Mayor Gill reflects on 'Worland Proud' moments

Worland resident Jim Gill completed his 14 years of public service for the City of Worland this week when his second term as mayor concluded Dec. 31.

Gill was first appointed to the city council by then Mayor Kreg Lombard to fill a vacancy in Ward 1 left by the death Loyd Worley. He served six years before opting to throw his hat into the ring in 2016 for the office of mayor. He was reelected in 2020 and sought a third term before being unseated in the 2024 General Election by Ward 1 Councilor Rebecca George.

While his retirement is somewhat bittersweet, Gill reflected on his years of service fondly in a recent interview, but said, "First I want to wish Rebecca George great success."

He said he first sought the appointment to the council after retiring as Washakie County Extension Educator. He said he had been thinking about public service for a while and with his retirement he had more time on his hands.

The love he and his wife Connie have for Worland was also a contributing factor, he noted.

One of his priorities in his eight years as mayor, he said, was focusing on street improvement. "I'm proud of what we've done. We have a lot less potholes." Gill noted that the city has also been able to upgrade equipment to allow the city crews to handle a lot of the street improvements.

In 2024 alone, engineering representative Mike Donnell recently reported to the council that 1.87 miles of new paving was completed. "That doesn't sound like very much, but that's just under 9,900 linear feet. It's more than we've ever done before. So we've really got a lot done this year, and it should be noticeable."

One of the main streets that Gill has tried to move forward during his tenure is the reconstruction of Washakie Avenue. He said ever since the first council he was on they began discussing Washakie Avenue.

Washakie Avenue is more than a farm-to-market road that needs updated but there is also child safety concerns.

Currently Ardurra Engineers is working on a design for the first phase of Washakie Avenue

reconstruction from Eighth to 15th Street.

WORLAND PROUD MOMENTS

While not official initiatives of the mayor or council there were plenty of "Worland Proud" (a phrase popularized by Mayor Gill) moments during his tenure.

He noted:

•How the community of Worland and Washakie County came together to help fill sandbags during the 2017 ice jam flooding that flooded homes and parks on the west end of the city. He said he was also enamored with how Washakie County's neighbors, Big Horn and Hot Springs, came to assist, as well as statewide agencies.

"As challenging as it was and that gave me the good feeling that 'by darn we're going to get through this, and we did," Gill said.

•How the community, not only Worland, but again all of the neighbors and people around the state welcomed home the remains of 1st Lt. Alva "Ray" Krogman, who was killed in action during the Vietnam War.

"What a welcoming. What a powerful message Worland put out with the internment in our municipal cemetery. There was just wonderful support. I think we did ourselves proud as a city and a community."

•He also wanted to express appreciation to the Newell Sargent Foundation for all they do for the city, including improvements at Pioneer Square and Newell Sargent Park.

Speaking of Pioneer Square he said, "I take a lot of pride in the tree lighting."

He said he had been speaking with Becky Dooley following a Washakie Development Association meeting and Dooley, who was general manager of Range at the time, mentioned the lighting program that was done in Rawlins.

Gill thought about it and approached Dooley about doing it in Worland.

"They've done a wonderful job of coordinating that with all of the people that have volunteered families to decorate a Christmas tree in Pioneer Park."

•City promotional video. "We're trying to bring some perspective to people outside of our community and other states and even within our state, and that's helping to do that," Gill said. He noted it was challenging at times to get it completed and the Washakie County School District No. 1 worked well with the city to make sure the schools and activities were represented in the video.

The video can be viewed at cityofworland.org.

•The city-owned cemetery, golf course and airport. He noted Josh Hellyer of Hellyer Aviation and Worland Logistics is already bringing in additional income as the new fixed base operator at the airport.

Donnie and Valerie Bjorhus have reduced the cost the city has to spend on the golf course since they took over operations as Sagebrush Sports. They continue to see an increase in the number of rounds of golf played, he noted.

One of the main challenges every year was the budget, Gill said, noting he hopes the Legislature will continue to understand the challenges cities and towns have and how limited they are in increasing revenue.

The main thing he enjoyed during his time as mayor was the people, the people he worked with on the council, the department heads and employees and the citizens of Worland.

He said he enjoyed being the official greeter, welcoming the different groups that come to Worland. "I enjoyed that. That's where you meet some interesting people too. That's the fun part."

Gill said he plans on working to improve his technological skills and spend more time with some chores and "fixing things up."