Change county government in Summit?

COALVILLE — Summit County has seen vast changes in the past decade, and commissioners want voters to decide whether a five-member council with an appointed county manager would better represent the area's diverse needs.

The Summit County Commission voted 2-1 on Wednesday to put the issue on the ballot in November. If the voters endorse it, Summit would be the sixth county in the state to have changed its governance.

"I think because 61 percent of the voters asked us to study the question, it really is incumbent on us to put it on the ballot and let the chips fall where they may," said County Commissioner Sally Elliott, who voted in favor of the proposal.

The commissioners' decision stemmed from a governance study completed earlier this year that recommends the change from the current three-member commission to the five-member council with a full-time executive.

The new structure would put the council in charge of all legislative duties and make the manager the administrative head, with control over the county's $40 million annual budget. Council members would be elected by their various districts, which Commissioner Bob Richer said would allow better representation for the diverse county.

Richer, a Snyderville Basin resident, gave his approval and said the proposal will give Snyderville residents more voice. Summit County has a population of 35,000, and 22,000 people reside in unincorporated Snyderville Basin.

The far southern and far northern reaches of the county have not experienced the same change and growth as the basin and other parts of Summit County, Richer said in an interview Tuesday. Meanwhile, the conservative-leaning eastern towns have a combined population of only 5,000 residents and frequently get crushed at the ballot box by liberal west-side voters.

"In a lot of respects," Richer told the commissioners Wednesday, the county is "not a sleepy little town anymore." He added the discussion should not turn into an east-vs.-west battle.

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

Despite the county's booming population growth, Commissioner Ken Woolstenhulme opposed the change, arguing the costs are unknown.