Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald

With two of the three seats on the Utah County Commission up for election this November, the balance of power can shift drastically. On Thursday, the three candidates for commission Seat B and three of the candidates for commission Seat A came to Utah Valley University for a business-themed debate organized by the Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce.

A packed crowd of Republican delegates was eager to hear the differences between the candidates ahead of the April 9 county convention at Eagle Mountain High School. The debates were moderated by chamber President Curtis Blair. Questions for the debate were developed by the chamber and submitted by members of the county’s business community.

County Commission Seat B

Despite any differences between the candidates for Seat B, one thing they all have in common is experience. Running for the seat is Bill Lee, the incumbent seeking his third term in office, and two challengers in former commission member Greg Graves, who served from 2014-2018 in Seat A, and Brandon Gordon, a three-term member of the Spanish Fork City Council.

The evening kicked off with an introduction from former Gov. Gary Herbert, now the executive chair of the chamber, and a speech about the changes facing the valley. Since Herbert was elected to the commission in 2000, the population has risen exponentially.

Gordon, touting an endorsement from the Fraternal Order of Police in his opening statement, enamored himself to the audience with jokes, including a suggestion to install a bat signal on the county building, “as Commissioner Gordon, to signal the sheriff whenever we need to.”

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald

As for the questioning, Lee was given the opportunity to discuss the process of balancing a countywide budget and mentioned using city prioritization lists to determine how to best fund projects and county activities.

Graves said he is running to take power away from the commission and give it to cities. “Utah County is a county that is perfect in every way because we let the city governments do it,” he said. He added that the Utah County General Plan allows for all growth-related projects to be handled by each city as opposed to the county.

Graves called out inefficiencies in having services that are across the county from the area they service — specifically mentioning the Utah County Sheriff’s Office being stationed in Spanish Fork and serving the area west of Utah Lake.

Gordon said transportation is one of the current factors inhibiting Utah County’s growth, and responding to transportation issues requires “synergy” between cities, he added, while Lee pointed to water.

“Water is something we don’t have, and we have a lot of dirt,” Lee said in reference to the thousands of acres of undeveloped county land. “When I wake up in the morning and turn that tap on, it came from those before us who built the structures, the infrastructure and everything else. It’s our turn now to do something for generational projects into the future.”

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald

With the conversation steering into natural resources, Graves advocated for dredging Utah Lake, a plan that has received waves of interest over the years and was the focus of two bills in Utah’s most recent legislative session. The most prominent dredging plan is the proposal by Lake Restoration Solutions to eventually create habitable islands in the middle of Utah Lake.

When asked his opinion, Lee said it would be “derelict of my duty” to say one way or the other without additional presentations, research and information about any dredging plans.

Lee added that, as someone who frequents Utah Lake for boating and camping, he is grateful to see more discussion around the body of water. Gordon added that he could be in support of dredging if private developers contribute to the costs.

The candidates also discussed air quality, property tax incentives for corporations, “good growth” versus “bad growth,” education, agriculture, housing and more in the 45 minute debate.

County Commission Seat A

In opposition to the first debate, the race for Seat A included candidates with more wide-ranging experience — all of whom spent their time pushing their conservatives bona fides. Incumbent Amelia Powers Gardner is running for her first full term in office, having taken over the seat in 2021 after the resignation of Tanner Ainge, and was joined on stage by developer Steven Diamond and Renee Tribe, a member of the Lindon Planning Commission.

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald

Tribe kicked off the debate by mentioning her reasoning for running, namely that on the Thursday before the filing deadline ended there were no other candidates running against Gardner.

Diamond took his opening statement to mention and quote several presidents — John Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump — and shared his experiences working with Orem as a citizen.

“I was able to get rid of two crack houses in our city of Orem,” Diamond said. He told the crowd he organized members of his neighborhood to stake out the home and photograph the cars and license plates that stopped there.

As the incumbent, Powers Gardner drew on her experience on the commission as well as her time as the clerk/auditor and work in the private sector with Caterpillar, the construction and machinery company.

When it came time to have children, Powers Gardner moved back to Utah County where she was raised to start her family. “There’s a problem in that the world has discovered that Utah County is the best place to live and raise a family,” she said while pointing out that much of the county’s growth is due to children — namely 20,000 babies born in 2021.

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald

One of Blair’s first questions to the candidates revolved around House Bill 60 from the 2021 legislative session, nicknamed the Vaccine Passport Bill.

Powers Gardner spoke on Capitol Hill in support of the bill and against allowing businesses or the government to require COVID-19 vaccine passports. Diamond and Tribe also supported the bill by listing personal freedoms and data privacy as their respective reasonings.

When asked about regulations that he would support, Diamond said he supports regulations that allow people to have personal privacy but questioned why the filing fee for a commission seat was $690 while it was $40 to run for Utah County clerk. Diamond continued his rally against regulations by pointing out the difference in required training hours for hairdressers as opposed to certified public accountants.

In terms of conservation, the Seat A candidates were asked whether they support privatization of Bridal Veil Falls. Tribe said she believes the area should stay public, as did Diamond, adding that he supports the use of gondolas in Provo Canyon.

Turning their attention back to the legislative session, the candidates were asked whether they supported House Bill 11 banning transgender girls from competing in sports and the subsequent override of Gov. Spencer Cox’s veto.

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald

Powers Gardner said she supported the override in order to “protect our leadership pipeline” with girls’ sports. Tribe said she was in favor of the bill as well, claiming that boys were transitioning to gain an advantage in sports.

“Anybody that wants to come in, with, you know — a male turning into, competing in women’s sports, best girls just because they can — I think that’s ridiculous,” she said.

Diamond stood in support of the override as well, comparing gender-affirming transitioning to a person claiming they are a tree instead of a human.

The trio was also asked which of Utah’s senators, Mike Lee or Mitt Romney, they more align themselves with, all three of which said Lee, with Powers Gardner calling him one of the two greatest senators in American history alongside Barry Goldwater.

Also discussed was how each candidate would support business growth, inflation, innovation, housing, Utah County’s tourism hot spots and more.

Both debates

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald

While the pools of questions were different for each debate, there were a few asked to all six candidates.

All of the candidates were asked by Blair whether or not they could envision, in their lifetimes, a bridge spanning Utah Lake. In the Seat B debate, Lee answered yes, Graves answered with an emphatic “no” and Gordon said he didn’t like any of the current plans. In the Seat A debate, Powers Gardner said she could envision a bridge from Provo to Saratoga Springs, as did Tribe and Diamond.

The six candidates were also asked about the size of the commission itself. Sitting at three members, the same size it was when Herbert was first elected to the body, Blair asked those running for office if they support a shift in the commission to a mayor/county council format currently used in Salt Lake County.

The question also brought up Proposition 9, the failed 2020 ballot initiative to make that change. Lee mentioned that he led the push against Prop 9 and is still opposed to the idea. He added that staying at a three-member commission with the increase in population would require hardworking and dedicated people being in office.

“I do not want to look like Salt Lake County or have their tax rate,” Lee said.

Gordon mentioned having been a supporter of Prop 9 when it was on the ballot and Graves said he was against the idea but, “if the residents of Utah County want a different form of government, I will always be willing to put that on the ballot.”

Powers Gardner pointed out there are other options than the format currently used in Salt Lake and said she believes Utah County would be better served with more people sitting on the commission. Diamond stated he is against increasing the size of the body, saying he is for smaller government. Tribe said she believes a three-member board is just fine so long as they’re efficient, but voiced support for residents to decide what is best.

Blair told the Daily Herald afterward that for several reasons — specifically the available space, time and the invited audience demographics — only Republican candidates for county offices were invited. Shawn Herring previously filed his candidacy as a Republican for Seat A and was not at the debate, neither were unaffiliated candidate Tom Tomeny and Democratic nominee Jeanne Bowen.

Between the two debates, other Republican candidates for county office were given one minute, approximately, to introduce themselves to the audience. Those additional candidates included Rod Mann (Utah County auditor), Jeff Gray (Utah County attorney), Adam Pomeroy (Utah County attorney), Aaron Davidson (Utah County clerk), Mike Smith (Utah County sheriff), Hyrum Cox (Utah County sheriff) and Jeff Wabel (Utah County sheriff). A neighbor also spoke on behalf of Heidi Balderee (Utah County clerk), who was unable to attend due to a previous commitment.

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