The June 25 Democratic Primary for County Council Seat C is a critical one for the next four years of County Council leadership. Please know who the candidates are and what their positions and services have been over the last several years.
Summit County voters should know that since the time Megan McKenna took her position as a Mountainlands Housing Trust advocate in August 2022, she has stated her supported at public hearings of developer’s visions of Dakota Pacific at Kimball Junction and Larry Miller Group/Ivory Homes in Hoytsville.
All citizens have a right to their opinion when stating their name and viewpoint for the public record on any given topic. But a more experienced candidate would better understand how advocating for affordable housing comes in many forms.
Planning Commissioner and council candidate Thomas Cooke has a full grasp of Summit County’s Moderate Income Housing Plan and Neighborhood Mixed Use Zone. Both address housing affordability in different ways. They are the nuanced tools with which Ms. McKenna lacks experience. Both strive to improve upon local affordable housing.
Moreover, I was touched at a meet-and-greet last month when candidate Cooke spoke of his own hopes that his daughter (currently in college) would be able to return to Summit County and live here in the mountains where she was born and raised. Thomas has shown himself as a fierce advocate for west side values and has proven that in his planning commissioner role over the past seven years.
He will bring his experience to the both east and west side as a County Council member who enhances the values and goals of all Summit County communities. I hope you will join me in supporting him in this primary election and then in November. Your lifestyle may depend on it!
Kathy Mears
Park City