City council candidate Amy Z. Anderson insists that incumbent members of the municipal panels are fully supportive of health debate.
LOGAN – Despite recent news about political endorsements in the race for city council seats in Logan, candidate Amy Z. Anderson says she is not seeking that kind of support in the upcoming municipal election.
“We each choose how we campaign,” the incumbent city council member explains. “I have chosen not to solicit endorsements from others, but to focus on who I am and what I have achieved.”
Among several of those personal achievements mentioned during a recent candidate forum sponsored by KVNU radio, Anderson cited ongoing collaboration with Logan Police Chief Gary Jensen to improve levels of trust between some members of the Logan community and law enforcement starting in the wake of the tragic death of George Floyd in the summer of 2020.
Logan Mayor Holly Daines endorsed Anderson and fellow incumbent council member Ernesto López in a Facebook post dated Oct. 4 and simultaneously invited city residents to a meet and greet event at her home in the Cliffside neighborhood.
But Anderson insists that unsolicited endorsement does not confirm to city council challenger Keegan Garrity’s charges that the Logan City Council is not a marketplace for independent ideas or healthy debate.
“Over the past four years,” she emphasizes, “there have been many challenges and issues before Logan’s city council.
“Differing opinions voiced during our meetings from both the public and members of the council are heard. Focusing on an agreed upon decision – and the fact that final decisions are reached via compromise and discussion – is healthy debate. And it is not uncommon.”
During a recent debate over a proposed city ordinance licensing Accessory Dwelling Unit in Logan, for example, Anderson says that city council members started with different viewpoints, listened to community input and eventually arrived at a decision that was well supported.
“We went from multiple maps (of areas in which ADU’s would be allowed),” she explained, “to some supported by one member and some by others. Then we received e-mails and calls from citizens, heard public comments and arrived at a decision that was not originally on the table.”
Refuting other claims by Garrity, Anderson says that the members of the city council don’t share unanimous opinions and don’t reside in similar neighborhoods.
“Each of us brings our own unique background,” she adds, “and each of us has proven an ability to connect with our community…
“(The members of the current council) include two women; a small business owner; an architect; a non-profit employee; a retiree; a Hispanic member; a Utah State University employee; a lifelong Logan resident; long-term transplants to the city; a renter; some homeowners; and members representing a diversity of faiths.”
Anderson was elected to the city council in 2017, emerging successfully from a crowded field of 10 candidates.
López joined the Logan City Council in October 2020, after being selected to serve out the unexpired term of former council member Jess Bradfield.
Garrity is a community activist whose public service experience includes co-chairing the Woodruff council and representing that neighborhood on the city’s ad hoc Voter District Subcommittee.
Those three candidates will compete for two at-large seats on the Logan City Council in the upcoming municipal election in November