Town of Star Valley Ranch Mayor Ru Rok and Town Administrator Trevor Aitken spoke with SVI Media’s Dan Dockstader regarding the annexation proposal for the Mountain Estates Subdivision and the next steps in the process. They also discussed upcoming summer projects for the town.

(0:00) SBI in the offices of the town of Star-Valley Ranch. Now we’ve got both mayor (0:04) and an administrator. We’ve got a lot going on.

Let’s go straight into the (0:09) annexation because that seems to be of interest in the town of Star-Valley Ranch (0:13) in that area. Hey, absolutely, Dan. Thank you very much.

So last night at our (0:18) Planning Commission meeting, the Planning Commission, after months of research and (0:24) just really taking a hard look at the annexation, made a decision to recommend (0:28) that the Town Council approve and accept the annexation petition. So they’re (0:33) gonna forward that recommendation to the council. The council will actually not (0:37) hold their public hearing required by statute until the 30th of April, at which (0:42) time then the council will decide if they’re going to… Just a recollection, we (0:46) have the planning and zoning, take a look at it first, vet it out, and then they (0:51) bring the final product to the Town Council.

That’s the process so people (0:55) understand. Yes, absolutely, and we’re also getting some recommendations from (0:58) our Water Utility Board that’ll also be part of the Town Council’s decision (1:02) making process. Okay, anything else you want to add to that? No, it’s just been a lot to (1:08) learn and I hope, you know, there’s a lot of work that’s been put in by the (1:13) boards and everyone.

We’re appreciative of the community’s patience and support (1:16) here as we work through the process. Big project for the ranch. Summer project, (1:20) speaking of projects, it is the season for Star-Valley Ranch.

Always a lot going on. (1:25) Where do we start? Well, I’ll probably let Trevor talk more about this since he’s (1:29) the one that’s got the daily operations going, but we have been already getting (1:33) out there working on getting the roads graded. You know, this nice kind of short (1:39) winter, not so harsh winter we had, has let us get a, hopefully, a jump on getting (1:44) roads graded.

So I don’t know if you want to have anything to add on that? Yeah, (1:48) we’ve got them all beginning rehab there and we’ve got all our equipment (1:52) and service ready to go so we can start ship sealing as soon as, every time we (1:57) think we’re there, the weather gives a little snowstorm, one of the forecasts, but (2:01) as soon as we can, we’ll continue our paving operations. Could we (2:05) specifically note where those are? Yeah, so first we’ll do Vista Drive. We’ve got (2:09) one layer down there and we’re gonna get the other two, the finishing two layers, (2:13) as soon as we can, and then Plat 21, which is east of Butte and Custer, that area on (2:18) the south end of town off Perkins.

Would this be kind of a picking up where we (2:22) left off last summer? Yeah, absolutely, and then our third for before this fiscal (2:28) year ends would be Plat 5, just off of Brambleberry, Lylock, that area down. Okay. (2:34) Mayor, what else do we have on the list for the summer of 2026? Well, so we’ve got, (2:40) next week we have our regular town council meeting on Tuesday and it’ll (2:43) also be the first reading of our fiscal year of 2026-2027 budgets.

I think our (2:49) residents will notice that we have not as many capital projects budgeted for (2:54) in this next fiscal year. We spent quite a lot of money this past year between (3:00) lining our Green Canyon water storage tank, replacing residential meters and (3:04) large flow meters, as well as buying equipment to do chip seal, so we’re gonna (3:08) take a little bit of a break as far as spending money. You need to understand it (3:13) takes a lot to run a town infrastructure-wise, right? Absolutely.

So we’ve got that first (3:19) reading. We will be replacing the pumps in our Green Canyon booster station for (3:24) our water system and also continuing more chip seal projects, which we’re having (3:29) our roads advisory board is helping us prioritize what comes next after the (3:32) projects that Trevor mentioned. We’ve also got a couple of ordinances we’re (3:37) gonna read.

One that’s of interest, we’re, the town of Star Valley Ranch is taking (3:43) over septic inspections from the county. We’ve had our personnel get trained up (3:49) on that and they’re ready to start taking that over, so we’re making an (3:52) ordinance update to kind of go along with that. That’ll all be taken care of (3:57) within the town? Yes, absolutely.

And then our community gardens probably (4:02) gonna open up pretty soon, again, if the weather holds. We’ve got somebody to (4:07) oversee that, right? Yes, we do. Our natural resources board and then we have a (4:10) committee that specifically does landscaping in the community gardens.

So (4:14) we’ve had a lot of calls from residents wanting to know, is it open yet? And (4:17) they’re starting to take applications this month for that. That’s been (4:20) something kind of unique to Star Valley Ranch and it’s been popular as well. (4:23) Absolutely, yeah.

We have, I think, 25 garden tanks and they use those big sort (4:27) of livestock metal tanks and it’s all fenced in and but, you know, it seems like (4:32) the chiselers find a way to get up in those tanks on occasion anyways. (4:36) Anything that we haven’t got over that two of you would like to note? Oh, one (4:42) thing to add. We are going to, the town is going to be considering a couple of (4:46) travel and tourism lodging tax grant applications next week.

One is going to be (4:51) in support of the Wall That Heals that’ll be coming to Afton this summer (4:54) and I know that’s a big project valley-wide. And the ranch is gonna help with that? We are, yes. (5:00) We’ve already gotten a recommendation from our travel and tourism board that (5:03) the council should approve that grant application.

And then the other one is (5:07) going to be from the Friends of the Bridger-Teton National Forest for their (5:10) ambassador program. They’re planning to, last year they split their time between (5:14) Star Valley Ranch and Grover Park, but this year they’re going to focus on our (5:17) trails here at Star Valley Ranch. So the council will take that one up as well.

(5:20) Very good. Okay, thank you. Town of Star Valley Ranch.

Dan Dockstader at the town (5:25) of Star Valley Ranch Town Hall.