New Francis Mayor Jeremie Forman is a school resource sergeant for the Summit County Sheriff’s Office.
He had served on the Francis city council for over a decade until his fellow councilmembers appointed him mayor at their monthly meeting Jan. 12. This is standard procedure when a vacancy opens up mid-term.
Forman was mayor pro tempore under Brussel, filling in during his absences during the year that he was in office. He said that taking on full-time mayoral responsibilities in Francis is part of an ethos of public service and self-sacrifice.
“You often hear people say, in the public realm, ‘Someone ought to be doing something about that,’ or ‘someone should do something about that,’” Forman said. “I've kind of had the philosophy throughout my life that if someone ought to be doing something, maybe someone ought to be you.”
Like much of the Wasatch back, Francis must figure out how to react to economic growth. Forman says that it’s a balancing act, especially when it comes to preserving the lifestyle he thinks attracts people in the first place.
“It's just that balance between your right to develop your property, versus, how that affects your neighbors, and how that affects the city and the residents that are here, all of those things,” Forman said. “And so one of the main things I want to really work on is balancing those things and making sure that as the growth comes, we can manage it with our infrastructure and the services that the city needs to provide to the citizens.
Forman’s other priority is updating the city’s general plan, which expired in 2022. It will help guide the city’s decision-making when developers pitch the city in the future.
“We can then look at that general plan, and have that zoning map, so to speak,” Forman said. “So that we can look at that and say maybe that project doesn't fit what the vision is for Francis in that area.”
The city of Francis is governed by a council of five people, including the mayor serving as a voting member. Appointing Forman still leaves one vacancy on the council.
The next city council meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 9 at 6 p.m. The council is set to interview and appoint a new councilmember to succeed Forman.
