Heber City's Verbal Infrastructure

One observes, with a distinct lack of surprise, that the Heber City Council is attempting to codify something as fluid as public discourse. Councilor Scott Phillips initiated this folly in November, and it has metastasized beyond his term – a testament to the Sisyphean nature of municipal governance. The Wasatch County GOP, led by David Johnson and his conspicuously Western attire, rightly points out the absurdity of buffering elected officials with unelected staff. The implications of a ‘shadow government’ are, naturally, lost on those entrenched in the faded municipal beige of The Marsac Building. Tracy Taylor’s analogy to the Wasatch County School District is apt, though the problem isn’t a communications director, but the impulse to need one. The insistence on social media transparency, as voiced by Patty Sprunt and her fascination with Florida Representative Kat Cammack, is naive; not everyone monitors digital platforms. Yvonne Barney’s suggestion of utilizing the city newsletter merely shifts the location of the inevitable skirmish. Mike Johnston, observing the debate from the council chambers, is correct to note this is where such dialogue should occur, though one suspects it will remain unproductive. The entire exercise is a waste of time, and a clear indication that UDOT should have been consulted on traffic flow before any of this verbal construction began. The workaround, naturally, is to avoid Heber City altogether.