LOGAN – Before a packed crowd of friends and well-wishers, new members of the Logan Municipal Council were sworn into office during that panel’s first meeting of 2026 on Jan. 6.
Justice Court Judge Lee Edward individually administered the oath of office to Mayor Elect Mark A. Anderson, to incumbent council member Ernesto López and to newly elected and selected council members Katie Lee-Koven and Melissa Dahle.
Those newly elected/selected council members joined incumbent Council Chair Mike Johnson and member Jeannie Simmonds on the city panel.
During the questions and comments period that followed that ceremony, the usual critics of the council made their pro-forma statements.
Gail Hansen made an appearance at the guest podium to question whether city officials had planned sufficient safeguards for the First Dam Water Tank & Pipeline Project when that planned improvement crosses the geologic fault line at U.S. Highway 89. The new mayor promised that city staff would reply to that concern.
Perennial candidate Josh Molitor appeared, promising to deliver a series of three-minute lectures at upcoming meetings on ways that the council could earn the public’s trust by “… becoming more positive.”
Molitor addressed what he called a common misconception about elected officials.
“Many politicians believe that they are elected to do what’s in the best interest of the people,” he said. “That’s not the case. Elected officials are here to do what the people believe is in their best interest.”
Self-appointed “conscience of the council” Patrick Belmont also took his place at the podium to repeat his concerns about climate change and renewable energy sources.
A professor at Utah State University, Belmont emphasized his continuing opposition to the city’s decisions in 2025 to invest in two fossil fuel power plants over the next three decades.
“That’s now a long-term problem that we’ve created,” he added. “We have to be done with policy-making that just gets through the hard votes and moves on, never acknowledging the harm that’s been done.”
Also on the Jan. 6 agenda, Logan Police Chief Jeff Simmons appeared to recognize members of his department, city staff, USU employees and local residents who contributed significant efforts to the memorial services in late August for two Tremonton-Garland police officers killed in the line-of-duty.
Simmons said those efforts helped to make it possible to Logan and Utah State to host appropriately public funeral services for Sgt. Lee Sorensen and Officer Eric Estrada at the Dee Glen Spectrum on the USU campus.
The initial meeting’s agenda also included a public hearing on routine budget adjustments and consideration of workshop items relating to rezones, a right of way vacation and an electrical easement vacation.