We here at The Times have been grappling with the citizens' initiatives Propositions 1 and 2 for some time now, searching for answers to the many questions readers and letter writers have been raising about ramifications. It appears there will be no answers to those many questions forthcoming before the election, which makes it difficult for voters to decide what to do.

The Grand County Council, on advice of its attorneys, has declined to do any planning on how to implement changes that may be approved by the voters. While some may call that ducking the issues, it is correct for the attorneys to advise the council as it did. Were the council to begin planning for implementation now, it is argued, such planning could influence the outcome of the election. Just so.

Letter writer Craig Bigler (see page A10) sets forth the history of the change in government and the intimate involvement of the interested electorate in the planning process. He asks why this is not happening this year. The simple answer is that the late Harvey Merrell was a moving force behind these initiatives. Had he lived, it is probable he would have been greatly involved this year with planning. But lacking that, the current County Council does not feel it should become involved in the business of a citizens’ initiative.

Since all of the planning work had been completed before the change in government came before the voters back in the early 90s, everybody knew what to expect should the matter be approved as it was(or defeated).

This year the initiatives bring up a series of questions. See some of them enumerated in a box on page A1. There are others.

History tells us that voters will generally reject any matter on the ballot that they do not fully understand. That may be the case with Initiatives 1 and 2 this year. It may be prudent to vote no on both initiatives, and then begin fresh so that the many issues raised in the two simple initiatives can be carefully examined and implementation planned before the citizens are asked again to vote on them.

Additionally, what we dealt ourselves in our form of government may have resulted in predictable inefficiencies, but all in all the last several years really have been pretty smooth sailing.