I attended a meeting hosted by Commissioner Bill Lee and Steve White Precinct chair. They had concerns about the passage of Prop 9. Prop 9 is intended to change Utah County Governed from three full-time commissioners to one Mayor and five part-time commissioners. Any misinformation on these notes is the fault of the note taker. These notes are a mix of Bill and Steve’s comments. I formatted the text for like subjects. This is a submission to caucus corner.

– New York times: effects of corvid besides the disease. Hunger and world hunger.
‘Instead of Coronavirus, the Hunger Will Kill Us.’ A Global Food Crisis Looms.

– The state assigned title 9.
– It will be on the ballot for considerations for the voters to decide.
These are the reasons people want Prop 9 to pass:
– Pros say it will cost less. Analysis numbers were not completed. Proposal ‘says’ less.
– Pros want a separation of powers.

Lee: Steve and I are opposed to this for multiple reasons.
– Acceptances will eventually increase costs and an expansion of government. (SLC could be an example). The natural course of government steers toward dictatorship.
– Any changes to small towns always have a firm that checks the financial impact. They also try to anticipate what will occur in the future. We don’t have any financial check for proposition 9. There was no independent of salary or building analysis were done on prop 9.
– Opponents of Prop 9 are greatly concerned of the financial costs.
– One commissioner regrets putting prop 9 on ballet.
– Our biggest concern is the cost of mayor function versus county function
– Pro says it will cost less. The analysis of finances was not completed. Proposal ‘says’ less. After one sworn in, the mayor can put into motion to open the budget. They can move money to fulfill positions they need as support staff. Because five commissioners are part-time, they need to hire people. Since they may work during the day, they may not attend all-day meetings. They receive filtered info of meetings from someone else.
– What is the largest population in Salt Lake City is the incorporated area of SLC. So the county has to do water etc. Salt Lake has $14 million commissioner costs, while the UT County budget is just over $1 million. Salt Lak has only double the population than UT incorporated.
– Government officials will see something as an emergency and move funds from the dept. they think that is not as important to areas they think is important.
– Salt Lake with a new form of government grew by 9.9% UT County stayed equal to its population.

Salt Lake and comparisons:
– 20 yrs. go Salt Lake switched from commission to ab amea counsel form. It resulted in massive bloat of government expansion
– Article: Beware of county mayors bearing deputies by Laurie Stringham.
– https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2020/08/14/laurie-stringham-beware/
– During the last few years 2-3 legislative cycles. Push from Weber County to change the process to change the form of government. He wanted a way for the county to change government quicker. As his bill was losing traction a rep from UT County wanted to modify the bill that would target UT County. Since UT County has a 500K population.
– Repremandom began to circulate for signatures. A lot of feedback from the failed bill is people don’t want to grow government.
– Two of three commissioners voted to have it put on ballet and without a completed study of costs.
– The government set the condition that unincorporated areas cannot be larger than 5.5-acre parcels.
– If a developer wants to develop land in an unincorporated, they have to access resources from a city.
– Commissioners have no control over cities.
– About 9K residents are in the Utah unincorporated area.
– Salt Lake has six deputy mayors. They have supporting staff.
– Utah Lake is owned by the state.

Details of Prop 9:
– Proposed changes would normally come out as a printed document in ballets. Due to cost, there will only be a web link.
– Proposition 9 will have a mayor and five part-time council members. Hire a dept. mayor and each council may have part-time secretaries. Currently, Utah County has three full-time council members.
– New path will separate powers between federal levels. Utah County will have five-part members. Their salary 20K they will have to get another part-time ob. More work on the executive side than the legislative side.
– Five commissioners will be broken up in regions. They are assigned to certain areas of the county.
– Currently, the county citizens vote for all three full-time commissioners. You are responsible for 100% of the vote. When we vote you can only vote for one of the five. You vote for the one that is your area. You have 20% voting rights.
– They are consolidating power into the mayor spot. You will no longer have two of three representatives to counter one commissioner’s bad decisions.
– The three commissioners do not discuss issues outside the meetings. By law, they can’t give the appearance of coordination. Can’t appear to lockstep on a shared decision.
– For cities and towns, the first line of representation is the mayor, city, and counsel.
– The biggest county in the US is in California. They have about 12 million resides (I think) They only have five paid commissioners.
– 50% of the county budget is the sheriff’s dept. All three commissioners over the sheriff.
Responses to those wanting the change:
– Pro wants separation of powers. As soon a budget is passed, once the money is divided up the commissions have no control of the budget.
– Prop 9 will have five commissioners vote for and divided by area. But when the vote is by 20”% vote, bands will form to influence those in favor of Prop 9 want a mayor to have dictatorial powers. Mayer becomes three in the power of commissioners. One mayor and two commissioners can do what they want.

Other Stuff:
– Some politicians will get themselves on 30 boards many of which may not be related to their own assigned duties. Some may use their current position to move up to a higher level. Other politicians are on six boards that are relevant to their curry title.
– Good possibility for this to be celibacy politics where people are voted because of their name rather than policy.