Candidates won’t face voters for months, but the Park City campaign has already garnered widespread attention.
There is a chance of the contest generating even more next week.
City Hall on Tuesday is scheduled to hold a workshop designed to introduce prospective candidates to the mechanics of the upcoming election. The workshops in previous years drew crowds of people who were considering campaigns, making the event a key political date early in the election cycle.
Mayor Nann Worel, Park City Attorney Margaret Plane and Michelle Kellogg, the Park City recorder and the municipal elections officer, are scheduled to present during the workshop. Worel is expected to provide comments about serving in elected office while Plane will likely address legal issues related to campaigns and public service. Kellogg has broad knowledge of the mechanics of the election, such as candidate eligibility and important dates during the campaign.
The mayor’s office and two seats on the Park City Council are on the ballot in November. Worel is retiring after one term in the municipality’s highest office. She also served on the City Council and Park City Planning Commission prior to winning the mayor’s office four years ago.
Worel in an interview described elected office as exciting and challenging. In a local government, she said, an elected official can have an impact more rapidly than at other levels of government. The mayor also cautioned that elected officials spend lots of time on the municipal work each week. She estimated a city councilor could spend between 25 and 30 hours per week on their official duties while the mayor could spend up to 50 hours in a week.
The mayor said the time commitment varies by week, but an elected official should have flexibility in their schedules. Someone who works from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. during the week could encounter scheduling conflicts with official duties like meetings and other events, she said.
One of the biggest challenges in public service is weighing competing priorities, such as in budgetary matters when there is a limited amount of funds to put toward a wide range of wishes, she said. Worel spoke of a juggling act.
The workshop is planned shortly after a tense debate about the method City Hall will use for the election. The City Council earlier opted for a system called ranked-choice voting. Concerns were subsequently raised about ranked-choice voting, prompting a split City Council to rescind plans to manage the election through that method. The election will instead use the traditional method.
The return to the traditional method creates the possibility of primary elections if there are enough candidates in the mayoral or City Council fields. The return also results in an earlier candidate filing window.
The event is scheduled from 5:30 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. in the City Council chambers at the Marsac Building.
City Hall has posted information about the election on the municipal website, parkcity.org, including qualifications to become a candidate and a list of key dates for people running for office. The direct link is: parkcity.org/government/election-information. More information about the workshop is also available on the website, with the direct link being: parkcity.org/Home/Components/News/News/46855/23.