Park City tore up Main Street this spring in the first phase of aging water infrastructure replacement.
The city initially planned to continue the work next spring. Now after hearing from Main Street business owners, the city has decided to resume the water line replacement project at the end of September.
“We brainstormed some different options, and one of them was to do some work this fall when things slow down a bit, and try to get some things done so that next spring the work wouldn’t be so impactful,” Deputy Park City Manager Sarah Pearce said.
On Thursday the Park City Council will consider approving a $3.5 million contract with Silver Spur Construction, which completed the first phase of the project under budget.
Construction would start again at the end of the month on 5th Street in between Main Street and Swede Alley. That work would end by Nov. 20.
Crews would then return at the end of March to tie in the new line to Main Street businesses. That work would last through June. The finishing touches would come in the spring and summer of 2026.
At Thursday’s meeting, the city council will also discuss using ranked choice voting in the 2026 municipal election. Under ranked choice voting, candidates are ranked in order of preference, which eliminates the need for a primary election.
In a single-office election like the mayoral race in Park City, any candidate who receives more than 50% of the votes during the first round wins. If no candidate receives over half voter support, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and votes for the eliminated candidate are reallocated to voters’ next choices. The process is repeated until a candidate wins 50% of the votes.
The process for multi-seat elections like Park City Council is similar. The first candidate with more than 50% of votes gets a seat and is removed from the ballot. Then a second round of scoring determines the second-place winner, and so on.
Proponents argue ranked choice voting streamlines the election process and eliminates the “spoiler effect” where a voter prefers candidate C, but votes for A or B because C is unlikely to win.
A survey of Park City residents found some lack trust in ranked choice voting. Others expressed concerns about its perceived complexity.
If the city council chooses to move forward with ranked choice voting, a public hearing must be scheduled. The city must also inform the state it plans to use the new voting method by May 1, 2025.
Thursday’s city council meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall. The agenda and a link to virtually attend can be found here.
