Students from Sandy City Youth Council traveled to the state capital and the Salt Palace to meet with local officials and present a mock proposal at a mock committee meeting on Local Officials Day, Jan. 22. 

Alongside local officials, city youth councils from across the state attended the annual event hosted by the Utah League of Cities and Towns staff. SYC was one of six mock proposals chosen to present at the statewide
conference.

SYC advisor Christine Edwards said it’s the best event of the year for youth city councils to connect and officials, as well as experience what it would be like to present to a council.

Statewide youth city councils in attendance were from Sandy, Park City, Spanish Fork, St. George, Lindon City, Draper, West Jordan and more, for a total of at least 48 youth councils. Each group submitted a mock proposal to prepare the state for the upcoming Olympics in 2034.

The topic of choice from the SYC was a real-life controversy that’s been a hot topic for a while in the state—the intended gondola in Little Cottonwood Canyon.

A total of four presenters split into teams of two presented on two different occasions throughout the day. Youth council members Kolin Rasmussen and Annie Allred presented on the first mock committee and the second team, Will Buckley and Sarah Baird, presented in a different room afterward.

With the Olympics coming up, the council proposed a mock policy to reallocate funds for the gondola project “to improve and expand public transportation and infrastructure that connect residents and visitors to Olympic venues.”

Focusing on smaller projects such as implementing better public transportation up the canyon rather than the larger gondola project anticipated to cost more than $1 billion, the mock policy proposal aimed to reduce tax dollars during the 10 years preceding
the Olympics.

The proposal stated that the committee was not saying no to the gondola project but postponing it until after the 2034 Olympics. 

“We’re not saying no gondola, we’re saying no gondola right now,” one committee member said.

Students got the chance to act as committee members on two different teams who presented the proposal to a larger committee of volunteers from other youth city councils.

“They knocked it out of the park,” said Alison Stroud, attendee and Sandy City Councilmember, at the Jan. 28 council meeting following the conference.

Other projects were proposed by the mock policy with the reallocated funding including improvement to I-80 between Salt Lake City and Park City, development of a shuttle and busing system to incentivize public transport, construction of more TRAX stops and the development of commuter/local-only lanes on major roadways to rescue congestion for residents.

“These proposed infrastructure improvements will not only help Utah prepare for the Olympics but will also address the proactive changes necessary to accommodate the state’s rapidly growing population,” read the proposal.

In both mock committee meetings, the committee voted to pass the policy presented by the SYC.

All other topics ranged from giving away Olympics tickets for children and renovating unused buildings in the state to prep for
the event.λ