Pat Hancock, who recently retired as chief of the Snowflake Fire Department, was honored at the May 26 Snowflake Town Council meeting.

Hancock was hired full time in 2004 by the town in the public works department. He has been with the fire service for 20 years in December.

“I volunteered for all those years,” said Hancock, who was later hired as chief.

“It’s been a wonderful career,” he said, noting that he has been able to raise his children here and work with some great men. He paid tribute to his dad, because when Hancock was going on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints his dad said, “You’ve got to speak or no one is going to listen,” and Hancock said he’s been speaking ever since.

“I love the fire services,” he said, and is continuing to pursue them, but is working in construction in the meantime, which has given him an opportunity to do some thinking.

“I love the fire service, I always will. I love Snowflake; I love the people here, and it’s been wonderful to work with you guys,” he said.

Hancock thanked retiring Snowflake-Taylor Police Chief Jerry VanWinkle, noting that they worked closely together.

He spoke briefly about the committee he helped get started three years ago, which has resulted in a fire/ambulance intergovernmental agreement between Snowflake and Taylor.

“I support it. I left the fire service to support this. It needs to happen; it needs to move forward in a positive manner,” said Hancock. “I don’t like negatives, and if you felt like I was negative in any way, you’ve got my sincere apologies.”

“We appreciate your service,” said Mayor Tom Poscharsky, who served on that committee. “It was eye opening to go through that and see all the challenges, see all the challenges we’re going to face in the future.”

The mayor said he appreciated Hancock’s help in keeping the committee going, and noted that the chief was always there.

“I truly believe that you made Snowflake a better place because of your service,” said Vice Mayor Kerry Ballard. “We did a lot of things because of what you did there.”

Councilman Byron Lewis said he enjoyed working on the Emergency Preparedness Team with Hancock.

Councilman Cory Johnson thanked Hancock for budgeting for the Pioneer Day fireworks every year. “I appreciate you always supported that,” he said.

“It was fun working on that committee with you. I obviously learned a lot about fire,” said Councilman Terril Kay. “With that knowledge came a respect for you.”

Kay said the SFD was funded, but not extremely funded, and that he appreciated how Hancock made it work.

“You should be proud of the way you did your job, and the service you rendered for this community,” said the councilman.