City Manager Wayne Pyle, seen here at the grand opening of fire station 76, signed a five-year contract in May to keep him with West Valley City. By Travis Barton [email protected]. Whether it was maintaining city leadership, dealing with serious tragedy, or two momentous decisions on pieces of land, West Valley City employees and residents saw significant impact in Possibly nothing rocked the West Valley community more this year than the untimely death of Jill Robinson, a West Valley City code enforcement officer.
Killed in the line of duty on Aug. Her brother, Jaren Robinson, recounted the time Jill donated bone marrow when he got leukemia. She took injections that made her sick to create more stem cells. Doctors wanted 10 million stem cells, so she hooked to a machine that extracted stem cells and then give blood back to her. Those 10 million cells were inserted by IV into his body where they began to regrow and reproduce. Jill raised her four kids almost exclusively as a single mom.
She would hand make their Halloween costumes. She would sneak candy to eat in the car with her sister Julie Robinson while driving with the kids.
She would attend every swim meet, sports game, play or graduation. She graduated herself from the police academy at 38, frequently working more than one job. Merrill said Jill was proud to be a code enforcement officer. West Valley sent firefighters to California, received a grant to hire 15 more firefighters, had two fire stations open and started a hands-only CPR campaign. Starting in February, free hands-only CPR classes have been available on a monthly basis, teaching residents how to do continuous chest compressions without mouth-to-mouth.
Maybe most important though, was ensuring the far-flung corners of the city had proper safety coverage. We can now serve the residents of this part of our fair city in a more rapid and efficient way.
