Andy Garland has served as area president for Zions Bank and president of Summit Water Distribution Co., among other positions. He’s currently general manager of Mountain Regional Water Special Service District and chair of the Midway Planning Commission.
Now, he wants to add Midway City Council member to his resume. Garland is running for a seat on the body.
His five years on the Planning Commission and his job experience are assets, he said.
“Having both the finance background and working for a special service district, I understand how both sides work,” said Garland, who has a degree in business management from Newbury College in Massachusetts. “Government does operate a little differently than the private sector, so I’ll be able to bring that background. I think my knowledge of water will also be beneficial to Midway.”
Water, growth — and how to manage both — are the most important issues facing Midway, according to Garland, who moved to Utah from Massachusetts to work for Zions Bank right before the 2002 Winter Olympics.
The city needs to look for some redundancy in its water system, he said. The majority of water that Midway uses comes from two sources, the Gerber Spring and the Mahagony Spring, both by Wasatch State Park, he said.
“We don’t have any water sources in the southern part of Midway,” Garland said. “If something were to happen to those sources, it’s possible we would have no other source of water.”
The city should explore interconnecting with Jordanelle Special Service District, which would take some hydraulic modeling to figure out, he said.
Garland also said he wants the city to continue working with the Heber Valley Special Service District, a regional wastewater treatment facility, to ensure it stops deferring maintenance and takes meaningful action to resolve ongoing issues.
Another concern is that Midway has not updated its impact fee facilities plan since 2012, Garland said. Developers pay the fees.
“For the last 13 years, there has been a lot of development that’s gone on, and we haven’t received the appropriate impact fee to account for rising costs,” Garland said. “I’d like to see that looked into.”
Garland said he is committed to fiscal responsibility by planning ahead, identifying capital projects and budgeting for them. The city should support — and not compete with — local businesses, he said.
In fiscal 2024, Midway’s “must-haves” operated at a $45,591 loss that taxpayers subsidized, and it’s time to rethink that approach, Garland said.
There are six candidates running for two open seats on the City Council. The other candidates are Craig Knight, Randy Lundin, Genene Probst-Miles, Jared (JC) Simonsen and Starr Stratford.
Ballots will be mailed beginning the week of July 22, and voters can select up to two candidates. The primary, which will narrow the candidates to four, is on Aug. 12. The general election is on Nov. 4.