WYDOT welcomes new commissioners, congratulates outgoing members

By Mark Horan

WYDOT is pleased to welcome seven new members to the agency’s three commissions.

New members to the Transportation Commission are Jim Willox, Michael Baker and Brandt Lyman, who replaced Philip Schmidt, Greg Venable and Jim Espy, respectively.

Joining the Aeronautics Commission is Dean McClain, who replaced Anja Richmond.

The Public Safety Communications Commission’s newest members are Wyoming Highway Patrol Maj. Karl Germain and John Wetzel, who replaced Colonel Kebin Haller and Doug Frank, respectively.

Under Wyoming statute, members to the three commissions are appointed by the Governor. Transportation Commission members are appointed to one six-year term. Aeronautics Commission members typically serve two six-year terms. PSCC members are permitted to serve an unlimited number of threeyear terms.

“I’m looking forward to developing a great working relationship with all our commission members,” said WYDOT Interim Director Darin Westby. “I want to welcome the new commissioners and thank the outgoing members for their service to the state and WYDOT.”

Willox represents Commission District 7, which includes Converse, Natrona and Fremont Counties. Willox is a Converse County native and graduated from Douglas High School and then the University of Wyoming with a bachelor’s degree in Agriculture Economics.

Raised on a ranch south of Douglas he “moved to town” in 2001. Willox has been serving as a Converse County Commissioner since January 2007 and has been involved in transportation issues since his election.

He previously served as an officer then President of the Wyoming County Commissioners Association and has represented the Association at the state and national level.

Willox has been a high school basketball official for the past 22 years. He and his wife Tione are small business owners in real estate. They have several properties in Douglas and Casper and operate T&J Maxi Storage in Douglas.

Baker was born and raised in Powell, Wyoming where he attended elementary, middle and high school graduating in 1972. He continued his education at Northwest College.

Baker served as a member of the Wyoming House of Representatives for six terms, representing House District 28 which includes Hot Springs and portions of Washakie and Big Horn counties. He has served over 30 years on the Lucerne Pumping Plant Canal Company board and is currently chairman of the board of that irrigation district.

Baker was appointed to the Wildlife and Natural Resources Conservation Board, where he served for six years. He has been a member of the Thermopolis Chamber of Commerce board, both Park and Hot Springs County Farm Bureau Boards and has held many positions with both the county and state Republican Party.

Baker and his wife, Phyllis, farm and manage grazing land north of Thermopolis. They have been in the farm and ranch business for approximately 50 years.

Lyman, of Rock Springs, represents Commission District 2, which includes Albany, Carbon, and Sweetwater Counties.

He is the principal engineer for Western-EGI, a general civil and geotechnical engineering firm. Lyman graduated from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. In 2008, Lyman obtained his Wyoming Professional Engineering License. He is also a Certified Weld Inspector, and has been responsible for the civil engineering of several projects across southwest Wyoming.

Lyman is a member of the Wyoming Engineering Society, president of the Southwest Chapter of the Wyoming Society of Professional Engineers, a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and a member of the American Concrete Institute. He is also active in the Rock Springs community and has served on the Rock Springs Museum Board and volunteered with the Urban Renewal Agency and Events Center.

McClain of Torrington represents Aeronautics Commission District 1. He grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and landed in Wyoming at Wyoming Technical Institute before going on to a career as a diesel mechanic in Casper.

McClain learned to fly at Harford Field in 1976, and was swept up by the aviation boom of the 1970s. He went on to become a certified flight instructor at Wyoming Central Airways, the Piper Aircraft dealer in Casper, and trained many students during his time there.

McClain then flew mail and freight in the contiguous U.S. and Alaska for several years before returning to Wyoming Central Airways to pilot a Piper Cheyenne for four years. He also piloted a Beechcraft King Air for Pacific Power for three years.

In 1987, McClain and his newly-wedded wife, Candace, purchased Ag Flyers, an aerial spraying business in Torrington. The couple sold the business after 36 successful years, and Dean still flies part time for the new owners.

McClain’s hobbies include Wyoming history and anything outdoors. He is a board member of the Goshen County chapter of the Wyoming Historical Society and a board member of the Wyoming Aviation Hall of Fame. After 46 years of flying, he has landed at every published Wyoming airport – except Alpine –and many that are not published. He also hopes to perfect his landings someday. His wife says there is always hope.

Germain represents WYDOT and the WHP. He oversees Support Services at the WHP in Cheyenne.

After attending Liberty University where he studied criminal justice, Germain served four years of active duty in the U.S. Marine Corps before starting his career with the WHP in 2005, stationed in Laramie.

In 2008 he transferred to Cheyenne and became a member of the K9 team. During that tenure he assisted with multiple felony seizures of narcotics and counterfeit goods and testified numerous times in federal and state court.

In 2014, he was promoted to lieutenant, where he supervised Troop G for three years, which covers the southern half of Big

Horn County and all of Washakie and Hot Springs Counties. He was promoted to captain over Evidence, Equipment, Records and Technology in July 2017. In 2020 he helped the WHP implement new records, dispatch and mobile software. He has been in his current duty assignment since the summer of 2021.

Wetzel, current mayor of Powell, represents the Wyoming Association of Municipalities.

He attended the University of Wyoming, graduating in 1985 with the state infused in his heart. He left to get master’s degree in Graphic Communications from Clemson University in South Carolina and eventually moved to Denver to start a career in the printing industry.

Moving to Powell in 1992, community, family and children became the focus. He worked in the publishing business for many years before recently joining Impact 307. He now thoroughly enjoys working with local entrepreneurs, helping them start and grow their businesses.

Community involvement continues to be a priority as he is serving on multiple boards. Wetzel served as a councilman in Powell for 11 years and is currently in his second four-year term as mayor.

Wetzel is a graduate of the Leadership Wyoming Class of 2020. Floating rivers, pheasant hunting and golfing occupy the remainder of his time these days.