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Summit County Councilor will not seek reelection

Claudia McMullin is done. She says she is "totes over it" and ready to move on from the Summit County Council, which is why she will not seek reelection in November.

McMullin’s seat is one of three-four year positions that will be on the ballot during November’s General Election. The seats held by council members Roger Armstrong, Kim Carson and Tal Adair, are also on the ballot.

"I’m totally done," McMullin said. "I was on the planning commission for five years and I spent eight years on the Council. Thirteen years is enough. I feel like it is time for new blood and time for me to do new things and let someone else try."

Kim Carson, 56, a Democrat from Silver Creek, said she attended County Council meetings for nearly a year before she ran for election four years ago. Now that she is familiar with the county’s operations, Carson said she wants to continue working on issues such as transportation, water and air quality, and behavioral health.

"I have established those relationships and I would like to be able to continue them," Carson said. "Transportation rises to the top as one of the top issues and I think we are finally getting some solid planning in place.

"And those other issues are incredibly important to me as well," she said. "We have had those in our strategic plan and will continue to focus on those."

When Carson joined the Council, she said she didn’t have a specific agenda in mind wanting, instead, to "look at some of the hard issues that we have facing the county and work along with the community to find some solutions to continue to make this such a great place to live."

Roger Armstrong, 58, a Democrat from Park City, also said he plans to seek a second term. Armstrong is an entertainment lawyer and currently serves as the County Council chair.

Over the last four years, he has remained vocal about his interests in alternative forms of transportation and sustainability.

"It’s been an enjoyable ride so far," Armstrong said. "We have done some good things with open space and we will soon start with the East Side discussion. I think we are moving in the right direction and I like the composition of the Council."

Armstrong agrees with Carson that transportation will continue to stay at the top of the Council’s agenda because it ties directly into growth. Armstrong has tried to nudge the Council along in aggressively pursuing more immediate solutions to the traffic problems.

"I think we have a pretty good plan in place to try and address some of those and to start dealing with low-hanging fruit," Armstrong said. "We have spent longer than I would like to study the issues and actually find solutions and start implementing those."

Tal Adair, 52, a Republican from Francis, is the only East Side resident on the Council. Adair was appointed in November to fill a seat left vacant by Dave Ure, who was less than one year into his term. Adair is a mortgage broker in Kamas.

Adair said one of the questions posed to him during the appointment process was whether he intended to seek election in November and the council’s decision was contingent on his intentions.

"I’ve learned that the county is a complex corporation. There are a lot of moving parts and different perspectives and the East Side is one of those," Adair said. "It is growing, but we also have to preserve our culture and be able to meet the needs of the citizens on that side of the county."

Growth, transportation and the shortage of affordable housing will continue to be ongoing issues for both sides of the county, Adair said.

"How do you manage that growth, but also maintain the historical part of Summit County while setting the stage for landowners’ rights and also the transportation needs? That’s what we have to balance," Adair said. "We are seeing transportation needs pretty aggressively on the West Side of the county and those areas need to be addressed, in addition to those same needs on the East Side. And another component of that is affordable housing."

The filing period to declare as a candidate is March 11 to March 17, at 5 p.m.

Glenn Wright, 67 years old and a Prospector resident, also recently announced he will be considering a bid for one of the four-year seats. Wright currently serves as the Summit County Democratic Chair. If elected, it would be his first time in office.

If interested in pursuing a seat on the County Council, Democratic candidates can contact Wright via email at wright.glenn@gmail.com . Republican candidates can contact Adair, the Summit County Republican Party chair at taladair@gmail.com or at 801-201-3601. Prospective candidates may also contact the County Clerk’s Office at 435-336-3204.

Summit County


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