The Weber River Watershed Council reviewed proposed edits to its organizing document on Nov. 26, aimed at aligning the council’s rules with a new State Watershed Council template, and agreed to bring the revisions back for a formal vote at the council’s next meeting.

Carly Payne, division of water resources staff, led a walkthrough of the redlined document, noting wording changes to clarify the council’s purpose and authority and to say explicitly that the council “does not supersede, usurp, or replace any watershed-oriented organization within the watershed.” Payne said the template moved certain background language to a footnote and suggested members choose language they preferred rather than accepting template text wholesale.

Members focused on three governance questions: whether to retain a numerical membership cap, how to manage staggered initial terms, and whether to allow proxy representation. Several members urged keeping a manageable cap to avoid an unwieldy forum; others said attrition and term expirations reduced the immediate need for a strict limit. Payne noted the template’s removal of the prior 9–21 member range and asked the council whether to keep, modify or discard that line.

On proxies, the draft follows template language allowing members to designate proxies and includes previously discussed limits intended to prevent a single member’s proxy votes from dominating a year’s meetings. Payne said proxy language can help maintain quorum and participation; the council indicated a preference for using the template’s approach and for encouraging members who cannot attend to send proxies.

Chair Jeff Young said a quorum question remained: with some initial two-year terms expired, the council sometimes lacks sufficient voting members to take action. Members agreed to post the organizing-document revision on the agenda of the next noticed meeting and to allow review by email or virtually before the meeting if needed.

The council directed staff to post a clarified note that the listed names reflect the initial council makeup and to point the public to the current membership online. The organizing-document revisions and related membership/terms clarifications are scheduled for formal consideration at the Jan. 26, 2026 meeting.