Seven of the eight candidates running for a seat on the Park City Council are slated to answer questions at a forum on Tuesday, Aug. 8, in their first joint appearance.
Organizers say questions that will be posed to the participants were crafted with the help of community input and each candidate will get at least one “softball” and one “heater.”
The event is hosted by Future Park City, a civic engagement initiative, and will be held at Park City Library. Candidates will be at a meet-and-greet in the Community Room beginning at 4:30 p.m. and the forum will be held in the Santy Auditorium from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The forum is open to the public and everyone is welcome to attend, including children.
The candidates are competing for three council seats and the six top vote-getters in a Sept. 5 primary will advance to the Nov. 21 general election. The three candidates who get the most votes in that election will take office in January and serve a four-year term.
Future Park City, which was established in 2016, has held previous forums and its founders are expecting a larger audience this year.
“It’s a deep field this year, some of the candidates are relatively unknown to the community, and we hope to help inform voters in narrowing the field,” Future Park City co-founder Sarah Berry said in a written statement. “Voters have found our past forums a refreshing way to connect with candidates and assess their willingness and skill in tackling tough topics. Candidates, meanwhile, have found our forums fun, as well as an opportunity to more candidly assess constituent priorities and address voter concerns.”
Issues that the candidates have been discussing include development, workforce housing, traffic, parking, transit and child care.
Angela Moschetta, a Park City activist and Future Park City co-founder, said the 2021 election was a “clear referendum for change.” Two years ago, Nann Worel defeated incumbent Mayor Andy Beerman and Tim Henney, the only incumbent City Council member on the ballot, lost his bid for reelection.
“Many people are concerned that this is another critical election and that we need councilors who will be representative of the people and of the community’s role in government even if they don’t all agree,” Moschetta said. “There are different opinions in the community. There are different concerns and those really need to be represented.”
Being a City Council member is a “massive time commitment,” she said.
“Packets for council meetings get into the hundreds of pages,” Moschetta said. “We are dealing with some really complex issues as a community and in order for the community to get to the point of really understanding those issues and potential solutions, we need councilors who are skilled and able to craft policy, to shape policies, that drive solutions.”
The City Council candidates are:
- Bill Ciraco, 53, who worked in finance for years, including in a partner-level position in an investment fund, before retiring.
- Ryan Dickey, 48, a real estate broker and owner with his wife of a homeowners association management company. He was appointed to a seat on the Park City Council in early 2022 to succeed Worel after her election as mayor.
- David Dobkin, 44, an investment banker who ran for mayor in 2021. Dobkin will not be participating in the forum because he will be out of town on that day.
- John Greenfield, 45, an attorney who also owns a grocery-delivery business.
- Matthew Nagie, 29, a Park City High School physics teacher who also has worked as a transportation engineer.
- Ed Parigian, 66, a community activist who has worked in the finance and accounting fields.
- Bob Sertner, 67, a retired television executive producer who worked in the entertainment field for 40 years.
- Jody Whitesides, 53, a singer, songwriter, composer, mixing engineer and producer.
Betsy Wallace, who was in the race, suspended her campaign on Wednesday, saying her life had become “significantly more unbalanced” than she had anticipated. Wallace is executive director of the Park City Institute.