Jackson’s town clerk Riley Hovorka is taking a job closer to home as the town administrator for Alpine, Wyoming.
It’s the first time in nearly two decades that Alpine has filled that position, and a sign the bedroom community is growing. Hovorka says Alpine won’t be the next Jackson, though she does think its 1,200 residents are due for better dining options.
“With the confluence of the three rivers and Melvin Brewing right there at the juncture of it all, I think there are a lot of people who like Melvin… and they want more of it,” Hovorka said.
The California native bought a log cabin there with her husband, who works at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, in 2024.
“It’s a DIY delight,” she said of their home. “It’s got that funk that people love about Jackson and that I think people worry that that’s kind of leaving.”
For the past couple years, they’ve both commuted north through the Snake River canyon on Highway 89, a familiar route for 9% of Teton County’s workers that responded to a 2022 housing needs survey.
Hovorka, 29, is sad to leave the team in Jackson, particularly her right hand, Lynsey Lenamond, a former clerk. But she said Alpine is on the cusp of some big changes. The town is considering several annexation proposals, which would grow its footprint. And it’s finalizing a master plan that divides the town into 11 neighborhoods.
Locals refer to the various enclaves with names such as “Old Alpine,” Main Street, The Airpark, which refers to the small regional airport, and simply “next to Broulim’s.”
“Over time, our residents will want to have access to more goods and services and so that may drive some of the development in Alpine,” Hovorka said. “But I think there’s a pretty strong opinion in Alpine that they don’t want to be Jackson. They want to be their own mountain town. And I think that’ll come through in our master plan, in our land use development code.”
The rising housing costs there, as over Teton Pass in Idaho, may be largely out of her control. Like Jackson, surrounding public lands limit Alpine’s space to grow. The average home sold for more than $1 million in 2024, according to a report by Keller Williams Jackson Hole. (Zillow puts the figure closer to $700,000.)
As Alpine’s first town administrator in more than a decade, Hovorka will work closely with Mayor Eric Green and four other councilors to put their policies into practice. By handling daily operations, Hovorka said she’ll free up the electeds to become more of a governing body. In a word, she said: “Professionalization.”
Town councilman Jeremy Larsen is excited for Hovorka to get started, though he downplayed Alpine’s level of upheaval. Annexations are nothing new, he said, and the master plan is years overdue — the last one was published in 2006.
But he did acknowledge that Alpine is one of the fastest growing municipalities in Wyoming.
“Nobody can afford to live in Jackson,” Larsen said, “So they’re coming here, they’re coming to Victor, Driggs, and we’re just trying to stay on top of it and manage that growth.”
As Jackson’s town clerk, Hovorka has worked closely with Town Manager Tyler Sinclair, a similar role with far more responsibilities given Jackson’s nearly 11,000 residents and the complexities of a global tourism hub.
She’s hoping for a few “parting words of wisdom” from Sinclair.
As for her new constituents, Hovorka said Alpine is on a “precipice of growing and changing.”
“That requires a larger role of government to manage development and ensure that community services are meeting the public’s wishes, wants, and needs.”
If anyone there is worried that “professionalization” is another word for big government in a state that tends to favor independence, Hovorka said she hasn’t heard it.
“Having some level of government is a good thing,” she said, citing oversight in building, development, water and sewer management, and emergency response.
When it comes to the town’s more rustic spirit, Hovorka said “I don’t want that character to ever be stripped out of Alpine.”
Alpine is gearing up for the 25th anniversary of the Great Western Antler Rendezvous. The event mirrors Jackson’s Elkfest and kicks off June 13.
While she may be young for her new role, Hovorka got an early start in public service as an intern for the City of Boise. She now has a masters in public administration. She is happy working for elected officials but wouldn’t want to be one herself.
“Part of the administrator’s role is to cue up the tough policy decisions and kind of punt those to council,” she said. “I don’t ever want to have to make those tough decisions myself.”
A voracious reader and gardener, the rest of Hovorka’s summer – when she’s not building up the new administration – will be spent tending her own backyard.
