Candidates vying for seats on the new Summit County Council will meet Thursday in a town-hall style gathering to answer questions from voters.
The non-profit Project for Deeper Understanding is sponsoring the event that begins at 7 p.m. at 4595 Silver Springs Drive. Candidates will answer questions audience members submit on index cards, she said.
The form of government in Summit County will change next year from a three-member county commission to a five-person county council with an appointed manager. The current Summit County Commission will disband in December.
A second Project for Deeper Understanding Forum Sept. 25 will feature school board candidates and those vying for offices in the state Legislature.
Candidates running for Summit County Council include:
Seat A – Republican Bill Miles; Democrat Sally Elliott
Seat B – Republican Grant Richins; Democrat Claudia McMullin
Seat C – Republican Tom Hurd; Democrat John Hanrahan
Seat D – Republican Alison Pitt, Democrat Chris Robinson and Gary Shumway, a member of the Constitution Party
Seat E – Republican David Ure; Democrat Steve Weinstein
Committee to replace Krajeski
Today the Summit County Commission is expected to appoint someone to its Recreation Arts and Parks Tax Cultural Advisory Committee to replace South Summit resident JoAnn Krajeski, who passed away in July.
The board makes recommendations about how sales-tax revenue the county collects for nonprofits should be spent. The board distributed grants worth about $712,000 in 2007.
More than $3 million has been given to organizations that promote culture and the arts in Summit County.
Two applicants – South Summit residents Jan Massimino and Kathryn Henny — were interviewed last Wednesday to fill a three-year term on the board.
"I’m an artist myself and I’ve been a volunteer all of my adult life," Oakley resident Massimino told commissioners in an interview last week. "I’m an oil painter."
Groups with the primary mission of preserving history, culture, science and the arts can receive funds from the Summit County RAP Tax Cultural Advisory Committee.
It’s often difficult for struggling nonprofits to find funding, Massimino said.
"There are very few ways to find out where those opportunities are," she said. "It’s very difficult to access that information."
Henny said she is eager to become involved in the arts scene "where I live."
"I have always been involved in the arts," Henny said in her interview. "It gives me more of a connection to the people in the county."
Henny said she has lived in the Marion area since 2004.
Oct. 3 at 5 p.m. is the deadline to submit applications. To receive funding groups must provide several years of financial history.
The county’s Web site has the grant applications at www.summitcounty.org.
Religious groups, schools and individuals cannot receive RAP Tax funding. Grant applications can be mailed to Anita Lewis at P.O. Box 128, Coalville Utah 84017. Applications are also accepted at the County Courthouse at 60 N. Main in Coalville and the Sheldon Richins Building at Kimball Junction.
