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By Richard Okelberry, October 16, 2011 6:08 am

Richard Okelberry,

Married with 3 children (Corbin 3, Annabelle 5, Lily 7)

42 yrs old

Retired, Disabled Veteran.

Prior Small Business Owner

Studied Sculpture/Photography at USU (self taught Graphic/Web Designer)

Chairman, Apple Days 2010-2011 (active)

Assisted Councilwoman Hadfield in creating draft of the River Heights Emergency Operations Plan.

Created new City Web site that is less expensive and more user-friendly.

Recipient; 2011 – Citizen of the Year award for River Heights, UT.

Richard Okelberry

I am a Retired Disabled Veteran which gives me the amazing fortune of being able to serve as the primary care giver for our three small children; Corbin 3, Annabelle 5, Lily 6.  While I lived in Cache Valley for sometime in the early nineties while attending USU, I didn’t meet my wife until moving back to Lincoln, Nebraska.  We returned to Cache Valley in 2008 seeking a better community to raise our kids in and to be closer to family.  In fact, Utah and Idaho are the only two states with a significant OKELBERRY populations. 

Despite being retired by the military, I have also been involved with the startup and management of several small business ventures.  To this day, I still freelance with two of these businesses, DesignWear (screen-printing/embroidery) and Agnus Dei Printing (vintage baptismal, marriage and confirmation certificate restoration.)

 In 2009, I was asked by some of our neighbors to seek an open position on the River Heights City Council.  While this bid was unsuccessful, I impressed on the Mayor and the Council that I was earnest about giving back to our adoptive community by volunteering to help the city however I could.

 Several months later the Mayor and Council took my up on my offer and asked if I would be Chairman of the annual Apple Days Celebration.  I was incredibly honored by their request as my family and I had become huge fans of the celebration.  Since that day, along with the help of many volunteers, we have been able to grow Apple Days significantly without making it so large that it loses the feeling of a true community celebration.  Some of the recent success of our Apple Days Celebration comes from the recruitment of Sponsors for our various events and activities.  This has allowed us to do more with less.  As such, I am proud to say that for the past two years not only has Apple Days been under budget, but we were able to provide everything from rides/activities to games (complete with prizes) for free to every child that attends.  We have also seen nearly a 25% increase in the number of volunteers in just the past year.

 Since 2009, I have also been given the opportunity to assist Councilwoman Hadfield in the creation of our Emergency Operations Plan and was tasked by the Mayor with creating a new, more user friendly City Web Site.  Finally, during the 2011 Apple Days celebration, I was truly honored to receive from the Council the River Heights, Citizen of the Year award.  This award continues to remind me of how truly privileged I am to live in such a great community.

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By Richard Okelberry, October 12, 2011 8:55 am

 Hello, my name is Richard Okelberry and I am one of the candidates for City Council.  I truly want to apologize to those that have taken their time to attend the Meet the Candidates night.  Unfortunately, due to a long scheduled surgery, (and longer than expected recovery) I will not be able to attend this year’s forum. 

 As many of you may already know, I am a retired Disabled Veteran.  This surgery is my 7^th major surgery since being medically discharged from the military and promises to make the greatest improvement to my mobility.  While difficult, this is an exciting time for me and my family.  I only wish that this surgery did not have to conflict with such an important election event.

 While it is certainly preferable to be able to sit and ask questions of a candidate directly, I would like to invite anyone who would like to get to know me better and who would like to feel out what I might be like as a City Council member, to call me at 213-3382 or to visit my website at www.RichardOkelberry.com.

 There you will find an expanding list of essays dedicated to some of the projects or opportunities that I believe would be of a great benefit to the city.  You will also find there that I have been very active in volunteering with the city by serving as Apple Days Chairman, assisting Councilwoman Hadfield with creating the city’s first Emergency Operations Plan and by building/maintaining the City’s new Website.

 I truly hope that this year’s Meet the Candidates night is full of thoughtful debate and discussion.  I know many of the candidates who have offered their services to the city and as always, we in River Heights have some great options from a group of talented and dedicated citizens.  Please, consider me among them as you make you decision on November 8^th!

 Sincerely,

 Richard Okeberry