Yukon Mayor Oversees Strategic Growth for Bustling Suburb

Shelli Selby had an advertisement hanging on the fence of her Yukon home when she was told it was a violation of city codes. It was one of a few issues she had with city hall. 

“I would complain a lot about different things,” Selby said with a laugh. “But one day I decided I need to stop being a complainer and be part of the solution. I wanted to give back to my community because I love Yukon, I decided the run and give back.”

In 2018, Selby successfully ran for city council. 

Last year, her fellow council members elected her mayor. 

The educator and councilor moved to Yukon with her family in 1988, looking for a small community to raise a family. Over the last 33 years Yukon has blossomed into a thriving suburb of Oklahoma City and Selby finds herself leading her hometown into a new era of strategic growth. 

“We used to be a small town where everybody knew everybody and now, we are not. I miss that at times, but progress can be good,” Selby said.  

Handling growth often starts with new roads and infrastructure. 

Last year, she oversaw the launch of a redesign of State Highway 4, a dangerous two-lane road that had long been too congested. The project will widen the highway and include a center turn lane, shoulders and three new bridges. 

“This has been great to see because I campaigned on (rebuilding) Highway 4,” Selby said. “Highway 4 needed to be started, it is not safe.”

Yukon is also preparing for a new I-40 interchange at Frisco road, which Selby said would spark new development.

“We are hoping it brings in a new tax base but also brings in new entertainment, new places to shop so we don’t have to go to Oklahoma City all the time,” Selby said. 

“That goes along with my hope to really revitalize our downtown as a destination place for people to come and see Yukon as not just a little sleeper community but a thriving destination.”

Selby said she is also passionate about helping Yukon grow in an environmentally sustainable way. The city is currently without curbside recycling, something she hopes to change soon. 

“I hope in the future we have more of a green county, more recycling, using better energy, just becoming a cleaner community,” Selby said. “We are looking at curbside recycling, that is a thing I would like to see in the year.

Like most mayors across the state, Selby’s focus for the past year has been on the COVID-19 pandemic and helping her city stay safe. She became mayor in May as the pandemic was intensifying and it has been her primary issue since. 

The city requires masks for restaurant servers and bar tenders, and city employees. While there is no citywide mask mandate, Selby said she has tried to help city hall educate the public on the importance of wearing masks and following other safety guidelines. 

“This is such a kind community and it’s the kind thing to do,” Selby said about wearing a mask. 

Selby established a COVID-19 taskforce made up of various city leaders with the goal of taking in as much credible information as possible and sending it back out into the community. 

“When we lose someone (to COVID-19) they are not a number, they are somebody’s loved one and that keeps me up at night,” Selby said. 

Selby said her campaign for city council in 2018 was built on the idea that she was not a politician, but instead a regular citizen of Yukon who wanted to make it a better place to live. 

Since her election, Selby said she has learned a lot about city government and that change isn’t as easy as it might sound. Each idea requires planning, studies, drafting an ordinance, and then getting buy-in from other members of the council and the community. 

“You can’t please everybody and the way government runs, you can’t just go in and change things quickly, I think those are the biggest lessons I’ve learned,” Selby said.

But the success Selby has had results in things she can see each day, whether it is a new road or new local business.

“For me to make changes, I wanted to make changes in the place that I lived,” Selby said. “I admire people who work on the state or national level but for me, I wanted to give back to the place I call home.”