A lawsuit filed against the Natrona County Board of County Commissioners over an alleged illegal vote in July should be dismissed because the plaintiff did not follow the rules for taking legal action, according to the county's deputy attorney.

Former Natrona County Commission candidate Paul Paad wants Natrona County District Court to declare that the commission's July 15 vote on zoning change for 30 acres near Bar Nunn violated the county's own rules and should  be rescinded and annulled, according to his lawsuit filed Jan. 20.

Tuesday, Deputy Natrona County Attorney Heather Duncan-Malone filed the county's response.

A district court may review a decision by a county commission, but someone appealing such a decision must follow the Wyoming Rules of Appellate Procedure, Duncan-Malone wrote.

Paad, who does not have an attorney, did not follow those rules.

He did not show he was personally "'aggrieved or adversely affected in fact'" by the commission, nor did he file his complaint in a timely manner, she wrote.

Someone filing a complaint must do so within 30 days of the decision, and that deadline passed 159 days ago, Duncan-Malone wrote.

Paad also did not make a concise statement showing the jurisdiction and venue for his complaint; did not outline the specific issues of law for the court to review; and did not show he was hurt by the commission's decision, she wrote.

"The Petitioner has simply asserted that the Board's process for reconsidering its previous decision was incorrect and this assertion is based on little more than the Petitioner's opinion," Duncan-Malone wrote. "A difference of opinion does not give rise to a viable claim for relief in this instance."

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