For Heber City Councilor Scott Phillips, civic engagement runs in the family.
It was his dad that started it all, Phillips said, when his family lived in Vail, Colorado, in the ’80s and was hired as the city manager.
“They spent a year trying to find a home,” Phillips said. “They had a rule that the city manager had to live within city limits.”
The trouble, Phillips said, was similar to what Heber City is facing now. In Vail, the Phillips family could not find a home to live in that they could afford on a city manager’s salary. In the end, the village of Vail compromised by creating one instance of employee housing.
“That was probably the first employee housing in Vail, Colorado,” Phillips laughed. “I was in the boat where we couldn’t afford to live where my dad worked.”
Phillips is now aiming to create more affordable housing in the city where he is a public servant. As a city councilor, Phillips said he has seen a few main issues come to light.
Now he’d like to address them as mayor.
But before affordable housing, Phillips said the first step is to create clear communication on all fronts. From the city to the citizens, with the county, with the school district and with city staff. He wants to have a “collaborative environment with all elected officials in the area trying to do good for all the citizens” of the Heber Valley and Wasatch County.
“I want more cooperation, just being able to listen to feedback and listen to the citizens, listen to fellow elected officials and come to better solutions through great conversation and discourse,” Phillips said.
Phillips announced his run for mayor in April. Then, he said he was running because he wanted to give residents a second choice. Mayor Heidi Franco announced that week she would again run to occupy her seat. Creating a need for a primary election, Mike Hewlett has since thrown his hat into the ring.
After four years on the City Council and 10 years before that on the Board of Adjustment, Phillips said it’s clear what the city’s focus needs to be.
“I think the bypass road is on the top of the list,” Phillips said. “Traffic is a major issue and safety in Heber. We need to work together with UDOT to continue forward on the path of a bypass road in the near future, at least as near a future as we can get it.”
The second checkbox on his list is downtown revitalization. Some of the money has already been approved in the 2025-26 budget, Phillips said. Now councilors and city staff have their work cut out for them to decide how to design the new park and the development of “C Street” — also known as a pedestrian alley that parallels Main Street.
“It’s a key item for the vitalization of downtown because we need to bring and attract businesses that we want to have there,” Phillips said. “We need to have a place where the community can come.”
Phillips calls it the “community living room.”
“Somewhere where people want to spend time, come down, walk around, eat outside and have some opportunities that are just off of Main Street,” Phillips said.
Third on his list hits close to home for Phillips. Affordable housing or community housing — whatever you want to call it, Phillips wants to have it. As a city councilor, Phillips said he has supported his fellow councilors in creating pathways that make it easier to build affordable housing.
One example, he said, is the fee-in lieu incorporated into development agreements with North Village developers. Phillips said with that method, the city would receive money to buy property and build instead of relying on developers to construct new units.
“It’s more perpetual than just having the developer build a unit and then sell it on the open market,” Phillips said. “And critical to providing community housing that’s deed restricted so that our police officers and medical professionals like nurses and hospital staff, plus city employees, county employees, school district employees have a place they can purchase and afford and live in Heber Valley.”
While Phillips has voiced that some recent discussions — like those on ranked choice voting — have created a challenging atmosphere on the council, he said he is committed to working with his fellow elected officials.
“I think one of the strengths I bring as a potential candidate for mayor is that I’m willing to talk to all parties no matter what their beliefs or thoughts are, and I’m open to discussing with them their viewpoints and ideas,” Phillips said.
No matter what, Phillips said he believes a better conclusion is reached if all accounts and experiences are taken into consideration and “not just the one we project.”
“Heber City is, in my opinion, the best place in the world to raise a family, to live, to enjoy the outdoors,” Phillips said. “I feel like our best years are still ahead.”