Government association chief retiring

OREM — Leaning over the shredder, Darrell Cook began filing a pile of papers through. He was talking to one of his associates across the hall when he noticed he, too, was being pulled into the shredder — by his tie.

Cook frantically tried to find the off switch. His neck was 10, then 8, then 6 inches from the mouth of the machine when he found the plug, yanked and was freed, though most of his tie was in pieces.

This incident eight years ago was one of Cook's funniest yet scariest moments working at Mountainland Association of Governments, an organization that coordinates services such as transportation, community and economic planning in Utah, Summit and Wasatch counties. Cook, 63, has been working for MAG nearly since its inception 37 years ago and has been the group's executive director for almost 20 years. But after this year, Cook will be hanging up his tie — and his title.

He thought when he began working at MAG a year after he graduated from BYU that he would stay a couple of years for some experience, but two years somehow turned into 37.

"Every year I would say, 'I'll stay one or two more years,' " Cook said. "It doesn't take long until the pendulum swings the other direction, and you think, 'Wow, I've been here a long time.' "

Looking back, Cook said he is most proud of his role in the reconstruction of I-15. He was at the ribbon-cutting in 2000, and even though the completion of the project is still several years out, he has seen it come together.

"It's a reflection of a lot of work from a lot of people," Cook said, "and it took a lot of effort bringing the right people together."

The darkest moment of Cook's career was in 2005 when a previous Utah County Commission pulled out of MAG and tried to "dismantle it," he said. Utah County became involved again a couple of years later, and Cook said the current group of Utah County commissioners is the best he has seen.

Over the years, Cook has worked with county, city and federal government officials and said he is going to miss the people he worked with the most, especially his staff.

Cook remembers just a few days after his tie got caught in the paper shredder that his staff held a safety training meeting about "how not to do stupid things" — to which everyone wore a bow tie.

Cook said he has been working for MAG longer than anyone else there — by a day. MAG's accountant started work one day after he did. He said his replacement will have "the benefit of several staff who have been there a decade or more."

The search for a new executive director began Oct. 1. MAG has had 11 applicants; seven of whom are from Utah. Applications will be accepted through Oct. 31, and a replacement will be chosen in December.

After Cook retires, he is planning on traveling and becoming a snowbird. Eventually, he would like to serve an LDS senior couple mission with his wife.

e-mail: slenz@desnews.com