While the Founding Fathers began the United States Constitution with a preamble that established its foremost goal of forming a more perfect Union, Raul Balderas began a Constitution of his own with a more sardonic tone.

“We, the people, are pissed,” he joked, to the amusement of the dozen residents who had gathered in the Wasatch County Library last Wednesday. 

The group had come for the latest in a series of lectures about local history held this year in honor of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. 

This lecture, given by former and current Wasatch High School history teachers Dawain M. Wheatley and Easton Powell, explored the founding principles of the United States and their relevance to Americans today.

In an attempt to hammer home the latter point, Wheatley and Powell asked attendees to gather in small groups and discuss how these documents could be applied to their daily lives.

The members of Balderas’ group were inspired by the Declaration of Independence’s assertion that the purpose of government is to secure the people’s unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The document says that it is the right of the people to “alter or abolish” any form of government that is destructive of these ends.

Wheatley provided a local example of this alteration of government to better serve the needs of the people in Wasatch County’s change from a three-member county commission to a seven-member county council in 2003. County commissioners could live anywhere in the county — even, hypothetically, all in the same neighborhood — while now, there are five regional and two at-large seats.

Balderas’ group had its own ideas about how to alter the government to better fit the needs of the people. Their thesis was that the federal government should spend more money on support for American citizens, especially in a time when inflation is rising. 

The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced last Wednesday that consumer prices had risen 4.2% since May last year, a 0.4% increase since last month’s assessment and the highest rate of inflation since 2023.

Balderas, a dual-immersion kindergarten teacher at Heber Valley Elementary, said inflation and Wasatch County’s cost of living are creating financial stress for him. 

Meanwhile, Romanie Murdock expressed her desire for the federal government to better support disabled people and caregivers. She has been her husband’s caregiver since he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease four years ago.

“There’s little support for disabled people,” Murdock said. “And caregivers aren’t supported. Society expects that a loved one is the caregiver.”

Murdock said local organizations, particularly the county senior center and the Mountainland Association of Governments, which provides resources and education on aging, Alzheimer’s disease and caregiving in Wasatch, Summit and Utah counties, have been valuable resources for her. She isn’t sure exactly how the federal government can better support Americans who are disabled.

But whatever that support may look like, it could be beneficial for all Americans, suggested group member Ammon Teare. The phenomenon is called the curb cut effect, named for sidewalk ramps, which were installed for people in wheelchairs but are used by others, like people pushing strollers or shopping carts.

The Americans with Disabilities Act, which required nationwide accommodations like curb cuts, was signed into law only 36 years ago, thanks to the efforts of disability civil rights activists and government officials alike.

“It took a lot of people a lot of time to fight for those changes,” Teare said. 

Teare said such progress is often prompted by Americans reflecting on their country’s founding principles and questioning whether current policy is contradictory to those principles. 

He was particularly inspired by Wheatley and Powell’s discussion of how civil rights movements throughout American history have repeatedly led to the reversal of discriminatory government policies.

“Whether it be current immigration policy or the attitudes toward people in this country who are from different parts of the world, the way they’re perceived has changed over time, and at least some part of the impetus for that change was from people looking back at the Constitution, the Declaration (of Independence), and saying, ‘Well, when they say, “we, the people,” or they say, “all people,” they didn’t just mean a handful of people,’” he said.

Teare hopes that America’s 250th anniversary prompts all Americans to reflect on the country’s founding principles and become advocates for them, whether it be through grassroots efforts, voting, running for office or voicing opinions in a public forum.

“There’s never been a time in the country where talking about our rights, talking about the foundations of our democracy, hasn’t been valuable,” he said. “We should be looking (at) how we can use these to improve the rights and lives of all Americans.”

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Republican candidates for Utah House of Representatives District 59, which represents Wasatch and Summit counties, participated in a debate at Wasatch High School on April 1, organized by Dr. Nesya Holmes with the Wasatch Republican Women’s Club.

Although the debate was considered bipartisan, the two Democratic candidates — Deer Valley Resort employee Micah Kagan and former Midway Mayor Celeste Johnson — did not attend. All three Republican candidates — Luke Searle, Jeffrey Pierce and Mark Allen — did.

Allen, also a Deer Valley Resort employee, from Wallsburg, characterized himself as interested in “the Constitution, not the institution.” His top issues were accountability of elected officials and government staff, transparency of their proceedings and conservation. 

He was an advocate for House Bill 397, which was sponsored during the 2026 general legislative session by current House District 59 Rep. Mike Kohler, a Republican. The bill would have required that courts livestream and make recordings available of all court proceedings, with some exceptions. The bill did not pass. Kohler announced earlier this year that he would not seek reelection.

He also led efforts to place Bridal Veil Falls under a conservation easement in 2020.

Searle’s campaign is built on the back of his service on the Wasatch County Council. He will not run for Seat A to campaign for House District 59. 

A business teacher and Turning Point USA club advisor at Wasatch High School, Searle said he is running because Utah is becoming an unaffordable place to raise a family.

He wants to change that by lowering property taxes and making every decision as a state representative with families in mind.

He also hopes to mitigate state control on local planning and zoning, allowing municipalities and counties the opportunity to manage their own growth rather than have it managed for them.

Park City investor Pierce promised that as state representative, he would “never let those North Fields get developed,” which has become a hot-button issue in Wasatch County since the Utah Department of Transportation announced its intention to build a highway corridor in the wetland area in January.

Like Searle, Pierce is interested in lowering property and income taxes. His top issues are reducing government spending and keeping money out of politics. 

Pierce called out Searle for taking donations twice. Searle said his campaign has raised around $13,000 and that he cannot afford to fund it by himself. Meanwhile, Pierce said his campaign will be self-funded through the primary election. 

“We all can’t be millionaires,” Searle said. “I received almost 100 donations from people, but it’s 50 bucks, 100 bucks and a couple of $1,000 donations. … If a person’s bought off for $1,000, I mean, that’s pretty sad.”

Pierce also criticized the libertarian advocacy group Americans for Prosperity’s endorsement of Searle because, in Pierce’s opinion, the organization pushes “business interests” and is “not conservative” because it did not endorse President Donald Trump during the 2024 election.

Meanwhile, Searle characterized himself as the “only conservative” of the candidates running for House District 59.

When the audience was allowed to ask questions of the candidates, an audience member asked Allen, Pierce and Searle how they would represent constituents in Wasatch County over themselves. 

Pierce said the problem is that representatives are representing their donors rather than their constituents or their own values.

“People are getting rich, and their campaigns are getting funding, and we need to change it,” he said. “Property tax, I think, could be solved if this pork were to stop, but the pork is what funds their campaigns.”

Searle promised to do something similar to what the County Council has done: hold listening town halls every six months to allow constituents from across the county to voice their concerns.

“I promise to have these times before and after the legislative session where you can come in here, and we can talk about the issues, and I can listen to you, and I can hear what matters to you and (explain) why I took the votes that I did,” he said. “I’m ultimately accountable to you as a state representative.”

Allen promised that he was running for unselfish reasons, pointing to his participation in conservation efforts as evidence. If elected, he plans to hold office for only one term.

“I’d rather be fly fishing. I’d rather be skiing. I’d rather be doing a lot of things, but I can’t unsee what I’ve seen in Utah,” he said. “I want my Utah back. I want the Utah I grew up with. And the only way for me to do that is to step in and stand out.”

GOP state delegates will nominate one of the three Republican House District 59 candidates during the state convention at Utah Valley University’s UCCU Event Center in Orem on April 25. 

Democratic state delegates will nominate either Celeste Johnson or Micah Kagan during their state convention at Jordan High School in Sandy on the same day.

A primary election will be held on June 23.

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State lawmakers planned to repeal a controversial bill on Tuesday afternoon that prevents unionized teachers from engaging in collective bargaining, eight months after a statewide push gathered enough signatures to place a referendum overturning the law on the 2026 ballot.

“It’s clear that the heated debate around these issues has created unnecessary division, which was never the intent,” said Senate President J. Stuart Adams and Speaker Mike Schultz in a joint statement on Sunday. “Repealing the bill allows us to reset the discussion and move forward to ensure we get this right.”

Protect Utah Workers, a coalition created to oppose the legislation earlier this year, said it supports the Legislature’s decision and thanked lawmakers for preserving “the rights of first responders, educators and all other critical public workers.”

“The expected repeal belongs to the Utahns who stood up and signed the referendum,” the coalition said. “More than 320,000 people who signed the petition sent a clear message that public workers deserve a voice on the job. The coalition thanks legislative leadership for respecting the will of the people.”

The Park City Education Association, the local union chapter of the statewide Utah Education Association, called the pending repeal “a direct result of powerful, member-driven action” in a statement on Tuesday.

“More than 320,000 Utahns and 5,000 referendum volunteers, many of them dedicated UEA and PCEA members, came together to protect the voice of public educators, demonstrating that when we organize, engage our communities and act collectively, we can create meaningful change,” the statement said. “This moment reaffirms that solidarity is our greatest strength.”

The statement continued: “With the repeal, local associations can continue collaborating with school districts to represent educators on issues such as compensation, working conditions, benefits, licensing, prep time, class sizes and the instructional materials our students depend on.”

The Park City Education Association thanked the Park City community for supporting teachers and the referendum effort, saying it encourages “continued involvement as we work together to strengthen public education in Utah.”

State Rep. Jordan Teuscher of Salt Lake County and state Sen. Kirk Cullimore, who represents parts of Salt Lake and Utah counties, sponsored House Bill 267 during this year’s general session. Gov. Spencer Cox signed it into law in February. The bill made engaging in collective bargaining a class B misdemeanor for any public union member.

The Utah Education Association repeatedly described the legislation as “union busting.”

However, union supporters collected more than double the number of needed signatures to repeal the law as part of “the most successful citizen-led referendum in Utah history,” according to the Utah Education Association.

To qualify for a referendum in Utah, citizens need to collect approximately 140,000 verified signatures from registered voters across at least 15 of the 29 state senate districts in just 30 days. The Protect Utah Workers campaign gathered 320,000 signatures by mid-April, with help from the Park City Education Association.

Legislative leadership in a press release said they plan to continue collaborating with Protect Utah Workers “in good faith to find the best approach to support public workers.”

“We’re committed to continuing conversations with all stakeholders to craft policies that support our public employees, protect public funds and keep Utah’s government responsive and accountable to the people we serve,” Adams and Schultz said.

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When Monica Schaffer retired as a pediatrician, she didn’t retreat from service — she leaned in.

Schaffer, drawing from her experience as a health care professional and a family legacy of activism, helped launch a new unit of the League of Women Voters in the Wasatch Back. The Pinebrook resident is now using her time to empower voters by using the organization’s nonpartisan platform to educate, register and mobilize the community ahead of the upcoming election season.

The League of Women Voters was formed in 1920, the same year the 19th Amendment was ratified, as a way to “empower voters and defend democracy” by encouraging everyone who can cast a ballot to do so, and to do it informed. The organization is known for striving to improve elections by increasing turnout and hosting candidate debates.

“I thought, ‘What can I, as a single person, do to kind of get involved?’ So I joined the League because I remember my mom was in the league back in the day,” Schaffer recalled.

Her interest in politics was sparked by her mother’s activism during the Salvadoran civil war in the 1980s and her parents’ medical careers. Schaffer followed their path, focusing on pediatric care. Work brought Schaffer and her husband to Utah in 1999, and they settled into Pinebrook. She poured her heart and soul into her career, raising two kids along the way, and retired about two years ago.

With some newfound free time, Schaffer wanted to become more engaged with the Park City community. There was a big election coming up, and she felt the League of Women Voters, as well as the Park City Twilight Rotary Club, would be a good way to become involved. 

At the time, Park City didn’t have its own League of Women Voters chapter because it was disbanded during the coronavirus pandemic. So Schaffer started volunteering for the Salt Lake League of Women Voters. 

Her first assignment was helping people who had just completed their naturalization ceremonies register to vote. Schaffer said everyone was excited to be considered a part of the country and to take advantage of their newly minted citizenship. There was about a 99% success rate.

It was an empowering, meaningful experience for Schaffer that served as a reminder of how lucky Americans are to be able to vote. The League of Women Voters is also dedicated to providing voters with information about important issues at the local, state and national levels.

Schaffer said being nonpartisan doesn’t mean the League of Women Voters isn’t political: It’s about principles, not parties.

The league doesn’t support specific affiliations or candidates, but the group is very outspoken on political issues that align with its mission, such as universal health care, women’s health, affordable child care, LGBTQ+ rights, clean water and gun control. The league is opposed to anything that promotes voter suppression or delegitimizes votes, such as reducing the number of ballot drop-off boxes or passing laws that require people to opt in to mail-in voting.

“Issues-based, but not necessarily blue or red,” Schaffer said, adding that human rights are a major focus. “We’re about uniting people and rallying around not a set of platforms, but a set of issues that just mean you’re doing the right thing for an individual.”

The most important thing is to make sure voters understand the issues while breaking through political echo chambers of misinformation. Schaffer said most people often care about the same issues when they’re able to see through political parties, especially if they can connect at a personal level. 

She revived the League of Women Voters Wasatch Back unit in April. While it can be difficult to recruit volunteers in a civic-minded town like Park City, where people already have commitments, more than 20 people attended to brainstorm ways to improve voter education and increase civic engagement.

The general election in November will be a big focus for the group with several contested city council and mayoral campaigns in Park City and eastern Summit County.

Its current goals are to engage residents at community events such as the Park Silly Sunday Market and the Summit County Fair to register them to vote and inform them about key issues; host town hall discussions and forums that provide candidates the opportunity to differentiate themselves, share their platform and answer questions about local issues; utilize the vote411.org website, which can serve as a “one-stop-shop” for election related information; grow the league’s visibility to increase participation.

Schaffer recognized that a lot of the fledgling organization’s aspirations involve boots-on-the-ground work, but she said the volunteers are committed and passionate. They’ve been meeting on the third Tuesday of every month, planning educational outreach before the Aug. 12 primary election, as well as calling Utah’s senators and asking them to denounce the broad legislative package known as the “Big Beautiful Bill.” 

Utah Sens. Mike Lee and John Curtis voted for the bill, which passed in the Senate on Tuesday. Lee ultimately removed the sale of public lands provision from the legislation before it was approved, due in part to intense pushback, something Schaffer attributed to constituents who influenced the decision by reaching out to their representatives. 

“If you’re not letting your vote, your voice, be known, it’s almost like a vote for the other team,” she said. “Every vote truly matters.”

The League of Women Voters Wasatch Back is technically a subgroup of the Salt Lake chapter, which formed in 1922. Schaffer said she hopes to learn from the knowledge and expertise of those organizers and expects to become independent in a year or two. Utah has seven registered League of Women Voters chapters, including local leagues and state affiliates.

Information about various committees and volunteer opportunities is available at lwvsl.org or by emailing Schaffer directly at schaffer.m@me.com. The national League website is best for information about positions and statements about current issues.

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The Summit County Districting Commission will start the process of dividing the county into five distinct geographical voting districts next week, an endeavor that may take until mid-September to complete.

The state Legislature this session changed how Summit County’s governing body will be elected in what county leaders called an 11th-hour passage of House Bill 356. The new law requires Summit County to implement districts for county council seats instead of having five at-large councilors.

H.B. 356 additionally mandated the creation of a districting commission by June 1. The commission consists of the municipal mayors within the county — Park City, Henefer, Coalville, Oakley, Kamas, Francis and Hideout, which is included because part of the town’s land crosses into Summit County — and one representative from unincorporated Summit County appointed by the County Council.

The County Council last month decided to name former Summit County Councilor Malena Stevens as its lone representative on the commission. She will also act as the commission’s chair throughout the districting process before the Oct. 1 deadline.

Stevens, a Pinebrook resident, served as chair of the County Council in 2024 and represented Seat C for four years. She has a long history of public service and civic involvement in the Summit County area, including two terms on the Snyderville Basin Planning Commission and a career with the Park City Police Department as a victim advocate years before she decided to run for office.

County Clerk Eve Furse also sits on the districting commission as a non-voting member.

Each district in Summit County needs to have roughly the same population with only a 10% deviation based on numbers from the most recent census, and the districting commission is tasked with ensuring the population requirements are compliant with state law.

Members are also responsible for determining where boundaries should be drawn.

The districting commission meetings will be public, but Stevens on Wednesday told the County Council there will be no opportunities to comment at this point in the process. Instead, a public hearing will be scheduled, likely in October, after the districting commission presents its finalized proposal to the County Council on or before the deadline.

The County Courthouse will then need to schedule a public hearing within 30 days of the presentation.

However, Summit County Chief Civil Deputy Dave Thomas in April called the hearing “legally [a] sham” because the County Council will be responsible for approving the boundary map after the public hearing despite not having the power to change H.B. 356 or the districting process. 

Furthermore, the language of H.B. 356 does not outline whether the County Council has the ability to make suggestions to the districting commission for potential revisions before a final vote. It only states the County Council “shall approve the district map if the map complies with the requirements described.”

The tentative meeting schedule for the districting commission is from 6 to 8 p.m. on: June 16 and 30; July 7, 17 and 30; Aug. 4, 18 and 28; and Sept. 15.

However, Stevens said some of the meetings scheduled later this summer and in early fall may be canceled if the commission comes to a consensus before Oct. 1.

She additionally confirmed the meetings will be posted on the Summit County website, and there will be an option to join the discussion via Zoom for both commissioners and members of the public. Stevens said she is still working with the County Courthouse to determine an in-person anchor location for each meeting, but those details will be announced as soon as they are available.

The legislation has generally been a hot topic for Summit County residents this year. The Summit County Republican Party has characterized the bill as ensuring better representation for the East Side, which tends to lean more conservative than Park City and the Snyderville Basin. All elected positions in Summit County are held by Democrats, and a Republican hasn’t been elected to a County Council seat since 2016.

The Summit County Democratic Party, meanwhile, called the new law the GOP’s way to deal with “being upset” about recent elections and expressed concerns about fewer points of contact for constituents if councilors are tied to specific geographic areas.

Democratic Party Chair Rory Swensen, who is also running for mayor of Coalville, voiced anxieties about potential gerrymandering given the political makeup of the districting commission and a letter four East Side mayors sent to Gov. Spencer Cox urging him to endorse a special-called election this November.

Mayors Mark Marsh of Coalville, Kay Richins of Henefer, Jeremie Forman of Francis and Matt McCormick of Kamas in April sent a letter to Cox and state Legislature leadership expressing their “strong support” for the bill and campaigning for lawmakers to reintroduce the language mandating a special election. They claimed it would be a necessary step to ensure “fair and equal representation” for Summit County residents.

Mayoral positions are non-partisan in Summit County, but all four of the mayors who signed the letter are registered Republicans. Democratic Mayors Zane Woolstenhulme of Oakley and Park City’s Nann Worel were not included in the letter’s circulation.

The original version of the bill would have required all councilors to end their terms early and forced a special election — with all the seats tied to the new geographical districts — this year. That language was later removed from the final version of the bill, and state legislators determined current county councilors will be assigned to the new districts by lot until the next scheduled election in 2026.

Any seats not on the ballot next year, though, would remain attached to whichever county councilor was assigned the district by lot, which could potentially prevent sitting councilors from running for re-election.

For example, County Councilor Canice Harte’s seat is scheduled to appear on the 2026 ballot, but if a different councilor is assigned to the district he lives in by lot this year, Harte would be unable to run for re-election because the seat tied to his district is already occupied.

The three councilors elected in 2024 — Tanja Hanson, Roger Armstrong and Megan McKenna — would retain their seats, and their assigned districts, until the end of their terms.

Deputy County Manager Janna Young said there is still a chance to convince lawmakers to revise the bill, but she doesn’t expect the legislation to pop up in any interim discussions until August. Young has criticized the Legislature’s approach to the bill, both in terms of its last-minute passage and its mandated changes to local governance, which she said she disagrees with philosophically.

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The Utah Democratic Party elected a new executive board last weekend, ushering in what Summit County Democratic Party Chair Rory Swensen hopes will be a new, energizing era for the organization.

“There’s going to be a little bit of a learning curve, but it was really a good opportunity to rub shoulders and talk to fellow Democrats,” Swensen said. “I spent a good bit of time speaking with other northern county chairs, and we’re working to coordinate together and do what we can to advance the causes in the northern counties, like Summit, Davis, Weber and Cache.”

Democrats from across the state convened for the Utah State Democratic Party Organizing Convention on May 31 at Ogden High School. They elected an entirely new slate of leadership, including former gubernatorial candidate Brian King as chair; Susan Merrill as vice chair; Brad Dickter as secretary; and Catherine Voutaz as treasurer.

“I’m honored to have earned the trust of our delegates to serve as chair for the next two years,” King said. “Over the past four months, we’ve traveled the state, hearing directly from Utah Democrats about their hopes, frustrations and vision for the future. Today’s incredible turnout shows what we’ve known all along: Utah Democrats are energized, motivated and ready to fight for the values we share.”

King also said he was “ready to lead the charge to hold out-of-touch Republicans accountable” and to connect with voters to flip seats from red to blue “from the top of the ballot to the bottom.”

Swensen, who attended the convention in person, said he was pleased to see King elected as chair.

“He represented a portion of Summit County during his time in the Legislature, and he has good name recognition,” Swensen explained. “He has good relationships. He knows how the politics work, and I’m hoping he can bump us up to the next level and bring in some additional resources from the national groups that will help us in our races locally.”

Swensen also specifically praised Dickter, who he said has “innovative ideas to increase transparency and better communicate with the counties.” Dickter has been heavily involved with the Utah Democratic Party since he moved to Utah from California over a decade ago, serving as a fundraising subcommittee member, region coordinator and mobilization co-chair in addition to general volunteer work.

The state Democratic Party is responsible for administrative work, coordinating with the national organization and fundraising to help support local county parties and Democratic candidates. Both Swensen and a press release from the Utah Democratic Party touted the number of involved delegates this year — a record-breaking 1,450 voters participated in the party leadership election.

The resources the statewide organization provides to the county Democratic Party will be more important in 2026 than 2025, however. The open seats this year are largely non-partisan races for mayoral and city council positions, Swensen explained.

“For 2026, we’re going to have a new environment with the districting of the Summit County Council,” Swensen said. “One of the things the state started this year was that Summit County was able to get a full-time field organizer, and that’s something I think needs to continue going forward, so we’ll be lobbying hard for that support here. That was instrumental in at least one of the recent races, but the state is mostly giving logistical and financial support. We’ll be working hard to make sure Summit County is seen and prioritized at the state level.”

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Republican delegates from across the state re-elected Robert Axson as party chair at the State Organizing Convention this weekend, a decision the Summit County Republican Party sees as a sign of unity and an indication that the local GOP is in alignment with the goals of the party statewide.

“At the county level, we’re really focused on giving Republicans in the county a voice and a presence and doing so responsibly, and that includes maintaining a position that allows everyone to feel like they can be a part of the Republican party,” said Summit County Republican Party Vice Chair Tory Welch.

Axson, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump, narrowly secured another two-year term as chair on Saturday when he won 1,340 votes compared to challenger and former gubernatorial candidate Phil Lyman’s 1,215 votes, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.

Welch attended the convention, which he stated ran smoothly compared to previous years, and said Axson repeatedly emphasized the importance of unity, effective fundraising and championing conservative causes. The philosophy is similar to the Summit County Republican Party, which elected new leadership last month focused on bringing together conservatives and increasing Republican representation in Summit County.

“Everyone who agrees with our principles and our values can come in and be active and engaged and really work toward bettering our communities with conservative values rather than fighting over some of the divisive issues that weren’t necessarily a part of our platform,” Welch explained. “For the most part, we’re going to vote the same when it comes down to it. We’re conservatives and care about the same things. It’s just a difference of opinion on how to get there, and I hope it is telling that what’s happening at the county level as well as the state level is that we’re moving toward unification and moving forward collectively in a responsible fashion.”

Welch called Axson a unifier and “someone who is principled and has integrity.” He added he believed Axson won over Lyman because of those qualities, pointing out Lyman’s willingness to be more “gung ho” and headstrong.

Melanie Monestere, a prominent Summit County Republican and former chair of the local GOP, was also elected to the statewide vice chair position. That’s another indication that Summit County is organizing, involved and aligned with the Utah GOP, Welch said.

“The Summit County Republican Party has built relationships over the last couple of years with the current team that was just re-elected,” he added. “What we’re hoping would ideally be the case is that at the state level they’re willing and able to put (forward) some of the funds that they’re able to raise … and we’re hoping we can leverage those relationships into supporting and championing conservative causes here. We think we’ll be able to do that because I think the folks who have been elected at the state level have a priority in building teams and supporting Republicans and furthering those causes.”

Other positions filled on Saturday include Chris Null as treasurer and Stafford Palmieri Sievert as secretary.

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The Summit County Democratic Party is “disappointed” with how the local GOP and state Legislature are handling the districting process for Summit County Council seats, pointing out rising tensions from political polarization and the importance of setting aside differences to ensure smooth governance at the county level.

“I think districting is a fair question to debate and to see which method is a better method for the residents of Summit County, but it’s one we should debate openly and fairly,” said Democratic Party Chair Rory Swensen. “This bill was engineered and rushed through the Legislature, so our issue isn’t so much the map but the motive.”

The state Legislature this session changed how Summit County’s governing body is elected in what county leaders called an 11th-hour passage of House Bill 356. The new law requires Summit County to implement geographical districts for council seats instead of having five at-large councilors.

Gov. Spencer Cox signed the bill in March, but he said he intends to call a special session to make adjustments to it because of “unintended consequences.” For example, Wasatch County has both at-large seats and councilors elected in districts, and the new legislation forces Wasatch County to eliminate the at-large positions.

The Summit County Republican Party has praised the legislation, saying it ensures better representation for the East Side, which tends to lean more conservative than Park City and the Snyderville Basin. All the current county councilors are Democrats, and a Republican hasn’t been elected to a seat since 2016.

Yet Swensen said he doesn’t believe the issue is really about East Side representation. Instead, he claimed the Republican Party has struggled with unity and putting forth “good candidates who put good governance above party loyalty.”

He added he views H.B. 356 as the Republican Party’s way to deal with “being upset” about recent elections.

“We have a history of electing council members from the East Side, and we value that and we work hard to do that, so we agree with local representation, but we think this bill with five districts ultimately hurts the East Side,” Swensen said.

Swensen said the population is large enough around Kamas for the area to have its own district, but other unincorporated East Side residents would likely need to be grouped in with Pinebrook, Jeremy Ranch or other neighborhoods on the western side of the county to meet the state’s population requirements for voting districts.

“That dilutes the East Side,” Swensen said. “I live in Coalville, and I see this as a net negative and less representation for those of us in that area. We will always be, on the East Side, generally, a minority on the council. … What we would like to see is larger districts that have the East Side and the West Side incorporated into three districts with two-at large (seats).”

Summit County residents currently have five points of contact if they need to get in touch with a county councilor, Swensen said. If all five seats end up tied to geographical districts, though, he said a resident would only have one point of contact: the councilor assigned to their district.

“If we look at a middle ground with three districted, two at-large, that guarantees that every resident, no matter where you’re at, has at least three members accountable to them on a five-member County Council. You have a majority that you can lobby,” he said.

The original version of H.B. 356 also wiped all County Council members from their seats in November, but it was ultimately modified to allow seated councilors to retain their positions for the remainder of their terms.

However, four East Side mayors — Mark Marsh of Coalville; Kay Richins of Henefer; Jeremie Forman of Francis; and Matt McCormick of Kamas — recently sent a letter to the governor and state Legislature leadership asking for a special election to wipe the County Council clean.

Swensen and the county’s Democratic Party staunchly oppose the idea.

“I think it’s clear that they want a majority and to define county governance in the future,” Swensen said. “This [letter] was a completely partisan blitz attack on democracy. … It really seems to be an effort to nullify the voice of the voters. The voters made a choice in a free and fair election. This call is not a call for better representation. It’s an attempt to overturn the results of legitimate recent elections. Voters made their choice, and calling for a re-do is not democracy.”

The Democratic Party is also worried about potential gerrymandering, especially because the committee creating the district boundaries only includes the six municipal mayors — four of whom signed the letter asking for a special election — and one representative from unincorporated Summit County.

The Democratic mayors of Oakley and Park City were not included in the letter’s circulation.

“Redistricting must never be used as a tool to entrench partisan advantage or dilute the voices of voters,” the Democratic Party said in a press release. “We must reject gerrymandering in all forms and commit instead to fair representation for every resident of Summit County.”

Swensen said he and his party hope more representatives from unincorporated Summit County will be added to the districting committee if the bill is reviewed in a special session.

“In local politics, we have avoided a lot of the division and partisanship that’s infecting the nationwide politics, and we don’t want to see that happen here. We’re seeing that with this effort,” Swensen said.

He continued, “We are left and right. We are Republicans or Democrats or moderates, but we’re also neighbors. We live in these communities that are great places to live, and we all have the same goals to ensure that these remain great places now and in the future. There isn’t room for the partisanship and the division that we see at the national and state level, and I would encourage us to resist any effort to introduce more partisanship into our local governments.”

The County Council has shared similar viewpoints throughout discussions on the legislation, mainly expressing concern about the logistics of implementing districts and philosophical issues regarding state overreach and interference.

However, the council has also been criticized by the local Republican Party for its desire to amend the bill to allow a few at-large seats, with the mayors’ letter calling the council’s actions “a troubling disregard for representative balance.”

Summit County Chief Civil Deputy Dave Thomas in April said he expected Cox to call a special session the third week of May, but the governor has not yet made any announcements confirming a special session date.

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The Summit County Republican Party elected new leadership this week, and its top brass has already debuted a hopeful message of unity and support.

“We want to show people that when we have values that are aligned or we’re working toward a common goal, we do have a place for them,” explained Chair Ari Ioannides, the treasurer of the North Summit Fire District who lost a close election last fall against Democrat Megan McKenna for Summit County Council Seat C. “It’s kind of a little sea change here in Summit County because we’ve got to work with people who have all kinds of beliefs and core values.”

Ioannides said he hopes the local organization can reach all Republicans, including lapsed members who have left the party and disillusioned members who may not completely agree with the Trump administration or the Make America Great Again movement.

“I heard a lot of folks talk when I was campaigning, knocking on doors, even friends, mostly around Park City, say ‘You know, I used to be a Republican,’” Ioannides said. “I think people feel that the party has left them and maybe their values don’t really align that much anymore, and I get it. Part of that is because I feel like, and folks have told me, that there are sort of these litmus tests around, ‘Are you a real Republican?’”

Ioannides added he believes the GOP is mostly defined by left-leaning opponents’ characterizations of Republicans.

“We’re not doing a good job of defining ourselves, especially in a place like Summit County where we’re in such a huge minority and really don’t have a good voice,” he said.

The new leadership team specifically wants to focus on candidate development, which includes supporting already-elected Republicans in municipal and county positions in addition to finding and funding qualified candidates during election cycles.

The overarching goal, though, is to increase Republican representation for East Side voters, who Ioannides said tend to be more conservative than voters in the Snyderville Basin.

“One of the great things about this leadership team is, if you look at who’s on it, you have a group of people who have run or are holding or have held high-profile positions within the county who know what it’s like to run a campaign and know how to be successful,” Ioannides said. “Right now, the Republican Party isn’t ready to step forward and do that. There’s no ground game. There’s no fundraising game.”

As an example, Ioannides pointed to his own bid for Seat C in November. He said his opponent, Megan McKenna, outspent him because of the support she received from the local Democratic Party.

“We need to be ready to compete at that level,” Ioannides said.

According to post-election campaign financial reports submitted to the County Clerk’s Office, McKenna had a total of $36,199.94 in contributions, while Ioannides brought in $28,510.42.

The leadership team elected alongside Ioannides as chair: Tory Welch, who ran unsuccessfully against Democratic incumbent Roger Armstrong for Seat A on the County Council, as vice chair; Pat O’Connell as secretary; Patty Brewer as treasurer; Jay Deuser as the Snyderville regional chair; Marjorie Ellis Manning as the Park City regional chair; Phillip D’Agostini as the South Summit regional chair; Coalville City Councilor Louise Willoughby as the North Summit regional chair; and Tal Adair as the state central committee representative.

Adair, who lives on the East Side, was the last Republican to be elected to the County Council — in 2016.

Jimmy May from Park City was appointed to manage data and analytics.

The team was elected during the County GOP Organizing Convention at Ecker Hill Middle School on Tuesday by acclamation, meaning local members of the Republican Party verbally voted to select who should fill each position rather than filling out a formal ballot.

“Fortifying the voice, image and organization of our conservative community has been a principal objective of mine since joining the Summit County GOP’s executive team two years ago,” Welch said. “I like to think that this team is a direct reflection of that goal — thanks to my, and to a much greater extent, the prior team’s dedication to forwarding the conservative cause.”

As far as policy decisions go, Ioannides said the Republican Party wants to investigate and cut down on spending.

“We’re all looking at our tax bills and knowing they’re going up, but people have a misconstrued perception that it’s because their property values are going up,” he said. “That’s not true. It’s because the county’s spending more, and no one is really looking at that with a sharp eye. … I’m a little concerned about the rate of growth, and I think that’s something that fiscal conservatives can really bring to the mix to help us manage and benefit everybody in the county.”

Ioannides added he aims to be open and transparent by communicating more frequently with the media and the public than the last leadership team, saying he believes it helps educate the community on the Republican Party’s stance and encourages more participation.

“I felt like the more open I was, personally, the better the coverage was [during my campaign],” he explained. “We’re not changing the message, but we’re going to really make sure we’re filling the room. If our opponents are having rallies every week and talking about things and standing up and, in many cases, misrepresenting what we stand for and what we believe in, we need to speak up and actually fill the room with our ideas.”

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The Park City Education Association plans to participate in a signature-gathering push as part of a statewide movement to repeal House Bill 267.

Gov. Spencer Cox in February signed the bill, which prohibits members of public sector unions from engaging in collective bargaining, including teachers, police officers, firefighters and nurses. The Utah Education Association has described it as “union busting.”

“In Park City, we have this positive relationship with the district office and with the board members and the superintendent to the point where we know that we can continue to have conversations with them, but obviously we’ll be making sure we are within the boundaries of the law,” said Mary Morgan, co-president of the Park City Education Association. “But as far as the referendum goes, yes, we will absolutely be gathering signatures for the referendum starting on Monday.”

Labor unions across the state have 30 days to collect and submit 140,000 signatures from registered voters to the Lieutenant Governor’s Office, but the Utah Education Association is aiming for a total of 200,000 signatures just in case. If the initiative is successful, voters will decide the fate of H.B. 267 on Election Day in 2026.

“The catch is going to be, for us in Park City, to really be aware and focused on the fact that we have to have Utah-registered voters, and we have a lot of people here for tourism,” Morgan said. “We have to ask the question of, ‘Are you a registered voter in the state of Utah?’ Because if they’re not, then that would be invalid, so we have to be very cautious about that, more so in Park City than in other places in Utah.”

Morgan said community members can volunteer to gather signatures online by visiting protectutahworkers.com, but the Park City Education Association also plans to table for signatures at local businesses.

“We are supportive of the (Utah Education Association) and all the labor unions’ desire to do a referendum because nobody wants for this law to actually be in place at all,” Morgan said. “We know that we’re going to have to deal with it for probably the next year, but we will be gathering signatures in the public, for example, probably setting up some tables in front of grocery stores, shopping centers, wherever we can go and gather signatures. But we’re definitely going to need the help of the public to do that.”

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