Orderville welcomes new Mayor and Town Board members

Officials of the town of Orderville conducted the swearing in of the newly elected Mayor and two new members of the Town Board at the board meeting chambers on the eve­ning of January 7, 2026.

Outgoing Mayor Lyle Goulding commented, “I’m going to spend the last few minutes of my time in this seat prais­ing these two members of the town board,” complimenting town board members Mari­anne Leigh and Rory Hatch for their service on the board - Hatch responded in kind, commenting, “I appre­ciate Lyle for a lot of reasons, but mostly for the passion he brought for the job and the com­mitment he carried in every single meeting.”

Following those com­ments, the members of the board whose terms were up stepped down, and the newly elected members stood to take their oath of office: Mayor Ray Spencer and board members Shanda Frost and Rob­ert Caruso were sworn in for their first term, and incumbent board member Susan Esplin renewed her oath for a return term.

With the newly elect­ed officials sworn in and ready to assume their responsibilities, the meeting progressed into the regular agen­da, beginning with the approval of busi­ness licenses for Rivaro Media, Valley Deluxe Armory and Health Hustle Fitness with Chelcie - each license was approved unani­mously.

The board then con­sidered their repre­sentation on the West Kane County Special Service District, which manages the county landfill and local waste disposal; Tim Esplin currently holds the seat, and reapplied to continue service. The board approved.

Similarly, three seats on the Orderville Plan­ning and Zoning board were up for reelection; two incumbent mem­bers reapplied, and no candidates filed for the third seat. Mayor Spencer called for vol­unteers, and Riley An­derson took the final seat.

Board member Bob Caruso offered a presentation on the American Legion lodge building and associ­ated sports field. Said Caruso, “They donated that property to the town free of charge, something needs to be done for the veterans.” The mayor appointed Caruso as a liaison with the Legion to advance the project.

The final action item was a discussion of roads and road block­ages installed by pri­vate citizens along 169 North 100 West in Orderville. The board took public comments, several of which men­tioned the possibility of lawsuits directed against the town or the individual in question. With litigation pend­ing, and with privileged information from the town’s contracted at­torney, the board took the meeting into execu­tive session.

Following the execu­tive session, the public was called back into the meeting chambers. Said Mayor Spencer, “I don’t see anything ready for action yet, because no one has settled on what needs to be done; I see about five options that all have ramifications.” The board concluded further legal counsel was required to make the best choice of the options presented, and the mayor agreed to meet personally with the interested parties.