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Park City Council candidates advance, but tight range creates possibility for upcoming political tension

Voters drop two during a primary election that was notable for its understated nature

The Park City Council candidates appeared at an August forum. Voters in a Tuesday primary finalized the field for Election Day in November. | Park Record file photo by Jay Hamburger
Park Record file photo by Jay Hamburger

Six candidates advanced out of the Park City Council primary election on Tuesday, finalizing the field as Parkites prepare to select three members — a majority — of the council in November.

The unofficial results:

  1. Ryan Dickey, 1,346 votes, or 21.1%
  2. Ed Parigian, 830 votes, or 13%
  3. Matthew Nagie, 810 votes, or 12.7%
  4. Bob Sertner, 730 votes, or 11.4%
  5. John Greenfield, 588 votes, or 9.2%
  6. Bill Ciraco, 572 votes, or 9%
  7. Jody Whitesides, 328 votes, 5.1%
  8. David Dobkin, 207 votes, or 3.2%

Whitesides and Dobkin failed to make the ballot for Election Day in November. The others will compete for the three seats on the ballot. The winners will be sworn into office for four-year terms in early 2024.



The sum of the percentages does not equal 100% since not every person who cast a ballot voted for three candidates. Voter turnout was 39%.

The primary election ended a stretch of the campaign that was notable for its understated nature as a field of candidates, generally with only marginal name recognition at the start of the politicking, attempted to separate themselves from the others. One of the initial candidates who did bring name recognition from her tenures with the Sundance Institute and the Park City Institute, Betsy Wallace, removed herself from the contest prior to the primary election.



Two of the incumbent city councilors whose seats are on the ballot — Becca Gerber and Max Doilney — opted against reelection bids. The top vote-getter on Tuesday, Dickey, is a member of the City Council and is seeking his first full term in office after having been appointed to a partial term to succeed Nann Worel as she ascended to the mayor’s office.

The results on Tuesday put the candidates who advanced in a tight range behind Dickey. The separation between second-place finisher Parigian and sixth-place finisher Ciraco was only 4 percentage points. The close results of the primary election leave open the possibility of significant movement in the placement on Election Day in November, as the candidates are expected to spend the next two months outlining their platforms to a field of voters expected to expand from the one in the primary.

The candidates as a result of the primary election already see how tight the contest could be through November, meaning the political jockeying and tensions could increase shortly and then continue until Election Day. It will be particularly important in this contest since some of the candidates were generally not known to the broad electorate at the outset of the campaign.

While Dickey is an incumbent city councilor and Parigian has been heavily involved in a range of high-profile issues before City Hall over the past decade, the others will likely need to continue to increase their profile.

The rest of the campaign is expected to center on the core issues of Park City. The candidates will almost certainly spend time outlining platforms stressing traffic-fighting measures, housing, the economy and the impact of the tourism industry.

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