You can't go into it closed-minded.”

The land use planning and regulations process has been an example of compromise, as Thiel said there remain some aspects of it he doesn’t like — he wants more freedom for residents to be able to “make a living” on their own property without dealing with regulations — but he said in some ways the regulations have improved with input from a number of sources. 

And even after the regulations are finally approved by commissioners, he expects the debate on certain aspects of it to go on. 

“It's a living document that's going to need some tweaks,” he said. “We're not perfect, so I want to make sure that those little adjustments come, and that the people are heard for what they want.”

Thiel also noted that if the property tax ballot measure passes it will make it tougher on the county government due to the loss of revenue, and, as he’s alluded to already in early budget discussions, it will put the possibility of staffing cuts on the table. 

But, he said, property tax relief is worth the strain on the county budget. 

“I will admit that it's going to put a major cut of revenue to provide the services that people have grown accustomed to receiving. Are they absolutely necessary? Some of them probably not,” he said. “We may be driving down bumpier roads, but if property taxes have increased so much on the working class … 50% is just going to put me back to still a 100% increase in what it was 10 years ago.”

Thiel added that there are other ways of getting more revenue as needed, such as the fifth cent specific purpose sales tax area municipalities are supporting for this fall’s ballot to raise funds for projects such as a new Powell senior center. 

“There's other ways, so I do support property tax relief, as far as residential private property,” he said.