Floyd Young

Floyd Young is in his third term in Ward II, for a total of 12 years on the council, and he’s now running unopposed for a fourth term.

“I love serving the people as Powell,” Young said. “It’s as simple as that.”

Young said he tries to be knowledgeable on the issues and come to council meetings prepared.

Among the accomplishments he notes from his time on the council is helping to bring the Powell Aquatic Center to fruition. He was on the pool committee for three years before the center was built, and he helped with the fundraising efforts.

Young thought the pool would be a vital asset for Powell, and he didn’t think it was getting the support from the council he thought it deserved. It was a big reason he decided to run for his first term.

He was also one of the advocates for the transfer station. The county had a landfill near Powell, but when new regulations generally required landfills to be lined, the county commission found it was far more cost-effective to line only its site in Cody. And the county proposed charging Powell about $72 per ton to use the facility.

This led to a lengthy battle, with Powell first taking its garbage to Cowley, which charged considerably less. Then, after a fight over the location, the city built a transfer station in Powell. The station compacts the garbage to be shipped to a landfill in Billings, which charges $36.11 per ton — about half of what Park County was going to charge.

“We save the city more than $250,000 a year rather than going to the county,” Young said, referring to an estimation of the original savings. Since then, Billings has increased its fees and shipping costs have gone up, resulting in savings closer to $120,000. 

Among the other projects he’s helped along are: getting the golf course out of debt and on track financially, raising the residential recycling fee to $2 per month to support Powell Valley Recycling and serving on the tree board.

Young was born and raised in Laramie. He began teaching math and coaching in Saratoga and later in Lusk, before taking another coaching job in Idaho Falls, Idaho, where he lived for 13 years. In 1984, he took a job as a wrestling coach at Northwest College, “and I just stayed,” he said.

Young retired from NWC in 2015, after teaching for 51 years. He said being retired gives him plenty of time to be a dedicated member of the council.