Utah County Commissioner Amelia Powers Gardner is running a second time for seat A in hopes to be reelected and complete a full term.

The incumbent has only held the seat for about a year since she was elected to fill a vacant seat. In her year of experience, Gardner said she feels more qualified and is eager to take on new challenges within the county.

Gardner said she wants to run again because she’s the first female county commissioner.

“This means I’m the first mom to be a county commissioner,” Gardner said. “Mom voices matter. We bring a scrappiness and a problem-solving attitude that I think the county could really use.”

Gardner said her campaign and supporters have grown over the past year.

“I’ve worked very hard and because of that even people who didn’t support me when I first ran do now,” she said. “Many elected officials from mayors, city council members and state legislators endorse me.

“My hope is voters recognize that when I say I’m going to do things, they can see that I have a proven track record of being someone who can get things done.”

Last year, Gardner campaigned to create a strategic plan for the county and to promote better innovation, and within a year an outline for the strategic plan has already been created, according to Gardner. She now focuses on preparing the county for high population growth.

“I don’t see it’s the government’s role to stifle growth,” she said. “That’s not something we control, and it wouldn’t be helpful to the county. Yes, an expanding economy and population comes with challenges, but the opposite of that comes with challenges as well. For example, if we weren’t continuing to build more houses, all the houses now would become more unaffordable to the average person.

“This is the biggest issue I’m focused on, but I don’t actually see it as a negative. Having thriving businesses is a good thing. Having employers say ‘I need more people to serve more customers’ is better than a business that isn’t making enough money to keep its door open. I think that’s a worse problem.”

Finding ways to bring affordable housing options and programs to aid prospective homeowners is one of Gardner’s solutions to population growth.

“My personal approach is that I don’t like building Section 8 housing projects,” she said.

Gardner believes a community of struggling people, like those living in Section 8 communities, can’t support each other because each household is experiencing the same struggles. She suggested spreading out low-income housing options along with regular housing options. This suggestion would provide an opportunity for those in need to be uplifted by the community around them, she said.

Another solution is to update county government services to accommodate online and remote options.

“As our population grows, we either need to hire more employees to serve the public, which is our greatest cost as a government, or we can use growth dollars to implement technology to make our services more efficient,” Gardner said.

However, while younger generations respond well to technology changes like remote access to county services, many individuals still prefer talking to real people and having services fulfilled in person.

“What I always say is that we want to be able to serve the citizen in a way that best serves them,” Gardner said. “My mother is disabled, so I grew up with the idea that we need to serve people that best serves them. So, if people feel comfortable coming down to the county building, we aren’t going to shut down our offices. It gives us the ability to serve those people better because they won’t have to wait in lines that are as long.”

Gardner said she is looking forward to the campaign against her opponent, Renee Tribe. She believes her experience, knowledge and connections within the county’s government is her advantage over Tribe.

“I think politically and ideologically we agree on many things, but she just doesn’t have the experience that I have,” Gardner said.

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