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McKim retires as Star Valley Ranch Municipal Judge

Ron McKim stands with Star Valley Ranch Mayor Kathleen Buyers after being honored for serving as Star Valley Ranch Municipal Judge. SVI PHOTO/AUBREY TAYLOR

 

• Career included two municipal positions

Ron McKim wasn’t seeking the position as municipal judge when the call came from former Mayor Bob King in Thayne to serve as that community’s municipal judge. “It wasn’t something I really wanted to do,” McKim recalled of the request from the mayor. “I had come back to Star Valley to take care of an aging parent and start my own little business, but I also knew I could give back to the community.” Taking the position honored the work of his father Howard who had served as a Thayne municipal judge for 20 years.

McKim brought practical management experience to the position. Municipal judges in Wyoming are not required to be attorneys, but an extensive list of experience helps with a position that requires well researched decisions.  That’s where McKim brought decades of management experience to the seat. For 38 years he worked in corporate management for multi-national companies.

He combined that experience with a graduate degree in public administration and post graduate studies focused on contract law and negotiations. Experience and degrees were complimented by organizational and communications studies. To compliment the experience, a municipal judge has full access to legal consultation through the county and state.

During his career, Judge McKim’s responsibilities and assignments moved from Thayne to Star Valley Ranch where Mayor Kathleen Buyers was overseeing a rapidly growing community and was seeking a municipal judge with experience. For a time his judicial responsibilities overlapped as he was serving both Thayne and Star Valley Ranch.

McKim’s experience was important with his new position. “Star Valley Ranch is unique in that they have more ordinances than all the rest of Star Valley put together,” he explained. “They have ordinances on top of ordinances and you have got to know these things.”

He noted another change that came with his position at Star Valley Ranch, “We had something unique; a special municipal officer and he would write citations for violation of ordinances. My case load was growing exponentially there. I was handling up to 10 to 15 cases a month and they were everywhere. We also contracted with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office to handle our traffic and other issues.”

The municipal courtroom is similar to larger judicial settings.  “You don’t know what to expect as a municipal judge. I have had some people that have gotten quite emotional,” McKim recalled. “In one case, I had a gentleman verbally attack our municipal officers, cussed him and swore at him.” He continued. “We have an ordinance against that. We have a mandatory appearance at court based on some other things that had happened. He was trying to help a neighbor push snow and maybe I should at least consider that,” the judged explained. “With all of his fines together they were about $1300. I asked him to apologize to the officer in court, and I’d forgive the whole thing. He would not. He also refused community service. Even when saying I would forgive the fine, he wouldn’t do it.”

Reflecting on his corporate experience and offering a comparison to the decisions he makes as a judge, McKim advised, “I have found it is different from corporate business; I have found, you can never go into a court case predetermined about what you are going to do, where in corporate business you always know what you are going to do”

Explaining the process, he summarized, “I get a citation that was issued, I get witnesses, anything related to the case. I review that and the rights and then review possible fines and have three options.”

He continued, “If found guilty, I can resolve it with a bench trial. If the plea is no contest, I can resolve it today and if not guilty then all proceedings are stopped and it goes to trial; and they need a defense attorney and we deal with a prosecuting attorney. If that is case, the two attorneys bring a combined decision to the judge.” He noted, all felonies go the higher courts.

McKim concluded, “I have learned a lot as a person. You have to go in there, knowing that you have the power that you do but you also have to go into the situation using wisdom and fairness. You go into that very thoughtfully. I have learned that personally that it has helped me not to be so quick to judge other people outside of the court situation because everyone has different situations”

Noting recent counsel offered at a recent state training session, McKim acknowledged the challenges of the public service position he has held for two Star Valley communities.

“I was just at a municipal court judge conference in Buffalo. One of our speakers was a chief justice of the Wyoming Supreme Court. He spoke to us and said I want you to know something, I have been in every judge role there is. I have been a municipal judge, a circuit court judge, a district judge and a supreme court judge. I have tried murders and other deviants,” McKim recalled. “I want you to know something, the hardest job I ever had was being a municipal judge because you don’t know what is coming.”

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