Deputy County Manager Janna Young called the bill one of “a few big fireballs” at this week's council meeting: House Bill 356 would upend Summit County’s system of five at-large councilmembers.
“There is one county that doesn't have districts,” South Jordan Republican Rep. Jordan Teuscher said Feb. 19. “And what you see in that area is that you have a disproportionate group of those that live in the urban area essentially get to select all of the county council members, and you have those that are in the more rural areas really don't have any representation.”
Teuscher's bill would split Summit County into at least four voting districts that each elect their own councilmember.
“The big news for you all is your terms, all five of you, will end Dec. 31, 2026, to transition to this new structure,” Young told the current council Feb. 19. She explained the bill affects Summit and Cache counties.
Cache has been asking to revert to a three-member county commission with a county manager instead of an elected county executive.
Summit County’s portion of the bill focuses on the issue of districting. Voters elected to move from a three-person commission to the five-person council in 2006.
“Those who were serving on the committee that was recommending that change, particularly from the eastern side of the county had the option to choose districts at the time, but rejected that proposal because there just wasn't enough population,” Young explained.
That is, eastern Summit County districts would need to be drawn to include populous parts of the Snyderville Basin or Park City anyway.
But the margin was slim; the measure passed by 236 of about 11,000 votes. Invariably, eastside precincts voted against a five-person council.
But HB356 wouldn’t submit the issue back to the voters. The legislature can make laws about how counties and cities operate because they’re political subdivisions of the state.
It would put every councilmember on the 2026 ballot, even those elected a few months ago. All are Democrats, and all but Tonja Hanson are from Park City or the Snyderville Basin.
“We're not getting the right level of representation in who's in leadership, which is the Summit County example,” Teuscher said during the Feb. 19 committee debate.
Teuscher said HB356 would require Summit County to have four districts and one at-large seat. County Deputy Civil Attorney Dave Thomas said it’s “poorly written” and would likely require all five seats be districted.
And if the council must go with districts, Council Vice Chair Canice Harte thinks there should be five, not four, so the eastern Summit County voice isn't diluted with westside votes.
Summit County officials think the districts would likely look similar to the voter areas for local referenda, like the one underway on Dakota Pacific Real Estate’s Kimball Junction development.
That’s because districts, which would be drawn by a districting commission, must have roughly proportional population.
“The vast majority of our population lives in the unincorporated part of the county, and yet the commission making the decision about how to district is made up of all of the mayors — which is the municipalities — and one person from the unincorporated part of the county,” County Clerk and Peoa resident Eve Furse pointed out. “That seems really unfair to me.”
Up until 1990, there was a well-respected handshake agreement Park City, North Summit and South Summit each got one representative on the three-person commission.
Since it formed in 2008, the five-person council has tended to have at least one eastern Summit County member.
“When I worked for the city council in Denver, which was districted — there were 11 districts and two at-large, and I realize it's a much larger population — I found the system to be really inefficient because there was a lot of infighting among the members who were vying for specific resources or attention for their district, and there was this feeling of like, ‘Well, we're different from you,’ so it really also divided the community,” Young said Feb. 19. “And it was nice to have when I came here, to have all of you [councilmembers] thinking about the entire community and how you could work together.”
The House Political Subdivisions Committee unanimously voted to send HB356 to the House floor for a vote.
Young raised her hand online during the public comment period but was not recognized by committee Chair Rep. Jim Dunnigan, a Republican representing Taylorsville. Two officials from Cache County spoke favorably about the bill in person.
