Summit change finds backers

Big local names are lending their status to a hot issue on the ballot for Summit County voters: a change of government.

Former Salt Lake City Mayor Deedee Corradini, former Olympian Jim Shea Jr. and Summit County Democratic Party chairman Rob Weyher are backing two groups that are trying to sway the masses.

Residents will vote on Nov. 7 whether they want the County Commission to stay three members or change to five members and a county manager.

Summit Steps Forward, a political group supporting the change, was started by three members of a governance-study committee appointed by the commission to examine the issue. The committee took a year to study whether the county, which has seen booming growth, should abandon its current commission setup. The committee recommended that the county switch to the five-member commission and manager form of government.

Corradini, a Democrat, and Shea, a Republican, are co-chairmen of the group.

"I've been involved for over 20 years in government structure, and I strongly believe in having professional management and getting away from the commissioner form, where all it takes is two people to have tremendous power," Corradini said Monday. "That's very important. Also, I think it's critical to separate the administrative function from the legislative function of government."

On top of that, she added, power needs to be dispersed among commissioners, and there should be better representation. As Summit County has seen rapid development in the past 15 years, commissioners have battled the interests of the east-side farming communities and the west-side resort towns.

In 2004, 61 percent of Summit County voters favored re-evaluating the structure of the commission. The initiative failed with east-side voters but passed in Park City and other west-side communities.

In March, the current commissioners voter 2-1 to put the issue on the November ballot.

Weyher, a member and contributor of the second group, Less is Best, agrees that more commissioners would better balance the interests of the county. But the county manager position would cost a lot of money, he said.

"I don't think we need a $200,000-$250,000 county manager to supervise about 15 percent of the county employees," Weyher said. "That's where I have a problem with this, because I don't see it's cost effective."

Mike Marty, former chairman of the Summit County Democratic Party, is head of Less is Best. Weyher is acting as the group's spokesperson, and expressed concern about the limited power the five-member commission would have.

"The council has control over their budget, and that's it," Weyher said of the proposed change.

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E-mail: astowell@desnews.com