The plumbing industry by day, mayor of Yacolt by night. Ian Shealy, a 13-year Yacolt resident, stepped in as mayor of the small town after Katie Listek did not seek re-election for the 2024-27 term.
Shealy serves as an estimator and designer for a plumbing business in Portland by day before turning his focus to his rural town.
“The biggest thing I love about this town is it’s a small town. The small-town feel, it’s a community,” Shealy said. “I love raising my kids here. … I work in Portland, so I work around all types of different things going on. I like being able to come home and have that small-town feel where the kids can just grow up, know everybody. So for me, my biggest thing I love about the town is the community.”
Shealy said one of his top focuses as mayor is to expand community events.
“The biggest thing I heard when I was running for mayor was, ‘I don’t feel like the community is the community anymore,’ ” Shealy said. “So my biggest thing is trying to bridge the gap there. The biggest things are trying to get more events outside of just the typical Christmas, Easter and Fourth of July. There’s a lot of rain here right? And we have a lot of kids idle, and [that] kind of creates mischief, which I get, I was a kid, too. So I just want to be able to do more events during the year that the community wants to partake in.”
During his first year, Shealy said he wants to learn the role to serve Yacolt the right way and describes himself as a normal resident and not a politician.
Shealy steps in with a couple of big tasks before him. The town’s Public Works Department needs revamping after the closure of the Larch Corrections Center. Within the next two years, the department needs a new shop building as its lease with the local fire department will be ending.
“I have to work with our public works director and the council and landowners to see what we can do to get something going because that’s going to be a big hit if we don’t have somewhere to go. It’s a small town. There’s not a whole lot of commercial space,” Shealy explained. “So that’s a huge goal that needs to be accomplished. It’s not something I can do on my own, but it’s something that I think as a community we can.”
As well, with the absence of Larch crews to help with projects, Yacolt will have to hire new field technicians, which means adjusting the city’s budget.
“The biggest challenge I think I’m facing is the fact that Larch is closed,” said Shealy. “Larch was a huge help for this town. The inmates that worked there did a lot for this town, and they were actually really nice people. When they were in town, they took care of a lot. They built things for people. They cleaned the streets. They did the lawn mowing. So having a small town budget and trying to meet the needs of public works, that’s a huge, huge, stepping stone.”
Another key concern for Shealy is public safety. He hopes to work with the Clark County Sheriff’s Office to either get a better presence in Yacolt or figure out what the town can do on its own. He said he would love for Yacolt to have its own police department but believes working a better deal for an increased presence by CCSO would be the more feasible option.
Overall, he believes that Yacolt is special because it’s a small community nestled in the foothills of the Cascades but is close to a major metropolitan area.
“It’s not a big city. There’s not a whole bunch of things going on. To me, it’s a rare gem, and I think it’s awesome that people are moving in,” Shealy said. “They’re leaving bigger cities to come here. We have the blessing that we have rivers and trails and lakes, and we have a railroad that is really cool with events for kids during the year.”
Shealy encourages people to visit Yacolt and see its natural beauty and outdoor recreation opportunities.
