Democrat Aimee Armer is running for Wasatch County Council seat B against Republican incumbent Steve Farrell.
She believes her qualifications are unique and this report highlights some of her full-length interview with KPCW on Tuesday.
Democrat Aimee Armer believes a fresh new perspective that unites people and honors the rural history of Wasatch County is needed on the council. She says she has worked for 18 years advocating for the health and welfare of community members and worked in non-profit management.
“I am the director at People’s Health Clinic. I've worked at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Utah, JDRF, ABA and I'm also involved at the community level on many Wasatch County boards and coalitions. I'm on the board of adjustments for Wasatch County Caring Community Coalition. And I also went back to school to the University of Utah to get my master’s in public administration and my undergrad from USC."
Wasatch County is the fastest growing county in Utah, and Armer thinks the issues accompanying such growth must be addressed more proactively with more regional collaboration.
“There are things that we really need to be doing better, working collaboratively with cities and towns within our county, putting together a vision and plan for our entire county with cities and towns within our county, adapting proactively with vision and goals instead of reactively.”
She says the Jordanelle and MIDA/Extell developments are a concern that will have a trickle-down impact.
“With all of the development that's coming in, that affects everything. That affects infrastructure, it affects roads, it affects schools, it affects traffic, pollution. Around the Jordanelle, there are 20,000 units that are coming in.”
The Military Installation Development Authority known as MIDA will bring massive development to the county under state authorization.
“The more I learn about the approval of Wasatch County Council to let MIDA in, the more concerned I am this project has taken on a life of its own, with state jurisdiction. You know, we're going to have to provide service for six hotels coming in, the Mayflower ski resort, 200,000 square feet of retail village, a Convention Center.”
She supports regional transportation plans to move people from Jordanelle into the Heber Valley. She says it’s important to collaborate with Summit County, Park City and Utah County.
“We would like to make it easier for families and individuals to spend their tax dollars here. And it's also a great example of working together with other counties and other regional partners.
Armer says the County Council needs to step up to the plate and take a leadership role in creating affordable housing so essential workers can live in the community they serve. She wants the council to create a clear, visionary plan with specific goals and objectives identifying number of units needed by income.
“I think we also need to hire an affordable housing expert who will manage and oversee the process and an implement policy. And lastly, our code needs to be updated to bring our in lieu of [fees]up to current standards. Right now, our fee is $28,000 and that should be updated to approximately $82,000.”
She is supportive of the Governor’s new risk assessment and the orders which require the county to mandate masks in public, maintain 6 feet of social distance and limit social gatherings of more than 10 people.
“We don’t want people getting sick and we certainly don't want any deaths but that also we need to make sure that we're staying healthy so that we can keep our businesses open. For the health of our economy, it is also vitally important that we're doing everything we can.”
Armer says Hideout’s efforts to annex 350 acres of Summit County land hasn’t built trust among the parties involved. She says the town of Hideout should have tried to get more regional cooperation from Summit and Wasatch Counties and Park City.
Democratic Candidate Aimee Armer is running for Wasatch County Council Seat B
A link to Aimee Armer's website can be found here.
