PROVO, Utah — Utah County voters are sticking with the three-commissioner system. They rejected a plan to add a county mayor and council.
Proposition 9 failed Tuesday, with just 40% of voters supporting the change.
Quinn Mecham, political science professor at Brigham Young University, said concerns about cost and looking more like Salt Lake County may have sunk the proposition. He did not share those concerns, though.
Mecham said three commissioners are not representative of a large, fast-growing county. He thought representation and accountability would improve under a system involving a county mayor and five part-time council members.
The topic is unlikely to come up again soon with the county commissioners, with Bill Lee and incoming Tom Sakievich both opposed.
“I think the three can do it,” Sakievich said. “If there are any other options, I think maybe a five-member, but that’s down the road.”
Mecham thinks voters will one day have an appetite for change as the county grows.
