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While there weren’t too many official meetings to report on, it was still a rather newsy week on the Ranch. Here’s you roundup for the week of October 13th, 2024:
Monday, October 14th, I was asked to participate in a Star Valley Independent (SVI) radio interview to provide an update on Star Valley Ranch town happenings. If you’re interested in listening a link to the audio file is directly below.
Tuesday, October 15th at 6pm the Town of Star Valley Ranch (TSVR) Roads Advisory Board (RAB) was scheduled to meet at Town Hall. This was actually a rescheduled meeting date for the RAB as a meeting date earlier in the month was cancelled. Unfortunately, this week’s rescheduled meeting date was also nixed. Here’s the email notification provided to residents by the town.
Also on Tuesday, October 15th at 6pm the Star Valley Ranch Association (SVRA) Board of Directors (BoD) held a workshop at Cedar Creek Center. Here’s a link to the workshop agenda along with some notes.
The meeting was fairly well attended with about 15 folks on Zoom and 25 or so in the banquet room.
The SVRA General Manager reviewed the 2025 SVRA Budget (here’s a link to the budget webpage). During the GM’s report, a question was asked about enforcement of SVRA Declarations of Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (DCC&Rs). The GM noted the SVRA does not currently have the power to issue DCC&R fines.
During the SVRA Chairman’s report it was noted to date no input has been received by the SVRA BoD from residents regarding the Cedar Creek Playground. Some residents in attendance offered to provide ideas.
Lastly, a number of residents had questions for the SVRA BoD regarding the termination of golf pro-shop employees. The SVRA BoD responded by stating some of the employees were simply at the end of their seasonal employment terms. There were, however, some who were terminated for cause. The SVRA BoD stated they voted unanimously on these terminations but could not go into further details due to privacy concerns.
I was not surprised by this response as anything to do with personnel employment is almost always a confidential matter for those involved. Some residents, however, pressed the issue wanting more information and assumed some other course of action may have been warranted. I found this to be rather inappropriate given it would be impossible for those residents to fully understand the circumstances upon which the employee terminations were made. We elected these folks to the BoD, so let’s give them the opportunity to do their jobs without continually second-guessing them.
Thursday, October 17th at 7pm the SVRA BoD held their regular monthly meeting at Cedar Creek Center. Here’s a link to the agenda. Sorry, no additional notes on this one as I was out of town that day.
Other news and notes from the week:
First off, unfortunately I have to offer a correction to information I published in last week’s SVR News Roundup about Ranchy bear (the black bear that was raiding residential garbage cans earlier in the month). I received a call from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) this past Friday, and am saddened to report Ranchy bear was not relocated, rather the bear was euthanized. The “fed bear is a dead bear” maxim has come to fruition here at the Ranch. The demise of Ranchy bear warrants, in my opinion, a look at how we can all do a better job here at Star Valley Ranch to implement bear-wise practices. Please read this Save a Bear’s Life article from the National Park Service to learn more. In the meantime let’s put our heads together to prevent this from happening again in future. Thank you!
Somewhat ironically, considering the previous news note and the cause of Ranchy bear’s demise, I’ve noticed something else around the Ranch this week—Wow! That’s a lot of uncollected garbage! Seems mostly to be from folks who have Star Valley Disposal as their trash service—what gives? Did they just not pick-up your cans this week folks?
Not a pretty sight around the Ranch this week. 
Thanks to Mother Nature’s winter prelude this week, the Cedar Creek Golf Course is now closed for the season.
Since last week it would appear someone whacked the street sign and stop sign at the corner of North Forest and Muddy String. Nice! (And, yes, the latter is sarcasm).
Here’s a look at next week’s calendar items:
Tuesday, October 22nd at 10am the TSVR Natural Resources Board will meet at Town Hall.
Wednesday, October 23rd at 5pm the TSVR Planning & Zoning Board will meet at Town Hall.
Saturday, October 26th at 6pm the SVRA will host Trunk-or-Treat at Cedar Creek Center. Come on out in your best costumes for hay-rides, hot cocoa, games and treats! And, remember, there is no Haunted Barn this year.
Lastly, there’s more General Election information to share. Please check out this latest post on the 2024 Ballot Questions you’ll see on your November 5th General Election Ballot. And, in case you missed any previous election posts, you can always find them on the Election 2024 section of Close to Home 307.
Final thoughts—this week gave us a tiny little winter preview—how about that! I was certainly grateful for the precipitation as our firefighters battling all those terrible wildfires around the state certainly needed the assist. Along with the snow, we also had another Supermoon this week. Thanks John for the photo! Enjoy the rest of your evening folks as that’s all I’ve got for today!
Thank you for reading. If you have Star Valley Ranch news or photographs to share please drop me an email at close2home307@gmail.com. And, if you find this weekly email useful, please invite your neighbors, family, and friends to check out Close to Home 307. Your support and feedback is very much appreciated!
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