The Hideout Town Council voted 2-1 Monday, May 12, for the councilmember and former planning commissioner to take the helm as interim mayor.
Now, the town is seeking a resident to fill Severini’s seat on the council for the rest of 2025. Locals can apply through June 9.
During Monday’s special session, Severini said he also intends to run for a four-year term as mayor this November.
His selection comes after Phil Rubin resigned due to health problems last month.
On KPCW’s “Local News Hour” Tuesday, May 13, Severini said he sees the mayoral role as a natural progression in his involvement in town government.
“I’ve had a lot of experience going in, both the government – local government level – as well as my business level, so I thought this would be a good time in my career to move more into a full-time job for the town,” he said.
He said he’s seeking a full term as well to offer “consistency” to town residents.
He said he cares about developing the town’s future, including adding more community and commercial spaces.
“Getting a place to eat and furthering the efforts around Richardson Flat, to build out an area where we can have some commercial and retail, as well as Ross Creek – I think I’ve already been doing that, and I’d like to lead that charge,” he said.
Hideout annexed 350 acres of land in Summit County after a yearslong legal battle and a Utah Supreme Court ruling. Town administrator Jan McCosh has said Hideout primarily envisions commercial development, like a grocery store and gas station, on the land.
Ross Creek, a 10-acre parcel of open space along the Jordanelle Reservoir, could be home to mixed-use or recreational areas. Severini said the goal is to help the community gather.
“I think Ross Creek serves as really the central part of town, and we want to build that – we want to create a better environment for community interaction,” he said. “But we need money. You need money and resources to do that.”
Besides his experience on the town council and planning commission, Severini is a longtime business leader, most recently with New York-based Amazon Web Services.
The town council will appoint an interim councilmember at a public meeting June 12 at 6 p.m.
