Monday afternoon, community members gathered outside City Hall at Bob Wells Plaza for the swearing-in of the city’s newest leaders. Tana Toly, reelected to Park City Council, and former Park City councilor, now mayor, Ryan Dickey joined Diego Zegarra, who was sworn in as Park City’s newest council member and the first Latino to serve on the council.
Friends, family and community members gathered in seasonable winter temperatures as Toly, Dickey and Zegarra addressed the enthusiastic crowd.
“I’m deeply grateful for our neighbors and residents who believe that local democracy works best when more people see themselves reflected in it,” Zegarra said. “This moment didn’t happen because of one person. It happened because a coalition of people decided to show up.”
Zegarra said he sees his accomplishments as standing on the shoulders of many others who have helped and taught him along the way.
“Today isn’t just about a win,” he said. “It’s about what that win represents. Park City is evolving, not just in how we grow, but in who gets to lead, who gets heard and whose stories shape our shared future.”
Raised in a family that believed deeply in possibility, Zegarra said he often navigated systems where belonging was not always guaranteed.
“We learned that community isn’t something you passively inherit,” he said. “It’s something you build, protect and contribute to. My presence here reflects that effort. But representation alone is not the work. The work is what comes next.”
As the first Latino to serve on the Park City Council, Zegarra said the significance of the moment is not lost on him. He described the milestone as both an honor and a responsibility, noting that his election reflects the efforts of many people who helped open the door to broader representation.
While the title of “first” carries weight, he emphasized that it is not an individual accomplishment but a collective one, and that its value lies in what it enables moving forward.
As he closed his remarks, Zegarra shifted briefly into Spanish, directing his final words to immigrant residents:
“And now, to my immigrant brothers and sisters — to all those who came in search of a better future for yourselves and your families — you are welcome here. And I will do everything possible to make sure that remains true,” he said.
For Zegarra, that work will now unfold from inside City Hall, shaped by a journey that began far from Park City and developed through years of community service and nonprofit leadership.
Born and raised in Peru, Zegarra first came to Utah in December 2003 on a J-1 visa to work a winter season at Solitude Mountain Resort. At the time, Park City was not part of the plan.
“I came for a winter, met a girl, and then came back for a second winter,” he said. “After that, an opportunity presented itself for me to study in the States.”
Zegarra enrolled at the University of Utah, studying business administration and marketing. His decision to stay in Utah was more about the girl than anything else, he said with a laugh.
Like many graduates at the time, Zegarra entered the job market just as the economy collapsed. The corporate career he once envisioned failed to materialize, and by chance, he accepted a short-term substitute position at an after-school program at Parley’s Park Elementary School operated by Holy Cross Ministries.
“What was supposed to be a two-month job became a six-plus-year engagement,” he said.
Zegarra eventually took on a management role overseeing programs that primarily served children of immigrant families, many of them from Mexico, whose parents had moved to Park City in the 1990s and early 2000s seeking economic opportunity.
“There weren’t a lot of affordable childcare options,” he said. “The market-rate program was about $300 a month at the time. Holy Cross was free for a long time, and later $25 a month.”
The work introduced Zegarra to the needs, aspirations and challenges facing families who helped keep Park City running but were often absent from civic decision-making.
“That was my foray into community work and nonprofit work,” he said. “And it’s been just over 16 years since that started.”
Zegarra draws a direct connection between that experience and his decision to run for office.
“Not everyone has been at the table for quite some time,” he said. “What I’ve learned in my career is that decisions are better when there’s a diversity of perspectives, especially perspectives that are closest to the issues we’re trying to address.”
While Zegarra’s election marks the first time a Latino has served on the Park City Council, he stressed that his ability and responsibility are to represent the entire community, not a single group.
“Someone asked me early on if I was just for the Latino community,” he said. “And the answer is no. It’s not either-or. I can hold more than two perspectives at the same time.”
What he brings, he said, is proximity to the immigrant experience and to the workforce that sustains the local economy, a different voice within a representative democracy.
He acknowledges that his own experience, coming to the United States by choice and pursuing higher education, differs from that of many families he has worked with, some of whom arrived seeking safety or economic survival.
“There’s this idea of a singular immigrant story, but it’s not monolithic,” he said. “My experience has some affinity to theirs. But there are also dissimilarities, and I’ve had to learn by listening.”
That approach, he said, will guide his work on the council.
“My hope is to continue to channel those voices with a propensity to listen and try to translate those needs into policy,” he said.
Zegarra’s father, who lives full time in Peru, attended the swearing-in ceremony to support for his son’s milestone.
He credits both parents — his father, a former Peruvian Navy officer, and his mother, a former flight attendant — with instilling values that shaped his path.
“There was an innate sense of adventure,” Zegarra said. “And values around justice and representation permeated into what I do. I blame them.”
While he did not always envision a career rooted in public service, in retrospect, he said the path feels clear.
“It’s much easier to understand your life in reverse,” he said. “Those were the building blocks that gave me the courage to run this year.”
As he begins his term, Zegarra said humility will be central to his leadership. He noted that local government structures often favor individuals with time, flexibility and familiarity with civic processes, leaving many voices unheard.
“If we truly want those perspectives, we may need to do outreach differently,” he said.
Asked what Park City needs most at this moment, Zegarra pointed to courage — to move projects forward, to represent those who are often unheard and to respond thoughtfully to challenges such as housing, transportation, economic pressures and public safety.
“What gives me hope is knowing that this community has the capacity to rise to the moment,” he said.