Summit County Councilmember Canice Harte is seeking a second council term.
The Democrat told KPCW he has the same priorities he did four years ago, including stopping overdevelopment and maintaining both open space and community character.
He also sees major Kimball Junction infrastructure projects coming down the pike, as well as High Valley Transit’s enhanced bus service into Park City.
“I'd love to stay at the helm there and keep working on these projects, as well as continuing to do the work we did with the 910 Cattle Ranch acquisition and the Ure property acquisition,” Harte said. “Probably one of the greatest honors was to be one of the two lead negotiators on the 910 Cattle Ranch, and I can't believe I was lucky or fortunate enough to get to do that in my first four years.”
The council’s other negotiator on the open space acquisition was Chris Robinson, who represents the other half of the Snyderville Basin in District 4.
Only Harte’s and Robinson’s seats are on the ballot in 2026, and Robinson says he won’t run for a sixth term.
In previous elections, all council seats were at-large, but a 2025 state law divided the county into districts. Harte’s seat is now District 5, which includes Summit Park, Jeremy Ranch and lower Pinebrook.
Now he says he could feasibly knock on every voter’s door.
“When you're running a countywide campaign, you do everything you can to get to all parts of the county. You certainly meet with the elected officials and leaders of each of the cities and areas, but now it's very concentrated, so it will be interesting to see,” he said. “Because on one hand, I'm excited because I can go talk to knock on a lot more doors in a more focused way, and at the same time, I'm going to miss some of the conversations that I was having.”
A former Marine and outdoor industry executive, Harte took a job at the Summit County Sheriff’s Office this year as the search and rescue operations manager.
He also served on the Snyderville Basin Planning Commission from 2014 to 2020. After that, he ran unsuccessfully for council against fellow commissioner Malena Stevens, who is now running for clerk. Voters added Harte to the council in 2022.
Candidates can file to run for Summit County office from 8 a.m. Jan. 2 until 5 p.m. Jan. 8.
