Our View: Elected leaders need to be clear on votes

Votes — or rather the lack of any vote at all — by Carlton County commissioner Tom Proulx on several resolutions during the June 24 county board meeting had us scratching our heads here at the Pine Knot News. After all, what does it mean when an elected official doesn’t vote?

We learned there is no simple answer to that question.

In neighboring St. Louis County, according to the policy manual, a commissioner may be excused from voting on a question by the majority of the board in case of a demonstrated possible conflict of interest, with the request being made before the vote is taken.

Not voting, by definition, is abstaining from a vote. However, Proulx did not announce his intention to abstain. He simply didn’t vote.

Carlton County has no written bylaws addressing board procedures, but it does have precedent. According to recently retired county auditor Paul Gassert, as well as interim auditor Kathy Kortuem, Proulx’s lack of a vote counted with the majority, in this case, as a “yes” to make the votes unanimous (this is now a matter of record after approval of the meeting minutes Tuesday). Robert’s Rules of Order agrees that not voting is the same as if a person voted on the prevailing side.

All three votes were on issues related to the proposed new jail: additional analysis of location options, plus commencing a search for an attorney specializing in bond financing as well as a public financing service. Proulx himself told us he remained silent because he’s worried about the large tax burden and still has a lot of unanswered questions.

We agree that there are many questions still to be answered. We’d love to hear more debate on important issues between elected officials, rather than bodies voting in lockstep because they think it presents the best optics.

We aren’t advocating that the District 3 commissioner vote one way or another on the jail, only that he vote.

All elected officials — unless they have a conflict of interest — should make certain their votes are heard and counted, regardless of the issue. In a representative democracy, it is the most important part of their job.