Democrats and, now, Republicans are on the ballot for Summit County Council this November, but party affiliation took a backseat at Tuesday night’s candidate forum.
KPCW, The Park Record, the Park City Community Foundation and the Park City Chamber [of Commerce and Visitors Bureau] hosted the four candidates vying for council seats A and C.
In the seat A race, longtime incumbent Democrat Roger Armstrong is challenged by Tory Welch, a Hoytsville resident who represents county Republicans on the party’s state central committee.
North Summit Fire Service District and Park City Performing Arts board member Ari Ioannides, a Republican, faces former Park City High School teacher and nonprofit housing advocate Megan McKenna, a Democrat, for seat C.
Although neither has endorsed the other—they sit on opposite sides of the aisle—Ioannides and Armstrong have created an informal joint ticket.
“Roger and I are going to walk down to the [Utah Department of Transportation]; we're going to try and prioritize this one over some of their other projects,” Ioannides promised in response to an audience question about building wildlife overpasses on state Route 224.
His alliance with Armstrong has created tension between candidates that voters aren’t being asked to choose between.
Welch teased his fellow Republican at times, stopping short of outright criticism. It was McKenna who asked Ioannides if he is a Republican-in-name-only, which he denies.
During the wild card round, when candidates could ask another candidate a question, Ioannides and Armstrong aimed their queries at McKenna. The key issue for both men appears to be overdevelopment.
“Experience matters,” Armstrong said during his closing statement, echoing a campaign slogan of McKenna’s primary opponent. “We have developers. We have the legislature—legislators trying to take land use control away from us. They're trying to push more rooftops in.”
He gave the examples of Hideout, which may annex part of Summit County, and the Cedar Crest Village proposed south of Coalville. When asked to comment on Ivory Homes and Larry H. Miller Real Estate’s plans for the land they own in Hoytsville, Ioannides said it’s a complex issue but “nothing should be built there.”
McKenna, who works at Mountainlands Community Housing Trust, said she's spoken with hundreds of constituents this year "whose no. 1 issue is not growth."
“We have people in this county who don't have enough food to eat," she said in closing. "I've been to the mobile pantry that the Christian Center [of Park City] serves, and there are needs in this county that are currently not being met.”
Republicans may know Welch from his work at the state central committee, but he’s less known to Democrats than his opponent, who’s seeking a fourth term on the council.
Armstrong is the only candidate in a contested race who has neither set up a website nor distributed roadside campaign signs. Welch didn’t field any questions during the wild card round but asked his opponent if he regretted a vote.
“Seeing that we have around a $12 million deficit or shortfall in the coming budget, if you were able to go back and change a vote to fund some project or initiative or program, what would you change?” Welch asked.
“Nothing,” Armstrong responded. “I think we look at it—every budget—with wide eyes.”
As the council begins its financial discussions, Amstrong added the budget usually starts in one place and ends in another by December. He said the council cut $5 million last year.
Because Summit County Council seats are at-large, every voter will see every race on their ballot. Besides seat A and C matchups, incumbent Democrat Tonja Hanson is unopposed for seat B. She did not attend Tuesday’s candidate forum but did participate in KPCW and The Park Record’s voter guide to be released this month.
Mail-in ballots go out Oct. 15, and the general election is Nov. 5.