Walter Brock might not have been born in Coalville, but raising eight children between the ages of 2 to 18 has made it his home.
Born in Provo and raised in West Valley City, Brock completed a Church of Latter-day Saints mission in Brazil and then chased his now-wife to Coalville, where she grew up. Military service led the couple to leave for a brief time, but they retained their home and came back to the North Summit School District to raise their family.
With a background in urban planning and commercial real estate, Brock is running for mayor to preserve Coalville’s character while guiding it through rapid change. The key values of his platform are community, quality leadership, collaboration and family.
“We have enjoyed the benefit of this beautiful community for a long time, and we want to raise our family here, so I need to get involved and provide my skill set and acumen,” he said.
Brock said it feels like the community is straining. There are a lot of sophisticated developers coming in with complex projects, and he’s concerned about the “damage to the community fabric” that unsolved problems may cause.
He’s already served on the Coalville Planning Commission, and now Brock wants to use his professional experience to help the community prepare for the future. He has a bachelor’s degree in urban planning, a master’s degree in real estate development, and a master’s degree in business administration. He’s also involved in his local faith group and North Summit Unite.
Brock also has 10 years of experience in commercial real estate and just as long working in operations management. He explained that his skill set allows him to understand developers and their operations while applying city processes and codes.
The mayoral candidate also pointed out that the Coalville City Council must be “collaborative and kind,” which hasn’t always happened. He said the community needs to remain united despite disagreements and advocated for a quality, competent professional to be the executive of the city.
Brock described himself as an agile operational manager who believes in daily collaboration and honest candor with a deep understanding of community development. If elected, documenting and streamlining city operations would be among his top priorities. Brock said he wants to ensure operations are well understood and that city officials, from the staff and City Council to the mayor, are collaborating in harmony.
“Some people aren’t as comfortable in that kind of fluid dynamic, but that’s what we need right now,” he said. “I’m really a team builder, collaborator, and, deep and hard, I just want communities to thrive. … I think we have such a great thing going, and it would be a shame to tarnish it with some complications.”
It’s also important to Brock that Coalville remains pleasant, safe, friendly and beautiful despite being endangered by “tempestuous potential times ahead.” He noted inflation and cost of living pose a risk to the quality of life residents have come to know, but there are also bigger challenges related to ongoing and future development.
If elected, Brock wants to help Coalville maintain its small-town roots while adapting to incoming growth. He wants the community to benefit from whatever is built, which requires Coalville to have the proper policies in place. Brock would also prioritize infrastructure maintenance, pushing for trails and sidewalks to be maintained and built — making time for essential community-focused projects as well as larger developer-oriented ones.
“I think that Coalville is being demanded to operate in a very sophisticated arena that they haven’t had that history of sophisticated operations, at least that, not that I’m aware of,” Brock said. “So, that’s what I think we need. Just an elevation of our operational methodology.”
As mayor, Brock would also want to help facilitate discussions between Coalville and other East Side municipalities, as well as the broader county. He said many residents want to feel like their voices are being represented, which is why he’s generally in favor of creating districted seats on the Summit County Council. Brock said he liked the idea of having two at-large seats with the remaining three assigned to a geographic area to help represent a broad spectrum of views when county officials consider big decisions.
Looking into the future of Coalville, Brock said what the community develops into over the next five years will be decided now. That’s why updating infrastructure, improving operations, so the community has a greater level of confidence in leaders and attracting new businesses to Main Street are crucial issues Brock hopes to address if elected.
“I think the future is going to look like a quality, upgraded current, with an eye forward to change in a nonabrasive manner,” he said.
Brock is among a handful of candidates seeking the mayor’s office this November. The other people who declared candidacy are Rory Swensen, Lynn Wood and Tyler Rowser.
A primary election will be held on Aug. 12 to cut the candidate field in half before the general election. Ballots were mailed on July 22.