Meredith Reed has spent her adult life serving the public, and she doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon.
From her first stint as a U.S. Air Force chaplain to her latest role as the president of the Park City Board of Education, Reed has made an effort to connect with others, pursue leadership positions and advocate for transparency. She’s now hoping to continue her service in a new arena as she campaigns for the District 5 seat on the Summit County Council.
Reed, a Democrat, grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina, listening to her father’s stories about his time as a U.S. Marine. Her family’s history of military service inspired her to join the Air Force as a chaplain after she graduated from college, which is how she met her husband.
The two bounced from place to place for years because of their jobs and spent time in Washington, D.C., Belgium and other parts of Europe before a fateful two-year contract brought the pair to Utah in 2009. They spent time in the Salt Lake Valley trying to find a rental home, but nothing caught their attention until someone suggested they look in the Park City area.
It was love at first sight for Reed, who eventually convinced her husband that the family should buy a house and plan to return permanently after his retirement. It took six years, with Reed and her children spending summers in Summit County whenever possible, before another assignment brought Reed’s husband back to Utah in 2017 — and the family has stayed ever since.
“If we hadn’t bought our house then, I don’t think we would have been able to move here later on,” Reed said. “I’m very grateful that we had that opportunity.”
Housing affordability is important to Reed, who pointed to her own experience buying a home before prices increased exponentially after the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as her second career as a real estate agent. She said it’s key for the County Council to focus on home ownership in affordable housing discussions, not just rental units.
“This isn’t to cast dispersions on renters, but if it’s not your place and you’re not getting the benefits of ownership, it can be easy to say, ‘Well, this isn’t that important to me,’” Reed said. “They aren’t planted or invested or feeling like they’re getting the benefits of ownership and what this community has to offer, so when we include deed-restricted ownership in our affordable housing offerings, I think that’s really important.”
Reed said the county also needs to provide more options for seniors, who could be priced out of the Wasatch Back after retirement depending on their housing costs, as well as analyze what affordability means in Summit County. She said an individual may work in the county and earn a decent salary, but the price of homes often outpaces what a typical commuter could afford.
“I think the answer is partially reliant on density, so that we’re increasing our density of expanding into open space,” Reed said, adding that she favored redevelopment projects, like the current Junction Commons proposal, over new, large-scale developments.
But Reed said it’s important to not discount the benefits that affordable housing projects bring, mentioning the Dakota Pacific development in Kimball Junction, now called Altus Park City, as a potential positive for the county despite its controversial route to approval.
“I am not in favor of legislative overreach,” Reed said. “How the project happened is not how I want to see things happen here … but it’s happening, so given that we are getting that project, I believe that there are very good things coming with that.”
Specifically, Reed mentioned the new transit center, library and amphitheater associated with Altus Park City, saying the development has the chance to create a sense of community in the Kimball Junction area. She acknowledged there will likely be a difficult adjustment for current residents, but she said the property is already located in a developed part of the county, which is better than building a new project on open space.
Reed said development in general is the biggest challenge facing District 5 and Summit County at large, which is why she supports increasing densities in urban parts of the county instead of encouraging sprawl. She also called open space one of Summit County’s key assets, saying the County Council needs to continue purchasing and conserving empty parcels to maintain the rural atmosphere and sweeping views that bring people to the area.
“We need to keep growth where we think it makes sense and where it works instead of undoing the things that we love about our community, our open space and our environment,” Reed said.
In addition to her time in the military, Reed worked as a government contractor to support veterans, a role that gave her experience advocating, listening and communicating with others in an official capacity. She also pointed to her time on the Park City Board of Education during a tumultuous period as an example of her leadership, saying the work board members have done to increase transparency and residents’ faith in the school board has given her valuable insight into the importance of local government and efficient communication.
“It’s such a great demonstration of how effective and positive change can happen when we communicate well and we’re aligned with our values and what we’re hoping to see in our outcomes,” Reed said. “We had a disconnect previously and … there was a lot of mess along the way, but I think it really required staying focused.”
Information on Reed and her campaign is available at reedforsummitcounty.com. She will face incumbent and current County Council Chair Canice Harte in the Democratic primary on June 23. Residents voting by mail or using a dropbox must make sure their ballot is received by 8 p.m. on June 23 for their vote to count due to recent changes in state law.