CACHE COUNTY – After months of playing “Will he? Or won’t he?” with members of the Cache County Council, the county’s on-again, off-again Clerk/Auditor Jess Bradfield has finally and officially resigned.
In his letter of resignation effective June 4, Bradfield named his chief deputy Bryson Behm as his temporary replacement as clerk/auditor until such time as newly-elected County GOP chair Geoff Cox can call a local special election.
In that letter to members of the county council, Bradfield also claimed credit during his term of office for constructing a nationally recognized ballot-processing center; formalizing county audit processes; making county audits public; modernizing clerk processes; meeting state ballot-tracking requirements; establishing a dedicated tax relief office; and other accomplishments that he shared with members of the clerk/auditor’s office staff.
Bradfield also thanked current council members for their cooperation and — without naming names — took a swipe at former council members Paul Borup and Gina Worthen, who had proved to be thorns in his side during his term in office.
“When government waste is calculated,” Bradfield wrote, “unnecessary in-fighting should be factored into the equation.
“I encourage the council to never use its budgetary/investigatory powers and/or public pulpit to needlessly target, punitively punish, publicly humiliate or otherwise cause undue harm to other elected offices or officials.”
Bradfield had a contentious relationship with members of the county council since assuming office in September of 2020 following a special election by members of the Cache County Republican central committee.
During that polling, Bradfield had promised his GOP colleagues to modernize the functions of the clerk’s office.
Those efforts were initially resisted by some members of former County Clerk/Auditor Jill Zollinger’s staff, which resulted in a mass exodus of the office’s previous employees.
Since then, Bradfield has moved many functions of the clerk/auditor’s office online, including the issuance of marriage, business and dog licenses; annexation requests; GRAMA requests; claims notices; and tax administration.
Bradfield has also made innovations and equipment purchases that have streamlined the processing of ballots during federal, county and municipal mail-in elections.
During that same period, however, he was publicly denied pay raises by the members of County Council, along with selected other county officials.
Running unopposed, Bradfield was re-elected by county voters during the general election of 2022.
Shortly thereafter, he announced that he intended to revert to part-time county employment. When that decision came under fire from some members of the county council, Bradfield then proposed that he would resign effective Mar. 13, 2023.
That date was later extended indefinitely to complete projects he had started in the clerk/auditor’s office.
In his letter of resignation, Bradfield also praised County Executive David Zook for his demonstrated leadership.
“The county executive was meant to have a meaningful and impactful role in our community,” he wrote. “With this goal in mind, the electorate made the right decision when selecting our current county executive.”
A permanent replacement for the clerk/auditor’s role will be selected by members of the Cache Republicans in a special election likely to be called with 45 days.