Ru Rok, Mayor for the Town of Star Valley Ranch, spoke with Dan Dockstader regarding the first 20 years of incorporation for the Town of Star Valley Ranch and what is ahead in the future for the town.

(0:00) SBI Media, the town of Star Valley Ranch. Today, Mayor Roorock joining us. Mayor, a (0:05) 20-year celebration for the town, quite an accomplishment.

Reflect on that if you (0:10) would please. It really is something. We’re still the youngest town in Wyoming (0:16) being the 99th town, but there’s been a lot that’s been accomplished the last 20 (0:20) years and I think that especially in the last five or ten with all the (0:24) infrastructure projects, we’ve also done a lot of things that have made the town (0:28) more of a community and provided things that people really enjoy, things like dog (0:34) parks and a community garden.

We still have lots to work on, but it’s a great (0:39) trail system and a great trail system. How could I forget that? So all in all, (0:43) it’s a lot to be proud of for two decades. Now you oversee the town, you (0:47) were on the town council prior to that.

Where do we take the town from here? (0:51) You’ve had so many accomplishments in a two-decade period. Well, so the town as (0:56) you know was founded really because of roads and water and so we’ve done a lot (1:02) with the water system. We still have a lot of work to do on that as far as (1:06) water storage.

What we want to do more is pivot a little bit and focus on the (1:10) roads. That seems to be a constant thing that residents are asking us to improve (1:15) and we did take a big step with that this year in setting ourselves up to do (1:19) our own chip ceiling. We invested in some equipment which the town council (1:23) supported doing and we did get some work done before the colder weather hit.

You (1:29) were innovative in the way you saved money there. Just remind us of that. Yes, (1:33) absolutely.

We had a quote to pay Vista Asphalt that was about a million dollars (1:39) and after our public works director and our town administrator looked into that (1:43) further, they figured out a plan to where we could chip seal it instead and (1:48) probably do it for about you know less than half the cost and they did get (1:53) started on that project this year. They put down one layer of chip seal and in (1:56) the spring we’ll be doing a couple of more. Okay, so all of that takes a lot of (2:01) time.

You have taken it over as mayor. Give us some insight into what it takes (2:07) to run a town if you would please. 20 years is a long time but what does it (2:12) take to keep all of this running and running successfully? Well, I have to say (2:17) that it’s definitely been a lot more than I thought it would be.

There is just (2:21) when you’re on the town council, you’re certainly involved in a lot of decision (2:24) making and policy making and legislation but it’s not to the level of the day to (2:29) day operations of a town and I have to say that I don’t know what I would do (2:34) without our town administrator and for other towns in the valley. I know Violet (2:38) Sanderson is just you know in it just really involved with everything that (2:42) happens in Afton and I feel like Trevor Aitken, our administrator, is the same way (2:46) and again I couldn’t possibly manage everything on a daily basis without him. (2:51) It’s everything from responding to residents concerns and issues as (2:58) well as scheduling, making sure problems are fixed, making sure projects are (3:02) executed, so it is just a lot on a daily basis but it is for me personally I (3:07) really have enjoyed it.

I’m learning a lot every day still and probably one of (3:11) the best things is getting to know more of the residents and hearing what their (3:15) concerns are but overall there’s a lot to it being a mayor. More than I (3:20) expected. 20 years, anything that we haven’t gone over for this 20th (3:26) anniversary that you would like people to remember for the town of Star Valley (3:29) Ranch? So I think probably one of the biggest things and and we’ve got we’ve (3:36) had two previous mayors.

Boyd Siddeway was the first mayor for the town and he (3:40) still lives here and he’s been a wonderful resource for me and our the (3:46) mayor that I replaced, Kathy Byers, did move away but she’s still been a great (3:49) resource. One of the things about our town though for the past 20 years we (3:54) have such a depth of experience and expertise that we can always draw from (3:59) and the people that live here are more than willing to volunteer their time and (4:04) I just think that’s one of the greatest things about our town and how we’ve (4:08) evolved and that residents here you know really want to make this place a (4:13) community and a better place for all of us to live and you know whether it’s (4:17) infrastructure or town boards or trail crews it’s just really great to see how (4:22) the communities come together in such a short time. 20 years being a short time (4:26) in the grand scheme of things for a town.

Still celebrating a 20-year anniversary (4:30) successfully, right? Yes, absolutely. So we’ll have some cake, we’ll do a (4:34) proclamation, we made a little video and we’ll hope to see a lot of folks after (4:39) the town council meeting on Tuesday. Mayor Rourke, town of Star Valley Ranch, the (4:43) mayor overseeing a town that’s celebrating 20 years.

Dan Doxt at our SVI (4:47) media at the town of Star Valley Ranch.