Advisory committee urges Utah County to adopt mayor–council government; commissioners weigh timing

The Utah County Board of County Commissioners on Thursday received a unanimous recommendation from the Good Governance Advisory Committee to change the county's form of government to a county mayor (executive) with a seven‑member council — five district seats and two at‑large seats — and to add a professionally trained chief administrative officer to run daily operations.

The advisory committee's chair, Cameron Martin, told commissioners the group conducted nine public meetings across the county, collected 41 formal online submissions (16 from county employees and 25 from other residents) and worked with graduate students at BYU and staff at Utah Valley University to benchmark alternatives. "We weren't fishing for one form over another," Martin said; the committee asked whether the county has the right structure to meet rapidly growing service demands and concluded the mayor–council model better balances representation and professional administration.

Vice chair Rex Facer said the committee recommended a hybrid council that…