At the commission's second meeting Aug. 4, Coalville Mayor Mark Marsh brought a paper map of five potential Summit County Council voter districts.
It appeared most of the commission had never seen the new map, which was based on the one sketched out at the first meeting in June. Marsh immediately moved for its adoption and Henefer Mayor Kay Richins seconded.
Chair Malena Stevens, who represents the unincorporated county on the committee, asked for more discussion and to see the map, which was folded on Marsh’s desk.
“If we and the public don't understand what we're voting on, how do we vote?” Stevens asked.
“It's up to you if you want to silence my motion. I have the floor, but it's up to you,” Marsh said.
Marsh eventually unfolded the map and held it up with Richins and Mayor Jeremie Forman of Francis.
Kamas Mayor Matt McCormick explained the changes to it for about three minutes, touching on the four voter precincts that had been moved into different districts. He then “called the question” to end any discussion of the new map and force a vote.
But McCormick withdrew after Oakley Mayor Zane Woolstenhulme pleaded for time to go through the changes in depth.
The discussion proceeded for about an hour and ended with a unanimous approval from all eight voting members of the commission, which also includes Hideout Mayor Ralph Severini, Park City Mayor Nann Worel and County Clerk Eve Furse, who is a non-voting member.
Now, the new Summit County Council districts go to the council itself for adoption at a public hearing. The new map the commission recomended is below:
The four precincts that were moved into different districts are all on the western side of the county.
The first iteration of the map was drawn largely along school district lines, with Park City proper acting as its own district and the Snyderville Basin split into two. That old map is below:
In the new map, the precinct that includes The Colony in Canyons Village was moved from the Basin into the Park City district.
The upper Pinebrook precinct was then put into the Snyderville Basin one. The precinct with Lincoln Station Apartments was moved out of the Basin and into the North Summit district.
Western Glenwild was moved out of North Summit and included in the Jeremy Ranch, Summit Park and lower Pinebrook district.
The main reservation other members of the commission had with the four eastside mayors’ map was that it divides lower and upper Pinebrook.
“If I were Pinebrook I’d all want to be together,” Woolstenhulme said. “I like the idea of Pinebrook all being its own baby.”
But as McCormick explained, the new map brings the five council districts closer to one another in terms of population. Worel agreed that was advantageous.
“The difference between the largest and the smallest district is 741,” McCormick said. “So it's three times closer, or a third of the difference.”
Utah law says the population difference between the largest and smallest districts can't be more than 10%.
The mayors who proposed the new map were also using different 2020 population estimates than the county clerk, which amounted to a 158-person difference in the total county population. The committee agreed the difference was too small to impact how they drew the boundaries.
Another change to the map clarified an abnormality regarding parcels near the Wyoming border so that the North and South Summit districts met contiguity requirements in Utah law.
The districting commission exists because of a new law which requires Summit County to adopt voter districts for its currently all at-large council council.
The controversial measure drew criticism from existing county leadership and local Democrats over a lack of public input during the 2025 General Session.
But Republicans and rural residents praised it for potentially increasing representation, whether partisan or geographic, on the historically blue council.
The Utah Legislature may still amend the law in a special session this year, since it also would require Wasatch County redraw its own council districts.
Wasatch County officials have told KPCW state leaders assure them they need not comply with the law as Summit County must.
Earlier this year, mayors Marsh, Richins, McCormick and Forman penned a letter to state leaders asking them to make the law as strong as possible. That included mandating a special election to reseat a new slate of councilmembers as soon as the voter districts are in place, effectively ousting some current councilmembers.
As written, the law lets councilmembers serve the rest of their terms assigned to districts at random. Just two, Roger Armstrong and Megan McKenna, would live in the same district based on the boundaries recommended Aug. 4.
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