Bayfield has had a new mayor since April. It might be the old mayor, Rick Smith, who most wants people to know this, so he'll stop getting phone calls about town business. The new mayor is Matt Salka, the tall guy at town meetings.
He attended Fort Lewis College and moved to Bayfield in 2000. But he said it was about 2½ years ago that he could really call Bayfield home. "My dad was in the Navy, so we moved all the time," he said.
"When I came to Fort Lewis, I was a big-city kid coming to a small town. I thought I'd go back to San Diego, but when I did, I felt I had to get back here. I've been in almost every state, and I wanted to be in Bayfield. In the beginning, I missed the big-city life, but now I wouldn't trade (small-town life) for anything."
He emphasized, "Bayfield is home. I'm finally home."
Salka said his next step after college was to start a small computer business, but that changed into a very different business. "It's more of a hobby now," he said of the computer business.
"My main business is actually rodent control. It was a computer client of mine who was complaining about a rodent problem. I thought it would be a weekend job, but I've been busy ever since."
His business is Absolute Rodent Control. The main targets are prairie dogs and gophers.
Salka joined the town board two years ago. "People said you should run for the board. I didn't even know it was something I wanted to do, but I've been very excited to be part of this great town and be one of the decision-makers, to make the town even better than it is."
Former Mayor Smith was term-limited. "I didn't hear many people say they want the position. Rick did a great job for two terms, donating a lot of his time," Salka said. "He had a vision that I could take that baton and keep going forward with it."
The town's water and sewer infrastructure is in good shape, so there is capacity for growth, he said, but the town is running out of undeveloped lots. He guesses those could be gone in two to four years. "We need more," he said.
He advised that a common goal on surveys of town residents, a large grocery chain opening a store here, probably isn't happening. "Large chains want 20,000 people before they even look at a town," he said.
Bayfield has about 2,300 residents. There are more than 6,000 households in the Pine River Valley.
Salka said he will focus on things that are doable - the bridge replacement project on Bayfield Parkway, the water plant expansion with the La Plata/Archuleta Water District, and getting more businesses to come to town "for more jobs and opportunities for other businesses to come in. ... to get people in Bayfield to stay in Bayfield and not have to go to Durango."
