Star Valley Ranch council accepts mayor’s resignation, appoints Ruzena Rok as mayor

The Star Valley Ranch Town Council accepted Mayor Buyers’s resignation effective Feb. 3, 2025, and appointed Councilmember Ruzena Rok to serve as mayor beginning Feb. 4, 2025. The council announced an application period through Jan. 23 to fill the resulting council seat and set a Jan. 28 meeting to make the appointment.

At the special meeting Tuesday, Councilman Ellis moved to approve the agenda and Councilman Rok seconded; the motion was recorded in the transcript as passing on a voice vote of "all ayes." Newly elected councilmembers Ellis and Toolson were sworn into office during the session.

Councilman Ellis then moved to accept Mayor Buyers’s resignation and Councilman Toolson seconded; the resignation was recorded as accepted by "all ayes." Mayor Buyers declared that the council would have a vacancy on Feb. 3, 2025. Later in the meeting, Mayor Buyers moved to appoint Ruzena Rok as mayor, Councilman Ellis seconded, and the transcript records Mayor Buyers, Councilman Rok, Councilman Toolson and Councilman Ellis voting "aye" while Councilman Merrill abstained. Rok's mayoral term is recorded as ending Jan. 5, 2027.

Town Clerk Gray said the clerk's office will send public notice following the meeting. The council set an application deadline of Jan. 23, 2025; it will meet at 10 a.m. on Jan. 28 to choose a councilmember to fill the vacancy. The newly chosen mayor and councilmember are scheduled to be sworn in at 10 a.m. on Feb. 4.

Councilman Rok moved to adjourn the meeting; Councilman Merrill seconded and the meeting concluded on a voice vote recorded as "all ayes." The transcript records "all ayes" for several procedural motions but does not list individual vote names for those motions except where specifically recorded (for example, the mayoral appointment vote and an abstention by Councilman Merrill).