Utah County commissioners vote 2–1 to send optional mayor–council plan to ballot amid legal dispute

The Utah County Board of Commissioners voted 2–1 in an emergency meeting to adopt a resolution to place an optional mayor–council plan on the Nov. 5, 2019 countywide ballot, even as legal advisers and some commissioners warned that a recently filed petition could block the commission from acting.

Commissioner Nathan Ivy moved to adopt the amended resolution that would place the Good Governance Advisory Board’s optional plan on the Nov. 5, 2019 ballot but include a contingency: if a court or the state elections office determines the commission cannot act while a valid petition is pending, the ballot placement would instead be scheduled for the next regularly scheduled countywide election. The motion passed 2–1.

The vote followed sustained debate over whether the filing of a petition by five petitioners — and the subsequent withdrawal of one signer by email — removed the commission’s authority to forward an optional plan to voters. “It is the opinion of the county attorney’s office that this body has no authority to issue the finding…