A life-long Riverton resident, Tish Buroker hopes people new to the city, as well as long-time residents, find a welcoming community for their families and business endeavors. Buroker began her term as Riverton’s mayor on Tuesday, Jan. 6, combining her deep respect for the city’s heritage with excitement for the future.

Q: Why did you want to run for mayor? I wanted to make Riverton better, where we can be a positive influence on others and help people understand our story. I felt like I had the skills and abilities to get that done.

Q: How did your upbringing prepare you for this role? I grew up in a household of men, and I worked in business for many years. I’m comfortable interacting in professional settings. I think it’s because of my background and the way I learned to communicate when I was growing up. I credit that to living in a competitive household of six brothers. They all played basketball, so I was used to an environment where competition was okay. It wasn’t something to be afraid of.

I grew up in this community where hard work and being involved were just a way of life, and that’s why I adopted it. I learned about giving back to your community, staying involved in your community and working hard.

Q: How would you describe your leadership style? I’m very collaborative. In my first 30 days in office, I’ve worked to make sure that the employees see me as approachable, personable and human. I make mistakes. You can acknowledge them to me. We can talk about it so we can do better going forward. I ask lots and lots of questions. I’m not one to just accept what’s being told to me. I like to do the research. I have high expectations, but I’m reasonable in the approach to get there.

Q: What challenges does Riverton face in the next few years? A major challenge is the growth, especially on the west side of the city, handling traffic and dense development. Around Mountain View Village there is going to be much more increased density.

I think there are lots of small things we can do that make a difference to residents. A small but important way is making sure our parks have updated signage so that each park has a name. So many of our residents are new. They want to be connected and they want to understand Riverton. But we have to give them information so they can. 

Q: What’s great about Riverton? For me, it starts at City Hall, where I’m sitting in my office, which was my third-grade classroom. This was Riverton Elementary for years, so connecting to that story, that history, has value. 

Riverton was a farming community, full of hard-working farmers who didn’t have a lot of money. Those are our roots. I think sharing the message that they were honest, hard-working people is something to be proud of. Any opportunity I have to tell that story, I’m going to share.

Q: What are your top two priorities for your first year? My first priority is creating a culture where city employees feel like they can come and talk. Our budget sessions are probably priority number two. I will be having all the departments come talk about their budgets, talk about their needs. I have asked them not to dilute it. Tell us everything that you think we’re going to need in the next five or 10 years. Challenge us. Make us do our job. Make us make those hard decisions about what we want to spend our money on going forward.

Q: What will success look like for you at the end of your first year? We’ll have an engaged, collaborative, positive council getting accurate information from the city, so that when we work with residents, we know we’re giving them the best information and the best service we can. I’m going to measure success by the relationships I develop with surrounding cities. I want to make sure those relationships are strong and we have opportunities to work together.

Q: What else would you like residents to know? I want them to know I’m accessible. People can always reach out to me.