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Bountiful council narrows rental ban for political activity, says all‑candidate voter forums allowed
Summary
Council debated staff language that would ban campaign activity in city facilities and clarified that voter‑education events open to all certified candidates will be allowed; staff will add an attestation and refine the rental application and deposit rules for food and nonresident users.
Bountiful City Council members on Dec. 9 debated a proposed restriction on political campaign activities in city buildings and directed staff to allow voter‑education forums that are expressly open to every candidate on the ballot.
Councilmember Cecily Bradshaw said she supported permitting forums organized by neutral groups such as the League of Women Voters, provided "all candidates that are appearing on that ballot…are invited." Staff clarified the proposal was not intended to prevent voter‑information events that are available to all candidates and the public. "The intent was to not do anything that would prohibit the city from hosting a voter information get‑together or voter‑educational experience," a staff member said during the meeting.
The council wrestled with edge cases: whether a primary that included only one party’s candidates should be allowed as an "all‑candidate" event if it covered that portion of the ballot, and whether a local candidate renting the chamber for campaign purposes should be treated differently. Several council members favored a rule that treats events the city hosts differently from candidate‑hosted events and asked staff to build an attestation onto the rental form. As one councilmember put it, if a party is hosting a partisan forum the application should require a party official to attest that the event is an official party activity and that every candidate was invited.
Council members also discussed fees and damage deposits. Staff said they aimed to keep rental costs affordable to encourage public use while protecting the city against repair costs from food‑related incidents. As a result the council signaled support for slightly higher nonresident fees and higher deposits for events that serve food in non‑city‑sponsored rentals.
The council gave staff direction to: (1) revise the draft policy to explicitly allow voter‑education/all‑candidate forums that invite every candidate on a ballot; (2) add a simple attestation on the rental application for partisan or party‑sponsored events; (3) differentiate resident, nonprofit and nonresident fees; and (4) return with clarified deposit levels for events that include food. No formal ordinance or amendment was adopted at the meeting; staff will return with revised application language and fee recommendations.
The council briefly recessed after the discussion and returned for the regular meeting at 7 p.m.
