Mike Mortimore reflects on time as Thermopolis mayor

Mike Mortimore bid farewell Tuesday evening at the Thermopolis Town Council meeting, ending his most recent term as mayor.

Mortimore was elected to a four-year term the town council in 1986, with the term beginning in 1987. He later served a total of five terms as mayor, back when terms were two years each, with a few breaks in between. 2000-2002 was his final two-year stint be- fore getting out for at least 10 years. He then joined the town council and in 2014 was again elected mayor, for a four-year term.

Mortimore said there’s been some major deficits due to the minerals be- ing doing so low, and he and town staff have been successful in keeping things going. “We have some great people who work for us. We’ve been very successful in maintaining services and maintaining the town, really, with [budget] projections as high as a million dollars short.”

The town has also been successful, he said, in updating infrastructure such as water and sewer lines. He regrets he didn’t have another couple years to see some other projects come to fruition, but is satisfied with the things that have been done, including those that have been done in the last 30 years.

“I really don’t think people realize what it takes to keep providing the services we do,” he said, particularly with declining revenues and cuts made on the state level. He expects the provision of services to continue with Mayor’s Assistant Fred Crosby, Clerk/Treasurer Tracey Van Heule and an experience town council. There are some good plans laid out, Mortimore noted, such as the transfer station at the landfill and the future of the police department.

Mortimore’s “been proud serving the people of Thermop. You don’t get paid a lot, you get zero benefits, and there’s something noble about that. It’s the one job where you feel like you’re putting in a heck of a lot of time and you feel like you’re dedicating yourself to that.”