Linda Heath
Linda Heath
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Incumbent Republican Laramie County Commissioner Linda Heath says that while she may not always get the headlines, a lot of the work she puts in behind the scenes is still important.

Heath recently filed to run for a second term on the commission. She first ran for the board in 2012, narrowly falling short in that bid for office. She ran again in 2014, this time successfully.

On KGAB radio on Wednesday, Heath said of her first term "It has been a pleasure to serve the residents of Laramie County." Heath said it has been an exciting learning experience, adding she hopes to put the knowledge gained in her first term to work over the next four years.

She said among her accomplishments over the past four years has been her work on the Remediation Advisory Board for missile site 4. Groundwater in that area was contaminated by trichloroethylene [TCE], a solvent used to clean Atlas missile parts when the site was active decades ago. Heath said at one point there was a lot of frustration about a lack of movement "as far as getting things done with remediation."

But Heath said over time, with the help of Sen. John Barrasso and "a change of leadership coming out of the corps (Army Corps of Engineers)," progress began to be made. She said more data has been made available for remediation, and while the effort is on-going, "we started to feel like we are making some progress."

Heath said besides continuing those and other projects she has been working on in her first term if she's re-elected one of her top priorities will be working with the other commissioners to get the Archer Multi-purpose facility up and running. Laramie County voters last year approved sixth-penny sales tax funding for the $9.9 million facility.

The 100,700 square foot facility will be the largest event center in Laramie County when it is completed and is planned as a venue for motorsports, concerts, stock shows and a wide range of other events.

Besides Heath, other GOP commission candidates this year include fellow incumbent Republican Troy Thompson and former commissioner M. Lee Hasenauer.  Other Republican candidates for the three seats up for election include Cheyenne Realtor Gunnar Malm and R. Tom Scranton.

Incumbent Democrat Ron Kailey has announced he won't run for re-election this year.

Candidates have until Friday, June 1 to file to run in the Aug. 21 primary election.

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