CACHE COUNTY – The members of the Cache County Council have decided to appoint a study committee to investigate options and make recommendations regarding a possible change to the county’s form of government.
Council chair Sandi Goodlander proposed the study committee as a proactive step following considerable debate over House Bill 356 (County Governance Amendments) during the recently completed 2025 general session of the Utah Legislature.
As originally drafted, H.B. 356 would have disallowed any third-class county in Utah from employing a council/executive form of government. That prohibition was missing from the final version of that bill signed by Gov. Spencer Cox on March 19, but the proposed legislation planted a seed in the minds of county council members that led to discussions during previous meetings in late February and early March.
At their meeting on March 25, the council’s informal decision to create the study committee was by no means unanimous. Council members Keegan Garrity and Mark Hurd both reported that, as far as they could tell, there was “no groundswell” among county residents for a new form of government.
“I think this is a solution in search of a problem,” Garrity remarked, stressing that he believes that the county council could better invest its time on other issues.
But council member Nolan Gunnell countered that ideally the members of a citizens’ committee would have ample time to study the issue thoroughly, time that council members don’t have.
After flatly stating that he had no intention of seeking reelection after the end of his current term, County Executive Daid Zook confided that one of his biggest challenges in his elected role was that nobody in Cache County or out of it had any idea what a county executive was supposed to do.
If the council members decided to appoint a study committee, Zook suggested that its members be both unbiased and educated.
Goodlander observed that Cache County adopted the council/executive form of government about 40 years ago and an unbiased review of the situation couldn’t possibly hurt.
With their minds previously made up, council members Barbara Tidwell, Kathryn Beus and David Erickson joined Gunnell and Goodlander in supporting the study committee idea.
As explained by Goodlander, the study committee would consist of five members, two appointed by the County Council and three appointed by the members of the Cache County Council of Governments (CCCOG).
To ensure their objectivity, Goodlander promised that no members of the county council would be appointed to the study group.
Their inquiry would be guided by state code, based on information gathered from other counties, local council members and open hearings to gauge public opinion.
Goodlander also explained that the members of the study committee would be empowered to weigh the feasibility of the current council/executive form of government; a council/manager form of government; a three-member county commission; and an expanded county commission.
The timetable for the study would ensure that the committee’s report to the county council would be delivered by the end of December this year. If council members approve that recommendation, the proposed new form of government would be added to the November 2026 ballot for local voters to accept or reject.
If approved by voters, the county’s Organic Act would be amended to reflect that change. If voters rejected that change, the county’s government would revert to its status quo of a council/executive format.