Incumbent Cache County Executive David Zook talks to KVNU For the People host Jason Williams on 10-13-2022.
LOGAN — Cache County Executive David Zook returned to KVNU’s For the People program on Thursday as a candidate. His name will be on the ballot, and those start going out this coming week.
Zook was elected during a special election in early 2021, which was made necessary by then-county executive Craig Buttars leaving office to become the Utah Commissioner of Agriculture and Food.
But Zook said he was originally aiming for the executive office this year.
“I was actually planning to run for this office at this election, during this election right now. I was planning to do this. I was already getting things in place. I was talking to some friends about it, I had actually been thinking about it for many years. I really wanted to serve and to help at the county level, at a community-wide level,” he explained.
Zook said he likes to affect change, if there are things in the community that are not the best they can be, they should be fixed.
“Let’s jump in, let’s tackle it, let’s figure out a better way,” Zook said. “I love bringing creative people to the table, and I freely admit, I don’t have all the answers. But I know we have people in our community who do.
“If we bring the right people to the table, if we collaborate, there’s no challenge that we cannot conquer. So, I love that part, it’s the challenge of knowing that – hey we have this problem in our community and how are we going to fix it, how can we address this problem?”
He said he learned a few lessons when he was Nibley City Manager and the water system got contaminated. He said they knew the importance of instant communication as they urgently needed to reach Nibley residents about the problem.
Zook said they strived to be as open and transparent as possible and make sure that whenever the city knew something, its residents would know at the same time.
He said the crisis really highlighted the goodness of the people in the county, who he would like to continue to serve.
Zook is being challenged by write-in candidate Marc Ensign, who was a guest on For the People last month.