The town has an important election coming on Aug. 2, with the mayor and several council seats to be determined.

The large number of candidates for each suggests it could be a lively campaign. It is important to note that our town’s elections are non-partisan, but you must be registered to vote. The day-to-day issues of municipalities like Fountain Hills do not fall along ideological party lines. In my opinion, partisan elections are divisive and tend to drive up the cost of running for office, often attracting dark money.

If you doubt this, take a look at what is going on in Washington, D.C., right now. The amount of time to get things done at the town level is often limited and partisan acts burn up time and energy in an effort to please the party base. Good ideas often die simply because of the party who came up with the idea. We cannot afford any of these issues in our town.

It should be noted that there is a faction in our state legislature that wants to make all elections in Arizona partisan, even school boards and our Sanitation District Board. Again, it is only my opinion, but I firmly believe that would be a terrible mistake. Yes, one must choose a party when registering to vote, which means that those we elect must be of the type willing to put partisan feelings aside and work for what is good for the community.

I believe our present sitting mayor and Council have done a very good job of this, a fact that can be verified by looking back at the positions taken on “sensitive issues” of the past two years. Be a good citizen, register, become informed on the real issues and vote.