Kamas City Councilor David Darcey spent three decades working as an accountant and financial specialist for an energy company in Oklahoma, a career he attributes to his early education in the South Summit School District.
Darcey was born in Heber City and raised in Kamas, graduating from South Summit High School in 1979. He briefly worked for Blazzard Lumber, a staple of the Kamas community since the 1950s, as a logger before marrying his wife and moving to Salt Lake City to pursue two bachelor’s degrees in accounting and finance at the University of Utah.
A promotion in 1998 spurred a move to Oklahoma, where Darcey oversaw strategy and market intelligence in addition to spearheading project analysis initiatives for an energy company.
Exactly 20 years later, Darcey retired and moved back to his hometown of Kamas. He has since served on the Kamas City Council and Eastern Summit County Planning Commission.
“I’ve been blessed to be able to retire and have the time to spend on it,” Darcey said. “I feel like quite a bit of my private career was over strategy and numbers and things like that, so it comes easily to me to look at city budgets and plan for the future. … This town is what I would call home, and I wanted to give back to the community.”
Darcey was elected to the Kamas City Council in 2021 and started his term the following January. He’s now running for reelection, hoping to earn a second term and continue his work serving Kamas residents.
“The council works as a true team,” Darcey said. “I think the rest of the council views me as the numbers guy, and I feel like I’ve taken it upon myself to really deep dive into our budget. … It’s what I was trained to do, so I think everybody looks to me.”
Kamas has a budget of around $1 million, with $400,000 earned through property taxes. Darcey said he enjoys looking through the revenue streams and finding ways to increase the city’s efficiency and fund necessary projects while also advocating for residents.
One recent example, he said, involved a proposed franchise agreement between the city and an internet service provider. Darcey took the time to investigate franchise agreements between the company and other counties in Utah and discovered provisions offering more protections to the city were not in the drafted agreement with Kamas. He was then able to negotiate with the company to add those provisions.
“People can rest assured that I’m going to be looking at our finances, at our budgets and doing my homework,” Darcey said. “I have the time … and I think I’ve proven many times in the past how much homework and research I will do.”
Darcey said there are a few challenges he expects Kamas to face in the next four years, including annexation requests, affordable housing and negotiations regarding a proposed 150-room hotel on the High Star Ranch property.
Specifically, Darcey said the development agreement with High Star Ranch guarantees the right to build a hotel, but the details, including mitigating efforts for neighbors, are not included in the document. That means the City Council will likely need to negotiate with developers on the design and scope of the project.
“They say the hotel is supposed to be symbiotic with the Dejoria Center, so that might make it a little different than the hotels in Francis,” Darcey said. “It’s interesting to me to see all these hotels popping up all of a sudden, and I’m wondering if we do need that many, but people have the right to build on their property if the code allows them to do so.”
Darcey pointed to past annexation requests, such as the Ballerina Farm annexation, as examples of people wanting to join the city. However, he said it’s important for the City Council to consider the effects each annexation will have on its residents, especially negative impacts on sewer lines, roads and other infrastructure.
“The challenges to Kamas will be the rural gentrification in this valley,” Darcey said. “People cannot build a house and keep it affordable for somebody earning a real living. I have teachers two blocks from where I live who only make $60,000, and $60,000 is not enough to buy anything in this valley. Even tear-down homes are going for at least $675,000 or so, and that’s really bad.”
He encouraged voters to support his campaign because of his experience as a city councilor and a financial specialist, saying he’s developed his expertise over the last four years in office.
“I now know the workings of the city, and I feel like I am contributing now and feel like I am a critical component as we work as a team,” Darcey said.
Two Kamas City Council seats are on the ballot this November. Darcey is one of three candidates vying for the position, along with Michael Georgi and Steve Cyr. Darcey is the only incumbent running for reelection.