Tana Toly, a lifelong Parkite, captured a seat on the Park City Council on Tuesday, finishing in first place in the preliminary results, and is slated to take the seat in early January.
Toly in an interview on Thursday said she wants to play a role in uniting the community. She said hopes for “basically, a healing for everyone.” She said she wants to engage those Parkites who were not involved in public affairs in recent years.
“There’s people who haven’t felt included in the process,” Toly said.
Possibly, she said, a task force or a group that operates in a similar manner should be seated with the goal of understanding the vision of various community interests and learning how they can work cohesively. She said members of a task force or other sort of group could include City Hall, the County Courthouse, the Park City School District, not-for-profit organizations and business groups. Toly would like the group formed by spring or early summer.
“Make sure we repair the relationships with every single group,” she said.
Toly provided a prepared statement further explaining the topic.
“Uniting the community and ensuring we all have a voice in our future- we need to heal as a community and work through our differences. We need a collaborative work group that includes our city/county government, chamber, small businesses, nonprofits and other community organizations to define clear, comprehensive and inclusive goals on Park City’s plans moving forward. It is imperative that everyone feels they have a voice and a chance to share their ideas. When we invite opinions that differ from our own, it makes us stronger and helps shape solutions for our future. This will help us to start prioritizing transportation and regional planning which are crucial right now,” the statement said.
Toly, who is 40 and lives in Old Town, is a member of the family that owns Red Banjo Pizza Parlour. She is a member of City Hall’s Old Town panel, called the Historic Preservation Board. She is also the vice president of the board of the Historic Park City Alliance, which is a group that represents the interests of businesses in the Main Street core. Toly will resign from the Historic Preservation Board as a result of the City Council victory. She also holds a board seat on the Park City Area Restaurant Association.
She plans to discuss with City Hall attorneys whether she will be able to continue with a role in the Main Street organization and the one representing restaurants. The Historic Park City Alliance has regular dealings with City Hall and the elected officials while issues involving the restaurant group occasionally are before the mayor and City Council.
“It feels amazing. I’m extremely grateful,” she said about the results on Tuesday.