[DISCLAIMER: The “SVR News Roundup” is the personal newsletter of the author and is not an official publication of the Town of Star Valley Ranch or the Star Valley Ranch Association. The SVR News Roundup provides a weekly summary of publicly available information and also occasionally includes opinion and commentary by the author.]
So, I missed last week’s SVR News Roundup—sorry about that folks! That said, there wasn’t much news to relay, so we’ll play some catch-up this week. In addition, I’m trying out some formatting changes to hopefully make it easier for folks to skim these posts if they prefer to just read certain sections. I hope you like the changes! And, with that, here’s your news for the week of June 8th, 2025 and then some:
The Roundup
Here’s what’s been going on at the Ranch since the beginning of the month:
Tuesday, June 3rd at 6pm the Town of Star Valley Ranch (TSVR) Roads Advisory Board did not have a quorum of members in attendance. Therefore, no official meeting was conducted.
Tuesday, June 10th was a busy one at Town Hall. A well-attended Coffee with the Mayor got the day started at 9am followed by a Town Council work session at 10am. Here’s a link to the work session agenda and there’s also a good video recording of the entire meeting you can access via the video embed below. Here are a couple of notes from the work session:
The Town Council conducted a final review of the third reading version of the TSVR Fiscal Year 2025-2026 Budget.
The Town Council reviewed changes to rates to include water rates for the upcoming fiscal year. A member of the public pointed out that the Town Council had overlooked including a rate increase for commercial water rates. The Council agreed to address this prior to the regular meeting that evening.
Also on Tuesday at 7pm, the Town Council held their regular meeting for the month of June. I would point you to the video recording of this meeting, however, unlike the work session earlier in the day, the audio fro the evening regular is not good. Note that the Town is continuing to work on getting its new audio/video set-up sorted out, so I appreciate your patience in the interim. For now, here’s a link to the meeting packet along with a few highlights from the proceedings:
Lincoln County Chief of Staff Stephen Allen provided his annual county update to the Town Council. Of note, Mr. Allen relayed that the new TerraPower Nuclear Power Plant project outside of Kemmerer is expected to bring $5 million in sales and use tax revenue to the county over the next 5 years. That’s good news as sales and use tax is a major revenue stream for our town! [Note that sales tax is first collected by the State and then a portion of those revenues are distributed back to cities, towns and counties based on population.]
The Town Council appointed numerous resident volunteers to new terms across multiple boards.
The Town Council unanimously approved the third and final reading of the TSVR Fiscal Year 2025-2026 Budget.
The Town Council approved new rates to include water rates (the latter with an increase of 2.3% based on the Consumer Price Index).
The Town Council voted to appoint Jamie Herd as the new permanent Town Clerk by a vote of 4 to 1 with Councilman Merrill voting against the appointment.
And to finish up the week on Saturday, June 14th the TSVR Natural Resources Board (NRB) celebrated the Town’s 14th Annual Arbor Day at Fox Run Park. A dozen new trees were planted next to the Canine Commons Dog Park and the Crop Circles Community Garden. It was a beautiful day in the park and a great time was had by all! Thanks to the NRB for another great event and also to all the donors and residents who took part!
Other News and Notes for the Week
Here are a few additional newsworthy items from the week:
A resident was kind enough to share this beautiful video with me which was taken earlier in the week. What an incredible sight! Now, while this may look like a perfectly bucolic scene remember—female moose are very protective of their calves. So, if you are lucky enough to see a momma with her babies—please keep your distance. And, please also keep your eye out while driving around town as there are lots of critters out and about with their babies this time of year. Thanks folks!
On Wednesday June 11th work on the Water Improvement Project 2023 (WIP 2023) caused a road closure along Cedar Creek Drive between Alpine Way and Eastwood Way for most of the day. WIP 2023 will be ongoing throughout the summer.
Unfortunately, we’ve got our first wildfire of the season. On Friday, June 13th, a forest fire was spotted and reported by a Bridger-Teton National Forest (BTNF) employee. The fire, dubbed the Horse Fire, is lightning caused and burning in the BTNF near the confluence of South Horse Creek and Cow Creek approximately 10 miles West of Merna, Wyoming. As of the publication of this post, the fire is close to 1,000 acres in size and only 6% contained.
Calendar Items
Here are calendar items for next week:
Wednesday, June 18th at 5:30pm the TSVR Planning Commission will meet at Town Hall.
Thursday, June 19th at 2pm the TSVR NRB will meet at Town Hall.
TSVR will hold its annual Safety Days on Saturday June 21st from 8am until noon next to the First Response Center on Vista Drive.
Come on out to meet local first responders, get your kids up close to firetrucks and other equipment, and have some food and fun! See you at Safety Days 2025!
Final Thoughts
I spent the better part of the past week in Cheyenne at a conference put on by the Wyoming Association of Municipalities. While there was a lot of good information gleaned during the various panels and sessions, it sure was nice to get back to the Ranch once it was done. I do have to chuckle at how I find places like Cheyenne (with its 65,000+ residents) a tad too busy these days. Of course that’s still three times the number of people that live in our entire county! And, along with that, apparently I’ve completely forgotten what it was like to live in Fairfax County Virginia (which I did for a couple of years in the early 2000s) with its then 1 million+ residents! To think, that’s nearly double the number of people that live in the entire Cowboy State! Wow! Those musings aside, one thing I do know is that little ventures such as the one I’ve had over the past week are a good thing as they most certainly recenter me and remind me of how blessed I truly am to live here, in this beautiful, wild, wonderful, peaceful place. It’s why we all live here isn’t it? I wager all of you feel the same. Have a great week folks!
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