In a tense meeting Monday afternoon, Hideout Local District #1 swore in three trustees, a district manager, a treasurer and a clerk.
The district manages infrastructure for about 800 land parcels in the young town east of the Jordanelle Reservoir.
The oaths of office came a few weeks after the district held its first election for the board of trustees after failing to do so for 14 years.
In this election, votes were weighted based on the amount of land owned. Individual residents’ ballots counted less than those of developers who own numerous parcels.
All three incumbent trustees – Thomas Baxter, Dean Heavrin and Will Pratt – were reelected by an overwhelming margin. All have ties to Mustang Development, the original developer of the town of Hideout.
According to a list of properties shared with KPCW, as of April 2024, Mustang and its subsidiaries owned almost 60% of the square footage in the district.
The attorney representing the district, Brad Christopherson, said Monday’s public meeting was an effort to come into compliance with state requirements. It was not to address public concerns.
“We do recognize there’s been emailed concerns and challenges to candidacies. Those are not going to be addressed in today’s meeting. An email is not the legal way to challenge a candidacy,” he said. “So, we will not be addressing those. We will be swearing in the prevailing candidates today. And those of you that are not happy with the outcome of the election, you’ll have to seek your own legal counsel.”
He told the room if anyone had come to the meeting to debate the trustees’ legitimacy, then “I invite you to leave because we’re not going to respond to it.”
One Hideout resident spoke up to ask the correct way to challenge a candidacy.
“What is the process?” the man asked.
“I am not going to give you legal advice,” Christopherson replied.
Despite Christopherson’s warning, numerous residents spoke up during public comment to voice their concerns about the election process.
“We have been taxed by an entity that is opaque," Hideout resident Jeff Schiff said.
He said he decided to run for the local district’s board of trustees when he learned about the election by mail: he got concerned when he couldn’t find any information about what the district did, the state of its finances or when it met.
He told the trustees if residents’ concerns were not adequately addressed during the meeting, they would contact the lieutenant governor’s office and the Wasatch County Council.
Fellow candidate Ed O’Rourke asked questions during his public comment about the election process.
“Who at the lieutenant governor’s office was a party to this accelerated recruitment of candidates under a seven-day window and then an accelerated balloting process that clearly did not reach all the members in the neighborhood that it should have?” he asked. “I’m asking you once again: please don’t ratify this slate of candidates today.”
O’Rourke, Schiff and four other candidates ran against the three incumbent trustees.
Despite residents’ concerns, including that some residents didn’t get ballots until after the voting deadline, all three candidates were sworn in.
The local district also conducted regular business like reviewing a summary of finances and setting a regular quarterly meeting schedule for the future.
KPCW has reached out to the lieutenant governor’s office for more information about the election and will share that information as soon as it’s available.
KPCW has also contacted the three incumbent trustees and will update this story if they respond.
