If you DOUBT the real estate market has gone crazy, you need look no further than Marion County’s new ambulance station in Hillsboro.

We imagine Hillsboro’s exceptionally capable building inspector is making certain the new “barn” follows codes that may have been overlooked in renovating a similar station in Marion.

But that’s not the issue. We have to question why, even before code questions arose, a building that’s designed to do little more than provide modest living quarters for two people and one vehicle has to cost more than five times the value of the average taxpayer’s house, which pretty much accomplishes the same thing.

The new “barn” is, in fact, likely to become the single most expensive two-bedroom, one-garage house in the county,

There’s not much (other than complaining) that any of us can do about that this year. But when it comes to city and school issues, we’re about to embark on a once-every-two-years chance to actually change the way government does business.

Whether you love or hate what your elected officials and those whom they appoint are doing, now is your chance to hold them accountable. Just remember, you generally get what you vote for — unless a politician who says one thing before an election and does something afterward

Make sure your vote Tuesday is informed, not just a seat-of-the-pants decision based on age, gender, church membership, or the part in someone’s hair (or lack thereof). We need elected officials ready, willing, and able to the often thankless task of questioning everything that comes before them. We have no need for more officials who will line up to be ditto heads to specific causes or personalities.

Yes, government should run smoothly, but democracy never was intended to operate without occasional challenges, debates, and even heated discussions. The finest, strongest metal invariably is forged in the hottest fire. These days, as we struggle to recover from and pay for COVID, we need all the metal — and mettle — we can muster.

Vote not as if you were choosing members of a student council or club officers. Vote as if your livelihood depended on it. Who knows? The stakes may be that high.

— ERIC MEYER