JACKSON, Wyo. — Mayor Hailey Morton Levinson, who will end her four-year term as Mayor in January, reflected on her years serving the Town of Jackson in a conversation with Buckrail.
Morton Levinson grew up in Jackson and was elected to Town Council in 2012. She served as a Councilor for eight years under three different mayors, and acted as Vice Mayor for two of them. Morton Levinson was then elected as Jackson’s Mayor in 2020, and she served the Town in this role for four years.
Morton Levinson said that her participation in increasing affordable housing has been especially meaningful for her. She said that the Town created a more effective model for providing affordable housing during the 2015 Housing Summit.
“We changed to the model that we have now, where the government provides the land and we partner with the private sector, whether it’s a non-profit developer like the Housing Trust or Habitat For Humanity or a for-profit developer,” Morton Levinson said. “We’ve significantly increased the amount of housing that we’ve been able to build in that time, and also the amount of public money that we’ve been able to leverage to provide more housing.”
Morton Levinson said that in this past year, local government has opened a hundred homes for community members, including the Flat Creek Apartments, the Jackson Street apartments and some of the Habitat homes near Mike Yokel Park at the Benson Brown Project.
“Housing for our community is a daunting task, and it feels overwhelming at times,” Morton Levinson said. “We have been working on it and we will continue to work on it.”
During her years on Town Council, Morton Levinson said that she has worked to help shift the development conversation to how buildings impact residents, instead of just talking about the physical construction. She is also proud of her work highlighting the need for child care.
“Having my three kids while in office, it was pretty front and center for me how hard it is to take care of our kids, and how expensive it can be,” Morton Levinson said. “So the Council, led by myself, converted town space into a child care facility. We opened up spots, not only for our Town and County government staff, but also for the community at large.”
The day care, which is located across from Town Hall on Pearl Ave., also provides child care for community members during Town Council meetings.
Hailey explained that any government position is “learning as you go, on the ground.” She said that listening is critical when communicating.
“I don’t talk a lot in any of our meetings,” Morton Levinson said. “It’s because I’m listening, whether it’s to our constituents, members of the public, staff or my colleagues. It’s really an art of communication, how you can move a group towards decision, one way or the other.”
Looking ahead, Morton Levinson stressed that while there are housing and transportation issues, the biggest challenge the community faces is maintaining a healthy and civil dialogue.
“Over my tenure, we’ve seen it trickle down from the national dialogue and debate … the distrust in one another,” Morton Levinson said. “That will play into the physical challenges of building, housing and making sure that we have safe streets.”
Before Morton Levinson leaves her seat, two main priorities that she will focus on are passing the Land Development Regulation amendments in response to the building moratorium, and moving forward with the 90 Virginian Lane affordable housing project. During her term, she started the annual State of the Town Address before Town Council meetings, and hopes that the address will remain instilled in the community for the future.
Her advice to Mayor elect Arne Jorgensen and the new Council members is to collaborate and work with as many community members as possible.
“The power of connection can go a long way to make a better world,” she urged.
Morton Levinson laughed that she will soon only have two full time jobs instead of three: managing her family business, Inn on the Creek, and raising her three young children.
“Serving the Town of Jackson has been such an honor,” Morton Levinson said. “Serving your home town in this way and being able to represent our community is one of the biggest honors in my life. I’ve been so grateful to be able to do it and have the support of my family and my community over the years. I’ve been really happy to do it.”
Morton Levinson said that she will continue to find ways to share the importance of community and plans to use her experience as a leader by mentoring others.
