Ten Sleep mayoral candidates seek to keep improving town

TEN SLEEP – The Ten Sleep municipal election is just under a month away, with two candidates filing to compete for the position of mayor and four for the positions of town council on May 5.

The two candidates that filed for mayor are current councilman Ernie Beckley, and longtime resident David Lyman. These two are vying to replace current Mayor Jack Haggerty. Haggerty announced in early January that he was not planning to seek re-election this year and instead decided to retire at the end of his term. Candidates for two separate four-year council seats can be found on page A5.

Both candidates grew up in Ten Sleep through high school graduation and decided to move around for work throughout the years before returning to Ten Sleep within the last decade. Lyman is retired after working as a safe and vault expert with the sheriff’s department and Federal Bureau of Investigation in Salt Lake City, Utah. Beckley, is currently a bus driver for Washakie County School District No. 2 after serving as an educator around the country for decades. He is current member on the Ten Sleep Town Council in the middle of his four-year term.

Both Beckley and Lyman have acknowledged that Haggerty has done a lot to improve the town of Ten Sleep over his two terms served. Yet, both acknowledged that there can be improvements done to the town to continue moving forward.

Lyman has a campaign that is set on focusing efforts toward improving life for the elderly community in Ten Sleep. Lyman feels as if the elderly do not have as easy of a life as they should in Ten Sleep. If he were to become mayor, he hopes to find improvements in the little things, and knows he can handle the big things as they arise, as “most anyone can handle the big things.” Lyman has a history in the mayoral position as his great-great-grandfather William Conway was a mayor back in the 1930s and helped support the drilling of the first well in the Ten Sleep area.

Meanwhile, Beckley is proud of the work that he has done on the council over his multiple terms, and has acknowledged major projects that they have completed in recent years without overspending, such as the lagoon and sewer walls to the point that he believes there are no urgent infrastructure matters the city is facing at this time.

Lyman has acknowledged that after he was in a motorcycle crash approximately six years ago that placed him in a wheelchair, he has a greater understanding of handicapped problems that the elderly community must face each day. Now that he is beginning to walk again, he plans to give back and help improve handicap access to town hall as well as help members of the community that have been around “many more moons than us.”

Beckley believes that minor additions will be needed at this time that he is looking forward to, such as continued upgrades to sidewalks as well as gutters in the town. Beckley would like to potentially see a larger motel enter the area to the benefit of the other businesses in town, and has acknowledged a large amount of support due to the recent spread of the novel coronavirus, and hopes to make the town as business friendly as possible for the future.

The Ten Sleep election will be on May 5 at the Ten Sleep Senior Center, with the location subject to change due to the novel coronavirus.