Council chair Barbara Tidwell seeks cease-fire in Cache County feud

At their regular meeting on Nov. 22, members of the Cache County Council will continue deliberation on whether to amend the county's 1987 Organic Act.

CACHE COUNTY – During a workshop session on Sept. 13, members of the Cache County Council took a deep breath and frankly discussed their sometimes-combative relationship with County Executive David Zook.

With some of the council’s more belligerent members absent from the beginning of the meeting, cooler heads prevailed.

“I feel like we’re at a standstill right now,” council chair Barbara Tidwell said. “We aren’t moving forward. We’re just jumping up and down in one place and nothing is getting solved.”

While acknowledging that there are two branches of county government and each have their separate roles, council member Gordon Zilles admitted that the continuing feud with Zook is counter-productive.

“We’re walking around on eggshells,” he observed.

“We have to conduct county business …” Tidwell added. “We can’t keep going on like we are with no cooperation between the council and the executive.”

That burst of honest introspection came during a discussion of the council’s proposed plans to hire a policy analyst of their own.

The county already has a policy analyst working in the office of the county executive. She is Karina Brown, nearly the only Democrat holding any position in county government.

“I’m going to stick my foot in my mouth,” council member Nolan Gunnell warned after his late arrival at the workshop session. “But here goes …

“We have a policy analyst under the county executive,” Gunnell said. “We all ran under the Republican Party. That policy analyst ran (for lieutenant governor) under the Democratic Party, so I see the potential for conflict there

“I’m not throwing darts at a person … But doesn’t that breed differences of opinion in some areas? Am I off base here?”

Tidwell suggested that she sees the proposed policy analyst’s role as either a full- or part-time position that would work for the council and coordinate with the county executive and county attorney to affect policy change.

“The attorney’s office can help to craft language that meets your objectives,” agreed county attorney John Luthy. “But figuring out what your objectives are isn’t our role.

The attorney’s office can only help so much,” he added. “We need you or your policy analyst to figure out what you want.”

“If we had a person to do that for us,” Tidwell observed, “it would save all of us a lot of time and give us a better understanding of the issues we’re looking at.”

Tension between branches of government is healthy, but the level of discord between the executive and legislative branches of Cache County’s government has been toxic.

The feud began in January when the County Council voted to deny four elected officials pay raises, including Zook.

In April, heated debate over the council’s effort to hire a policy analyst led to an office altercation between Zook and council member Paul Borup.

Borup has also involved the council in a mysterious forensic audit in late July to find so-called “budget shenanigans,” presumably within the executive branch.

Most recently, council members Borup, Gina Worthen and David Erickson endorsed the write-in candidacy of local businessman Marc Ensign for county executive.

Zook had previously been running unopposed for re-election to that position.

Discussion of the proposed policy analyst position will continue at the council’s next meeting on Sept. 27.

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10 Comments

  • Art September 15, 2022 at 9:57 am Reply

    “We have a policy analyst under the county executive,” Gunnell said. “We all ran under the Republican Party. That policy analyst ran (for lieutenant governor) under the Democratic Party, so I see the potential for conflict there … I’m not throwing darts at a person … But doesn’t that breed differences of opinion in some areas? Am I off base here?”

    Yes, you’re absolutely off base

  • Lisa Admundson September 15, 2022 at 10:42 am Reply

    Best solution for the council is to replace Gina Worthen and Paul Borup. I’m assuming that the article refers to them as the ‘belligerent’ parties. They are both immature and attention-seeking. Get rid of them.

    • Juli September 30, 2022 at 11:36 pm Reply

      I agree, Lisa. Those two are definitely belligerent. They are the ones, in the council, impeding progress! (Same old drama, to redirect everyone’s attention.)
      Zook is one of the better people to serve in this county, in a long time.
      He’s getting out in the public arena, and actually talking with constituents. He cares about his constituents and is NOT out for power or money.
      He is doing what’s right for the county and this valley. Zook has just passed legislation to protect our children and the future of Utah. That takes integrity and grit.
      The council, well, doesn’t like someone who, is working more effectively, than they have been. They probably see him as taking their “birthright”. (Or whatever they feel is “theirs”.)
      Old money=Old Power= VOTE OUT!
      The county council has been against progress and the executive, since day 1.

  • Elizabeth Chebli September 15, 2022 at 11:20 am Reply

    I think Nolan Gunnell’s comments were off base. The policy analyst job is not an elected position, so the political party of the one who holds it is wholly irrelevant. Suggesting to discriminate hiring based on political party is not only un-American, but illegal as well.

  • Sheb September 15, 2022 at 1:38 pm Reply

    Ensign is fair and honest and would serve the county more effectively than power-grabbing Zook. It seems to me that the current conflicts all started with Zook’s appointment.

  • Ttunac September 15, 2022 at 1:46 pm Reply

    “The Ogden-Clearfield metro area in Utah is the most “overvalued” market in the state, according to Moody’s, estimating the area is overvalued by over 50%.
    Logan comes next, estimated to be overvalued by almost 44%.
    Salt Lake City is estimated to be overvalued by over 28%.”

    These stats are according to Moodys. Zook and Bradfield knew they were assessing taxes on artificially inflated property taxes. They knew the median income in CC doesn’t come close to affording the inflated median house in CC. Through a pandemic, all time record fuel prices and record inflation of food prices, county officials increased financial pressure on Cache County citizens. Predatory taxing at its worst.

  • JO September 15, 2022 at 1:51 pm Reply

    So we have a group of elected individuals who, by their own admission, cannot even define policy objectives? A group who admits to not “being at standstill”.
    This is the epitomy of dysfuntional government.

    What is telling to me, is the fact that this started with introspection, then ended with more finger pointing at an employee over their political party. Give me a break!

    I think we should vote these people out of the office. They are obviously not doing their job! If ever there was a situation to avoid partisan politics this is it.
    Give the job to democrats and then ask them to be responsive to the citizens of the county.

    • David Pella September 15, 2022 at 7:28 pm Reply

      Sorry it took me about 20 minutes to stop laughing before I could reply to your comment. Give the job to Democrats? That’s the funniest thing I’ve read in years.

      • Cody September 16, 2022 at 7:10 am Reply

        I’m laughing at the hypocrisy of “avoid partisan politics” by “putting in democrats.”

  • Onlythetruthplease September 15, 2022 at 2:05 pm Reply

    When your Executive withholds financial information from the Council, saying that he will only release it on “his terms”, when he lies repeatedly directly to their faces, when he makes large financial commitments without the Council’s approval, when a police investigation shows that His claims of physical confrontation by a Council member were completely fabricated, I guess that makes those who speak-up “belligerent”.

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