Ryan Dickey emerged from a deep field of 17 applicants for the open seat on Thursday to become the newest Park City Councilor by unanimous vote.
The council seat was vacated by Mayor Nann Worel after she was elected mayor last November. Dickey will serve out the remaining two years of that term before he would have to run for election himself.
Dickey said he’s ready to dive in and get to work.
“I’m incredibly excited about getting started, and just humbled, just truly and sincerely humbled by the consideration by the council and rising to the top," he said. "I’m excited about the process of just diving in and expanding my impact beyond the planning commission work that we’ve been doing, and just all around fired up.”
Worel and the council held two days of public interviews over the last week to narrow the field. Dickey and Park City Planning Commissioner Laura Suesser emerged as early favorites after councilors discussed their top picks for the seat on Tuesday.
Councilors said Dickey and Suesser set themselves apart from other applicants because of their planning commission experience – Suesser in Park City, and Dickey as a member of Summit County’s Snyderville Basin Planning Commission.
During deliberations, Councilor Becca Gerber said that skill set would be a welcome addition to the council.
“I’m going to say that I do think that there’s a lot of value in having someone from planning moving up from planning to council," Gerber said. "I think that there’s a lot of knowledge and just a different critical eye that that brings to some of our discussions, especially as we do review lots of planning after it passes through the planning commission, so I do think it’s a strong value to have that on the council.”
Another factor that worked in Dickey’s favor was his experience and relationships outside of Park City. Dickey has been a Snyderville Planning Commissioner since 2017 and has a background in real estate, both as an agent and as co-owner of Model HOA management with his wife, Alison. He said he sees Park City’s problems of housing and affordability emerging elsewhere in Utah, thanks in no small part to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dickey said he thinks the city is in a unique position to help shape statewide policy on those issues.
“I think when it comes to making policy at a state level around affordability and housing, I think we have an opportunity to make an impact there," said Dickey. "Those are the things I’m going to really try and sink my teeth into first, in addition to a whole lot of things I need to do to get up to speed on everything in the city.”
Dickey will be sworn in as a councilor in a ceremony before the next council meeting, which is scheduled for January 27th.
