The Association of Colorado County Administrators surprised San Juan County Administrator William “Willy” Tookey with a 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award.
“It just totally took me by surprise,” Tookey said with a laugh. “I didn’t even know what to say to, be honest.”
Association of Colorado County Administrators Executive Director Leslie Shivers said the award is “in honor of a lifetime of outstanding leadership and service in public administration” and is not something given out frequently. In fact, it may be the first of its kind.”
“The Lifetime Achievement Award is something we've awarded only rarely (if ever),” Shiver said in a news release. “I don't have records of it ever having been awarded before, but I can't be certain that it wasn't awarded years before my time.”
The rare award honors the work Tookey has done for San Juan County during the last two decades.
“I guess they were just recognizing my 20 years of service as a county administrator,” he said, “and I guess many more years of service in the community. I've been involved in local government since 1979, so I've been doing this stuff for a while.”
Tookey began working for the government and community fresh out of high school, when he ran for the Silverton Board of Trustees.
“I got appointed to the town board to fill a vacancy,” he said. “That was when I really started to realize that I enjoyed local government, but I didn't know what I was going to do with it beyond that. But then I decided that it might make sense to actually make it a career, so that's what I did.”
After serving as a trustee for five years, Tookey ran for mayor and served for six years before becoming Silverton’s Public Works director. After that, he went back to school, where he got a master’s degree in public administration and eventually became planning director for Silverton before taking on the San Juan County administrator position.
Tookey is proud of the work he accomplished during his time as San Juan County’s administrator.
“Working for the community and for the commissioners these 20 years, they've all been a real good group of people to work for: the clerk, the treasurer, assessor, sheriff. We've accomplished some major projects. We got some affordable workforce housing units developed at Anvil Mountain. We got the Silverton Family Learning Center built, which is now our preschool. We got a fire station. We've got good equipment for emergency services. We got good equipment for our road department. For a small community with very limited resources, we've managed to get a lot accomplished.”
Those in Silverton who have learned of the award have wondered whether this means Tookey plans on retiring soon. He wants to assure everyone that he will be sticking around as the county administrator for a while.
“I've been hoping to be around for a few more years,” he said. “I’m still enjoying what I'm doing. We're completing a couple of restoration projects right now. We just finished the hospital (public health office) restoration, and now we're in the final stages of the courthouse restoration. We’re still working on Gold King. We’re married to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) at this point, so we're still trying to figure out how that’s all going to work out.”
Tookey emphasized that affordable housing remains a top priority for the town and the county.
“There's still a critical need up here for workforce housing,” he said. “We're working with the town, which has taken the lead on the project after years of the county taking the lead. When the town and county can work together, we can usually accomplish some pretty good things.”
molsen@durangoherald.com
