County Executive David Zook (left above) retained his post in Tuesday’s midterm balloting by defeating write-in challenger Marc Ensign (right) by a margin of more than 3,000 votes.
CACHE COUNTY — After all the sound and fury between the county executive and members of the Cache County Council, Executive David Zook retained his post by a comfortable margin during Tuesday’s midterm election balloting.
A total of 13,738 county voters expressed their support of Zook, while only 7,119 voted for a change in the form of write-in candidate Marc Ensign.
That outcome can only be seen as a stunning rebuke to the members of the County Council, some of whom were openly supporting Ensign.
It remains to been seen, however, whether the newly-elected county executive can make peace with the council’s current and future members.
The council’s make-up will change significantly on Jan. 1, just in time for Zook to again be sworn into office.
During a previous radio interview on KVNU, Council Vice Chair Paul Borup said that the council’s members would be more comfortable with a county executive who was more in-sync with their vision of his role.
Whatever that means, the county executive will have to deal with a decidedly hostile council for the next two months.
Challenges during that interim period for Zook will include getting a 2023 county budget passed and surviving council attempts to chip away at his powers.
Effective Jan. 1, two of Zook’s most vocal critics on the council — Borup and Northeast representative Gina Worthen — will be replaced by candidates Sandi Goodlander and Mark Hurd, respectively.
Goodlander and Hurd were running unopposed in Tuesday’s balloting, securing those seats with counts of 1,777 and 4,167 votes respectively.
Also leaving the Southeast council seat will be Gordon A. Zilles. He will be replaced by Katherine Beus, who also ran unopposed Tuesday, garnering 4,144 votes.
Zilles had functioned during recent council meetings as something of a peacemaker.
The only member of the council remaining in 2023 who endorsed Ensign will be David Erickson.
Other elected officials of the county government running unopposed to retain their posts were Clerk/Auditor Jess Bradfield, who garnered 21,447 votes; Sheriff Chad Jensen with 22,060 votes; and County Attorney John Luthy, who collected 21,594 votes.
Luthy was recently appointed to the Utah Court of Appeals Bench, but remained on the ballot in Cache County.
On Nov. 1, county prosecutor Dane Murray was appointed by the county council to the post of Interim County Attorney until the next election in 2024.