ROCK SPRINGS — The memory of a Rock Springs that has long passed is what fueled the vision and passion for community service Carl Demshar had during his years on the Rock Springs City Council and as the city’s mayor.

Demshar was recently honored by being named the Rock Springs Chamber of Commerce’s 2025 Rock Legend, a yearly distinction the chamber bestows on a resident who has provided a lifetime of community service to the area. Demshar told SweetwaterNOW he always thought about the Rock Springs he grew up in while serving elected roles and community service boards, saying he thought about what was best for Rock Springs.

“Rock Springs has always had a special place in my heart,” Demshar said.

Demshar was the city’s mayor from 2011 to 2018, serving two terms. He was a member of the Rock Springs City Council and had served on several boards prior to being elected mayor.

Demshar said his memories of what Rock Springs was while he was young helped influence one of his main goals as mayor. That goal: accomplish as much downtown enhancement and redevelopment as possible.

“I can remember as a kid, 70-plus years ago, we had no social media and the way people used to visit was on a Saturday, everyone would come to the downtown area and go to the stores,” Demshar said. “You would meet friends on the street and visit with them.”

Demshar said he wanted to get back to that sense of community and camaraderie he saw in the city. He said he has always been interested in what is happening in Rock Springs, saying his interest was more than just reading about it and wanted to know why something was the way it was. 

“I would read something and, I don’t know why, I would always start peeling the layers of the onion,” Demshar said. “Many of the times I did that, it all went back to politics.”

Demshar’s first brush with politics came when he tried to join the city’s parks and recreation advisory board because he was upset with how much it cost to reserve fields for the fastpitch softball league. Demshar recalls meeting with then Mayor Charles Keith West and telling West about his issue with reservations. West told Demshar he wouldn’t place him on the board because he had a personal agenda. 

“He looked at me across his desk and said, ‘“I will not put you on parks and rec.,” Demshar said. “He said, ‘You have an agenda and you’re not working for the greater good of the community.’ I will never forget that “

Demshar said that comment caused him to rethink the reasons for public service, saying it made a big impact on how he approached politics. A few years later, Demshar would seek an appointment to the parks board, with West supporting Demshar’s appointment. 

One of Demshar’s earliest memories of his time on the parks board involved approaching residents on the eastern side of the city about planning Veterans Park. Demshar said he led the meeting where residents spoke about what they wanted to see in the park. 

A second lesson he learned came from that meeting and seeing how a government can impact people’s lives while acting on what they wanted to see.

“For me, that was a real eye opener,’ Demshar said.

Demshar said he worked to balance being a father with his desire to be involved and know more about how things operated in the city. He said that desire led him to join other boards and commissions and later led him to seek elected positions on the Council. 

Accomplishments as the Mayor

“I’m obviously very biased, but I think we, during that period, did so much stuff,” Demshar said about work done while he was mayor. Work done to enhance Downtown Rock Springs while supporting economic development efforts for the county led to a lot of activity in the city during his eight years as mayor. He said the city accomplished a number of projects such as the renovation of the Bunning Transfer Station and completion of the Broadway Theater.

Demshar believes the Council “did something right” because the city’s Main Street organization received the Great American Main Street Award in 2018. The award is given by Main Street America to Main Street organizations that provide “exceptional models for comprehensive, preservation-based commercial district revitalization.”

Demshar said the Council hired Chad Banks as city’s Main Street Manager, saying Banks was the right guy for the position from the moment he started. Demshar said the people brought in to help Banks also deserve credit for the recognition. 

“The team we put together on the ground are really the people that deserve the kudos,” he said. “We as a governing body did what we could financially and as ambassadors of the URA to foster that.”

Demshar said a second piece in bringing Rock Springs national attention came from partnering with the Sweetwater County Board of County Commissioners to bring the National High School Finals Rodeo to the Sweetwater Events Complex. Demshar remembers sitting next to the president of the NHSFR board when making the case to bring the rodeo to Sweetwater County and finding it easy to promote Rock Springs during that conversation.

The only time I ever stopped and thought of myself as separate from the team was when I used to think to myself ‘I’m the guy sitting in the chair and the buck stops here.’

Former Rock Springs Mayor Carl Demshar

“It was so easy for me to visit with him, talk to him about the benefits of Rock Springs, the good people that live in Rock Springs, that the people of Rock Springs would welcome them into the community,” Demshar said. “When we finally did get them to agree to come to Rock Springs, Sweetwater County, I really felt good about that.”

He said the rodeo has a huge impact from an economic development perspective, when 10,000 people are dropped into the community for a 10-day period. The city and county provided $2.5 million in excess Sixth Penny Tax funds collected by the two to enhance the events complex, which included building a looped water line to the facility to minimize bacteria buildup in the line. The camper sites at the facility were also built during that time. Demshar said there were long-term benefits from those developments, which include the events complex being able to host RV rallies and other events using those camper spaces.

Demshar said the Council was great to work with while he was mayor, saying there was little animosity between Council members. He admits there were some differences of opinion amongst the group, but it was just enough to have members thinking about if the city was headed in the right direction or if a better decision was available.

“I said it that night when I got the award, we were a great team,” he said. “Overall, we had a great Council.”

Demshar said he didn’t always think of the group as a team when he thought about where the proverbial buck stops in the city. While the Council can do a great job, it can also make a bad decision and Demshar said people don’t think about which Council members supported the decision. Instead, people look at the mayor. He said a decision could be made during a Tuesday night meeting and the next morning, while sitting in a coffee shop, Demshar said someone would walk up to him and question the reasoning behind the decision.

“The only time I ever stopped and thought of myself as separate from the team was when I used to think to myself ‘I’m the guy sitting in the chair and the buck stops here,’” Demshar said.

Demshar views city government as the purest form of government because it doesn’t involve partisan politics and focuses solely on the city and how immediate the decisions would take effect.

Demshar said if he wasn’t 78 years old, he would likely still be involved in politics. Instead, he has taken a role in mentoring younger leaders who seek out his advice. Looking back, Demshar said politics and business are both ultimately about cultivating personal relationships, saying his love of Rock Springs and its residents is what encouraged him to remain involved with the city.