By Conrad Dudderar
Associate Editor
The Yukon City Council has accepted the resignation of a longtime advisory board member.
Bill Baker resigned as the Ward 3 representative on the Yukon Planning Commission, having served in the seat since 2015.
“He has done an amazing job,” Ward 3 City Council Member Donna Yanda said at the April 16th council meeting. “The city will really miss him as chairman of the planning commission.”
It was Yanda who recommended Baker – a retired college administrator – be the Ward 3 appointee.
“It has been rewarding to watch Yukon grow even through the COVID years,” Baker wrote in his April 4th resignation letter. “Special thanks to Donna Yanda for appointing me to the board and being so supportive through contentious issues.”
Baker’s last Yukon Planning Commission was April 8. He submitted his resignation early to allow ample time for incoming city council members to make appointments.
“The current Planning Commission members have several years of experience, and I leave it in excellent hands,” said Baker, who thanked city officials for the “privilege” to serve Yukon.
Other Yukon Planning Commission members are Jarrid Wright, Nick Grba, Jeff Geis, and Lee Clark.
City council members thanked Baker for his lengthy volunteer service.
“He has a wealth of information and I wish that he could have felt like he could have stayed,” Mayor Shelli Selby said.
Ward 3 City Council Member-elect Brian Pillmore will make recommendations on board and commission appointees after he joins the council in May.
Pillmore defeated two other candidates, Joe Horn and Stephen Kerr, in the Feb. 13th council election.
Yanda could not seek another term as Ward 3 council member due to term limits. She served two years of an unexpired term before being elected to two full, four-year terms.
FROM TRAFFIC TO COUNCIL
Also new to the Yukon City Council will be Ward 4 Council Member Adam Shriver, a Yukon small business owner.
Both Shriver and Pillmore were elected to four-year terms that start next month. Shriver won the Ward 4 seat unopposed after incumbent David Enmark withdrew his candidacy.
Shriver has been serving on the Yukon Traffic Commission representing the at-large seat.
His resignation from the Traffic Commission was approved at the April 16th city council meeting. His last traffic commission meeting was April 9.
Shriver was appointed to the Yukon Traffic Commission at the recommendation of Vice Mayor Jeff Wootton, the at-large council member.
“I want to thank you for the opportunity to serve on the committee and I look forward to collaborating with you in the future,” Shriver told Wootton and City Clerk Doug Shivers in his April 7th resignation letter.
