A few dozen Wasatch County residents and 10 of the 22 candidates running to represent them in various elected offices attended a three-hour debate at Wasatch High School on Wednesday. It was the first local debate of the upcoming election.

Dr. Neysa Holmes with the Wasatch County Republican Women’s Club came up with the idea for the debate last week, organized it and invited candidates. She wanted to provide all residents, not just delegates serving the local Republican and Democratic parties, the opportunity to hear directly from candidates.

Wasatch County Republican Party Chair Patty Sprunt said the local GOP was “in no way a sponsor or involved in” the debate organized by Holmes. County Democratic Party Chair Michelle Mallery said the same about her party.

The short notice and timing of the debate raised “concerns” among candidates, Holmes acknowledged, particularly because it was scheduled during spring break, when some were on vacation with their families. Holmes did not share their concerns.

“I understand that schedules can be full. However, public service requires a level of commitment that does not always align with convenience. When you take an oath to serve, availability is not conditional. The community is paying attention. Not just to ‘what is said,’ but to ‘who shows up,’” she wrote in an email to the candidates she forwarded to The Park Record.

She later said that those who did not show up for the debate did not deserve the public’s vote.

County Council

Although the debate was organized by a Republican club, Holmes invited all candidates regardless of party. 

The only Democratic county candidate who attended was Patrick Saucier, who is vying for Wasatch County Council Seat A. However, he did not participate in the debate and instead observed as an audience member. He had been interested in participating, but he said Holmes had asked that he confirm whether or not he could attend by the Friday before the debate, which he was unable to do at that time.

Two of Saucier’s Republican opponents for Seat A, Brett Vance and Steve Farrell, participated in the debate. The fourth candidate, Republican Rachel Kahler, was on vacation with her family and unable to attend.

Vance is an Air Force veteran with over three decades of service. He was later a commercial pilot, then a test pilot for the Federal Aviation Administration. He retired from the latter role in 2021 because he declined to get the COVID-19 vaccine, a mandate on all federal employees issued by President Joe Biden that September, and was later revoked in May 2023. 

Farrell retired in 2024 after two decades as a county councilor, but he’s back in the ring this election.

“It took me about three months to realize that retirement was not for me. I’d go out and feed the cows and spend 45 minutes talking to my dog and cat, and that was the end of the day. Well, come to find out, the dog was deaf, so he wasn’t paying attention, and the cat ran away,” he joked in his introduction.

County Councilor Erik Rowland is running unopposed for a second term in Seat C, but he decided to participate in the debate anyway.

The two candidates running for County Council Seat F, Joseph Tugaw and Michael Murphy, did not attend.

Holmes often asked the candidates different questions instead of allowing all to answer the same question.

The only metric on which all three County Council candidates could be evaluated at the debate was their approaches to the county’s rapid growth.

Vance saw the Heber City Municipal Airport and Heber Valley bypass as catalysts for upcoming growth and development. He said updating the General Plan will help manage that. That update will be the first since 2001 and is expected to be published this summer.

Examining the county budget and personnel and infrastructure needs were other ways Vance said he would approach managing “undisciplined growth” as a county councilor.

Farrell said he’s running because Wasatch County is losing its rural character and agricultural heritage. He hopes to change that through conservation easements and open space bonds. His advocacy for both on the County Council and Open Lands board has earned him recognition, including a $1 million donation to Utah Open Lands that the Mountainside Resort Foundation made in Farrell’s honor when he retired in 2024.

Rowland agreed with Farrell. Rowland serves on the county’s Open Lands Board and recently led an effort among elected officials to send a letter to the Utah Department of Transportation rejecting its proposed bypass route through the North Fields. Rowland plans to be “aggressively responsible” with the county budget instead of spending as much as possible, while also “standing strong against development pressure” to maintain the county’s rural character.

Wasatch County sheriff

The table for Wasatch County sheriff was the only one with all candidates, incumbent Sheriff Jared Rigby, Wasatch County Emergency Management Director Jeremy Hales and Summit County Sheriff’s Office Detective Eric Mainord, attending. 

Holmes’ asking different questions of each candidate was most noticeable in the sheriff’s debate.

Holmes asked Mainord and Rigby what metrics they would track and report to the public. Then, she asked Hales how he would improve the Sheriff’s Office’s internal culture and retain deputies.

Later, Holmes asked Mainord and Rigby whether they had ever been subjected to any findings, disclosures or professional actions that could impact their credibility in court. Then, she asked Hales about his top three public safety concerns.

She said later she was trying to gear questions toward the candidates based on their experience.

Holmes also told The Park Record several days before the debate that the sheriff’s race was the “most important” in the upcoming election.

The sheriff’s debate largely revolved around the Sheriff’s Office’s internal culture and an investigation into alleged misconduct by Rigby, published by The Park Record last year. 

The investigation performed by a third party between March and August found no gross mismanagement or illegal activity at the Sheriff’s Office but outlined other concerns, including employees’ fear of retaliation for participating in the investigation and alleged favoritism and absenteeism on Rigby’s part. He denied the allegations and any wrongdoing.

At the debate, several people asked Rigby about the investigation during an audience Q&A. Attendees included former Sheriff Todd Bonner and former Sheriff’s Sgt. Jake Fredrickson, the son of former Sheriff’s Lt. Shane Fredrickson, the employee who first requested the investigation.

Rigby denied wrongdoing but admitted that he is “not perfect,” nor is the Sheriff’s Office.

He pointed to the establishment of monthly interlocal meetings with local mayors and the hiring of employees to monitor the Sheriff’s Office and increase its public outreach as examples of what the Sheriff’s Office is doing to better itself. 

For example, the county hired a professional standards director, Kurt Cottrell, to monitor the Sheriff’s Office in December, though Rigby did not mention Cottrell by name.

“I also feel like meeting one-on-one with the employees helps a great deal, and especially over the last year, it has. There have been those that, unfortunately, have retired, have left the Sheriff’s Office because they felt uncomfortable with this or that, and I feel badly about that,” he said. “Even though there are individuals who are frustrated with the ending of their careers, I hope they know, and I hope all of you know, too, that we so very much appreciate their service and love them, and they always have a place in our office.”

He urged the audience to ask any of the Sheriff’s Office’s about 120 employees how they felt about their employer after those changes had been made, adding that the “overwhelming majority” would say that they “love being there.”

Hales and Mainord also spoke about what they would do to improve the Sheriff’s Office’s internal culture.

Hales said he wanted to give deputies opportunities to train and take on new responsibilities. He hopes to encourage retention not only because retraining new officers would cost the Sheriff’s Office “thousands and thousands of dollars,” but also because he wants to give the officers the “opportunity to feel that same pride that (he) felt for the last 25 years (in his law enforcement career).” 

Mainord said he would commission an external audit of administrative and financial issues. 

He then brought up a medical situation he had responded to in the past, during which he had to give mouth-to-mouth to an infant who had choked on Teddy Grahams.

“I, for years, had dreams where I woke up, and I could literally taste the graham crackers,” he said.

He said that was an example of the stress law enforcement officers go through, which he hopes to mitigate as sheriff by spending as much one-on-one time with his employees as possible.

Other candidates

Neither of the candidates running for Wasatch County attorney attended, nor did any of the three candidates running for the nonpartisan school board seats.

Current Park City Recorder Michelle Kellogg attended, though she had no one to debate because her opponent for Wasatch County clerk-auditor, incumbent Joey Granger, was not there. 

Kellogg’s comments focused on her commitment to “run elections efficiently, honestly, transparently and in accordance with state law, and to go above and beyond to ensure that there are no errors in that process.” She pointed to her experience as Heber City deputy recorder and recorder as evidence of her suitability for the job. In those roles, which she held between 2009 and 2015, she oversaw the counting of ballots by hand in each election. 

Next week, the county Republican and Democratic parties will hold their respective county conventions, during which delegates will nominate candidates to represent their respective parties on the ballot. The GOP county convention is on Tuesday, while the Democratic county convention is on Wednesday.

Wasatch County state delegates will nominate candidates for House District 59 during the Republican and Democratic state conventions on April 24 and 25.

Both parties plan on organizing debates after the nominating conventions, but are still working out the details. There have been discussions about hosting a bipartisan debate

A primary election will be held on June 23 for candidates who met the signature gathering requirement.

The post First Wasatch County debate ahead of primary election sees meager turnout appeared first on Park Record.

The combined voter turnout of Wasatch County’s five municipalities was just about 50% this year.

Joey Granger, the Wasatch County clerk and auditor, said she usually anticipates voter turnout around 35%. She sees that as an “average to even high turnout” for a municipal election. 

“Any of the areas like ours that experience the rapid amount of growth and new people coming in, you’re going to see this type of activity happen,” Granger explained. 

In the case of small towns, they’re often “lucky to even get candidates to fill the position,” she said.

That was certainly the case in Interlaken. The town of just a few hundred was established in 2015. Ten years later, it held its first election. 

Bart Smith, town administrator, clerk and recorder, is thrilled. 

“It’s always been a challenge finding candidates. It’s a volunteer position,” he said. “We have typically really low attendance at our council meetings.”

Three candidates stepped up for two open seats this year, and the two incumbents were reelected. 

Smith saw it as a battle between the status quo and new ideas. Longtime residents have an understanding of how the town operates, but Smith said an influx of homeowners is coming in with new ideas.

“If you’re just moving in, you might look at how we spend our money and go, ‘Hey, you could save some money there, or you could spend some money here,’” he said. 

Smith sees the incumbents’ victories as an affirmation that residents like the way the town has been running.

Interlaken received 82 ballots from its 155 registered voters, or 53%.

Charleston, another small town, had the highest turnout in the county at 79%. Of its 327 registered voters, 259 cast ballots this year. 

Charleston’s town clerk and lifelong resident Karen Mair said it’s an election unlike any she’s seen, not just because of the turnout. The town is currently undergoing a recount because the mayoral candidates, one of whom is a write-in, were split by only one vote.

Mair said the town is undergoing changes, such as commercial expansion and annexations, that are changing the dynamic of the town. She added that many residents are senior citizens who would be affected financially by any changes the town makes, which may have been a factor contributing to high civic engagement.

Demographics may have also contributed to high voter turnout in Hideout, at least according to recently elected Mayor Ralph Severini. He described the town as “on the more mature side” age-wise.

“There are a lot of physicians, attorneys, accomplished executives, and they tend to vote,” he added.

But that can’t be the only piece of the puzzle. Hideout’s 69% voter turnout is almost 30% higher than the 41% turnout during the 2023 election. That turnout could be attributed to a number of other factors, including growth, annexations and developments looking to bring commercial businesses to the town.

Severini has lived in Hideout for nine years. He said this election cycle was the first time the town held a debate and the first time Severini saw any campaign signs around town.

Of the municipalities that held elections, the two most populous towns had the lowest turnouts. 

Midway had 1,981 ballots cast out of 4,143 registered voters, or almost 48%. City Recorder Brad Wilson said that turnout is typical for Midway, which tends to land somewhere around the mid-40s percentage-wise.

Heber City Recorder Trina Cooke said the city tends to generate around 30% voter turnout. Turnout this year was 48%, or 4,301 ballots cast out of 8,933 registered voters.

Cooke theorized that higher turnout could have something to do with the national political climate. She said she “wouldn’t be surprised if municipal elections are up everywhere.”

As for city public information officer Ryan Bunnell, he attributed the turnout to a number of factors.

“Last five years in particular, we’ve seen a significant population spike. Our last several elections, I think there’s been a bit of a curiosity as to when the new citizens would activate,” Bunnell said.

He speculated the activation may have happened this year. This election also saw increased spending by candidates, as well as some “fuel” in the mayoral race between Heidi Franco and Scott Phillips, Bunnell explained. 

“I think that there were some campaigning variables that might have been a little more incendiary than years past,” he said. “People were definitely feeling passionate about their candidates, particularly in that mayoral race.”

Bunnell explained that he became civically involved around the early 2010s, and wanted to change a pervasive culture that saw Heber City as a commercialized pit stop on the road to larger municipalities. As Bunnell became more civically engaged, he began to understand the process of his local government, making the powers that be much less of a mystery.

“If I had a wish as a public information officer, it would be that people would … become critical thinkers on their own, instead of just depending on what somebody said on Facebook,” he said. “I love that citizens are getting more involved in their municipal and county governments. It is the true place where your actions can be immediately seen and recognized.”

The post Wasatch County voter turnout ran high across the board appeared first on Park Record.

Colleen Bonner, a candidate running for the at-large Seat B on Wasatch County Council, is looking to get back into the game of local politics.

In 2002, she was elected to the Midway City Council, where she served for 12 years before running for mayor, and serving a four-year term in the position. She was outvoted in 2017 when she ran for a second term.

Though she’s stayed involved in the community, her run for County Council will be her first time competing for an elected position since then.

Bonner has lived in Wasatch County since the summer before her last year of high school and — except for a few months — has been here ever since.

“What is not to love?” she said when asked why she’s stuck around.

Her four kids live close by — one in the valley — and she recently retired from a 42-year career as a cosmetologist.

She spoke of her work on the municipality’s parks and trails committee, the 10-year road plans she helped put into place, and a water audit the city conducted with the state during her time as mayor.

The seeds she helped to plant back then, both figurative and literal, have grown in noticeable ways.

“I’m very proud of the parks and the trail system,” she said. “One of the things that I love to look back on is these parks developed now as the trees grow and you see them being used.”

In 2018, she wasn’t sure if she would return to the political arena. But after retiring, she believes she has something to contribute at the county level.

“There’s the individual cities in the counties that we have to be able to work together with,” she said. “I want to see those relationships strengthened. … I feel like that’s really important.”

She talked about the transportation issues within the county. She believes solving them is going to take a working relationship among Wasatch County, Heber City and the Utah Department of Transportation. Her comments were similar to those made by Mountainlands Association of Governments’ lobbyist Dave Stewart earlier this month.

“It’s big. We’ve talked about it for over 30 years,” she said.

She’s also concerned with preserving the county’s open lands and wants to help strike a balance between growth and conservation, a hot topic among legislative bodies in the county.

“I really want to focus on the health of the community as it grows,” she said. “How do we manage that so we can keep our clean air and we can have safe transportation? Good planning has always been something that I feel is really important.”

While Wasatch County has a general plan in place, she worries that the growth trajectories have outpaced what was anticipated.

“I’m not blaming anyone for that,” she said. “I think the growth came so quickly that we maybe weren’t as well prepared for it as we could have been.”

Right now, she said, it’s important to consider what the valley should look like 20 years down the road so the county can work with necessary stakeholders.

“There’s only so many things that are within our realm of governance that we can do,” she said.

While she doesn’t have the answers regarding affordable housing, she also wants to look further into the issue to find possible solutions.

She believes her experiences in Midway have given her a basis for how to address the issues she hopes to tackle.

“During the 16 years that I served at Midway City, we readdressed the general plan often.” she explained, “We did it often so that we could try to stay abreast of the growth and the things that were coming.”

With that experience, she feels she’s the person for the job.

The post Ex-Midway mayor gets in the race for Wasatch County Council at-large seat appeared first on Park Record.