Many Parkites see Park City as an international city.
Michael Kovacs, 37 years old and the new assistant city manager at City Hall, would agree with that assessment. Kovacs holds dual citizenship between the United States and his homeland of Canada.
Kovacs, who started as the No. 2 staffer at City Hall in mid-December, has had dual citizenship since 2001 and has lived in the United States since he was 19 years old. He says he enjoys living in America, saying he could accomplish more in the United States.
“There are more freedoms here. I would say more opportunity. It’s got so many different places. The regions of the country are so different,” Kovacs says.
Born in the Canadian province of Ontario and having lived in Toronto and Calgary, Alberta, Kovacs brings to Park City a wide-ranging background in the public sector.
He worked in emergency management in Corpus Christi, Texas, writing hurricane-response plans for the local government there. Meanwhile, he held top-ranking municipal positions in cities in Texas and South Carolina, including time in resort cities, before being selected as the assistant city manager in Park City.
“To live in a resort town is one of the greatest things,” Kovacs says.
He says government leaders in resort communities must balance the wishes of the people who live locally on a full-time basis and what visitors desire. He says the communities must not “sacrifice too much.”
At City Hall, Kovacs has been assigned to monitor the Statehouse, and he expects to spend a significant amount of time during the upcoming legislative session. He says he will closely watch bills addressing topics like education funding, water, taxes and building codes.
He also expects to play a role in the talks at City Hall about updating the municipal General Plan, an overarching document that guides growth in Park City, the discussions about the redevelopment of lower Park Avenue and the talks about the district centered along Bonanza Drive.
Kovacs says one of the Texas cities where he worked, Port Aransas, drew many workers from outside the United States, with Mexicans and Jamaicans heading to the city for work. He says he hopes governments, businesses and regular people “follow the law of the land” when he talks about immigration.
He says foreigners bring diversity, but “at the same time, you see the plight of the American worker.”
Kovacs moved to Park City with his wife, Fonya, and three sons, ages 8, 10 and 13. They rent a Prospector duplex owned by City Hall as the family tries to sell a house in Port Aransas.
With his Canadian background, Kovacs says he was impressed with the Park City Ice Arena. He plays for a City Hall hockey team. He says he has long wanted to work in a place like Park City.
“I’ve been trying to get to a mountain tourism town,” he says.