It’s time for a change in the governance structure of Utah County. Simply put, the needs, complexity, and the robust nature of our county, which is one of the fastest growth areas in the U.S., has outgrown the effectiveness of the three-member county commissioner form of government.

Early in 2019, I was asked by the Utah County Commission to chair a representative group of Utah County citizens, which included mayors, business leaders, legislators, academicians and public administrators from the north, south, east, west, urban and rural parts of our county. This group of 15 volunteers hosted a public website and a series of public meetings, which encouraged public comments from concerned citizens to explore the need, if any, to change our form of county government.

The primary purpose of this group, which was officially established as the Utah County Good Governance Advisory Board and empowered through public ordinance unanimously passed by the Utah County Commission, was “to facilitate research, analysis, public outreach, and provide recommendations to the Utah County Board of Commissioners related to a potential modification of Utah County’s form of government.”

The GGAB started its work with this question: Do we keep our current three-commissioner form of government?

Arguably, the three-commissioner form of government is one of the most efficient forms of government because it only takes three people to come together, discuss an issue, and then act. It does not require a unanimous vote, only a simple majority (two of the three commissioners) to approve or block anything. It is the legislative and executive branch of government wrapped into one body of three people. Some people support this form of government because they can get things done quickly with a phone call or two and without a lot of public involvement or attention.

Is this good governance?

If efficiency is one side of the coin; effectiveness is the other. I would argue that the effectiveness of Utah County’s form of government is less than ideal because it can be easily manipulated by special interests and personal ideologies, which are not representative of the majority of the community. All it takes is convincing two of three commissioners to vote a particular way to take action. Those are great odds for any lobbying effort, in contrast to our city, state and national legislative bodies that have separation of powers and better checks and balances.

Even if the three commissioners are acting in the best interest of the community, which I believe they have the majority of the time, people with contrary viewpoints to actions they take routinely cry foul — personally attacking them and their character — because the form of government and our county’s past lend themselves to a perception of being easily manipulated.

Even if two commissioners are talking about the last Jazz game (sigh) in the hallway, people see the conversation happening and believe deals are being done outside our public meeting laws. Regretfully, we have had former bad actors as county commissioners who have made hallway deals, cut corners and acted illegally, which feeds this perception of easy manipulation and proves the point that it’s time to change our form of county government.

Less than five people, from the hundreds that engaged the GGAB, supported keeping the three-commissioner form of government. Everyone else submitted, showed up, or tuned-in to comment and demand a change in our county’s form of government. They want a mayor to champion the county and a council to ensure separation of powers. They want this change in government to provide better checks and balances in how the county manages its resources with increased representation of the different areas and communities within Utah County. They clearly and directly called for a mayor-council form of government to provide this level and quality of public service and management of our county government and public interests.

Utah County has outgrown the effectiveness of the three-commissioner form of government. We need a form of government that protects our county government from being manipulated by a few or hijacked by an extreme ideology because it easily can be. I concur with and support the GGAB’s recommendation to the Utah County Commission: It’s time to change to a mayor-council form of government.