After a split vote and a coin toss, Jennifer Napier-Pearce is Salt Lake City’s newest councilor. The Salt Lake City Council appointed her to fill the District 4 position, a vacancy left by Eva Lopez Chavez. She was removed from her seat on May 12 after an investigation found that she was not living in the district she represented.
Napier-Pearce emerged from a stacked field of 27 total applicants. Seven of the original applicants withdrew, leaving 20 candidates in the running. After two rounds of voting at the June 9 meeting, Napier-Pearce was tied with local business owner Scott Lyttle in the final council vote. A coin toss performed by the city recorder favored Napier-Pearce.
“I just got lucky,” she said after the coin toss. “And I'm going to remember that as I talk to people, as I collaborate and really find solutions to some really difficult problems.”
She is currently the chief of staff for the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation and previously served as communications director and advisor to Gov. Spencer Cox. Prior to her career in public service, she worked in journalism and politics, holding positions at the Salt Lake Tribune, the University of Utah’s Hinckley Institute of Politics, KUER and KCPW.
“I'm proud to say that Salt Lake City has been my home for the past 25 years, 15 of those in District Fourm” she told the council. “I now work on Main Street downtown. We've raised our kids in the city, proud graduates of West High School, and every day I walk my dog through the neighborhood and city parks.”
Speaking to reporters following the coin flip, she leaned on her past experience as something that would serve her well in her new role.
“As a reporter for 20 whatever years, you know, I learned how to research,” she said. “I've learned to connect with people, and I promise to just do my best. I'm not going to know everything out of the gate, but I am going to do my very best.”
With the capital city undergoing big changes by way of new pro sports teams, explosive growth and its place as the main economic driver of the state, she singled out areas she would be focused on to ensure that “we can't just have a city that's for the affluent.”
“I think it's incredible pressures right now,” she said. “We do have a lot of housing going on, there's a lot of change. I think that people want to know how this is going to shape their community as we grow. We’ve got to take care of our parks, we’ve got to make sure it's a walkable city, we need to make sure it's safe. And so that's really what compelled me to get in this race.”
She will serve District 4, which encompasses the downtown and East Central parts of the city.
According to Utah law, a municipal office becomes automatically vacant if the person elected to that office “establishes a principal place of residence outside the district that the elected officer represents.”
Lopez Chavez’s removal immediately kicked off the appointment process, which is required to be completed no later than 30 days after the vacancy.
Councilors heard five minute presentations from each of the applicants — the order was chosen at random — and they did not ask any questions before or after each presentation.
Council Chair Alejandro Puy called the appointment one of the “most challenging decisions I've made on the council in a long time.”
“Because there is almost no way to look good in this decision, because it's picking between amazing candidates and talent and passion,” he said.
He encouraged all of the applicants to stay involved in city affairs.
The probe that ousted Lopez Chavez was not related to another investigation into allegations of unwanted physical advances by four people before she was elected in 2023. She denies any wrongdoing in that case, and no criminal charges have been filed.
Napier-Pearce will serve the remainder of Lopez Chavez’s term, which ends in 2028. If she wants to remain in the seat past that, she will need to run in next year’s municipal elections, which she said she intends to do.
“Now the hard work begins,” she said. “I have to gain the trust of my fellow District 4 residents.”
Her work on the council began immediately, as she was sworn into office ahead of a formal council meeting. Salt Lake City’s annual budget process is currently underway and the city must pass a municipal budget before the next fiscal year, which starts July 1.
KUER news director Elaine Clark contributed to this report.
