CACHE COUNTY – The members of the Cache County Form of Government Study Committee are inviting all county residents to attend a series of meetings intended to gather public input into their study process.
The first of those meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 25 at the Hyrum City Hall.
The public is invited to attend to learn about the four options available for the county’s form of government, explained committee chair Jack Draxler during a Sept. 18 interview on the “For the People” show on KVNU.
Those options include the current council-executive system; a part-time county council with an appointed county manager; a full-time, three-member commission elected at at-large; and a larger part-time county commission.
Local residents will be invited to speak and provide feedback on the pros and cons of those options to the members of the study committee, he added.
The Cache County Council informally decided to organize a study committee to consider changes to the county’s form of government at their regular meeting on March 18.
The decision was influenced by discussions surrounding House Bill 356 (County Governance Amendments) passed by the 2025 general session of the Utah Legislature, which initially sought to restrict certain forms of county government.
The study group – composed of Draxler, Jordan Mathis from the Bear River Health Department and mayors Ed Buist from Mendon, Bryan Cox from Hyde Park and Blake Wright from River Heights – have been meeting on a twice-monthly schedule since June.
The committee members have reviewed materials from other Utah counties that have explored their government structures and met with local and state officials who have experience in different county set-ups to benefit from their experience.
The Sept. 25 meeting will be the first of three planned to solicit public input. All of those gatherings will be held on what might be considered “neutral territory” — in Hyrum for residents of the south end of Cache Valley, in Logan for central valley residents and Smithfield for those living in the north.
In addition to the Sept. 25 meeting in Hyrum, the study committee has scheduled a Thursday, Oct. 16 meeting for public input at Logan City Hall and a final public session on Thursday, Oct. 23 in Smithfield City Hall. All of those meetings are set to begin at 7 p.m.
The Hyrum City Hall is located at 60 West Main Street in Hyrum. The Logan City Hall is located at 290 North, 100 East in Logan. The Smithfield City Hall is located at 96 South Main Street in Smithfield.
For additional information about the Cache County Form of Government Study Committee, residents can review the committee’s progress at https://www.cachecounty.gov/study-committee/.
The committee’s report to the Cache County Council is expected by the end of December 2025.