Utah County Commissioner Tom Sakievich has been battling a brain tumor since the end of 2023. As a result, he’s been absent from his job. His fellow commissioners have been filling in for him, but now they’ve asked him to resign so he can focus on his health. Sakievich told them in an email he has no plans to do so.
Sakievich did not respond to KUER’s request for an interview. He has publicly said he doesn’t plan to run for reelection when his term is up at the end of the year.
Commissioner Amelia Powers-Gardner said she heard Sakievich was ill at the start of December, but didn’t know how serious it was.
“We were led to believe that he was at home,” she said, others “had been told that he had COVID. When really, the entire time he was in the hospital with a brain tumor.”
Sakievich clarified his condition on Jan. 3, when he posted a statement on his Facebook page. Around this time told the other two commissioners he planned to return to work on March 11 after undergoing radiation treatment. When Sakievich didn’t return, Commissioner Brandon Gordon sent an email on March 12 requesting a meeting to plan out next steps.
“We have received multiple complaints and negative comments about Commissioner Sakievich's lack of engagement with his portfolio departments, appointed boards, and other essential responsibilities,” it read.
“While we wish Commissioner Sakievich well and hope for the best with his prognosis, his prolonged absence from his commission office has left significant duties unfulfilled, despite our additional efforts. It’s imperative that we address this promptly to ensure the effective and efficient administration of our County operations.”
In an interview with KUER, Gordon said Sakievich attended three meetings remotely on March 13 following his email. Sakievich’s aide later informed Gordon that this had been too much for him.
“There’s so many other meetings that lead up to that, and I worry if that puts too much stress on him… this really should be about him focusing on his health, not him trying to do his remaining nine months.”
Sakievich has also attended multiple meetings throughout his illness but “the commission meetings are really a small fraction of what we do,” said Powers-Gardner.
She and Gordon said they are able to fill in for Sakievich in many ways, but not every way.
For example, a required ordinance change required signatures from all three commissioners. Powers-Gardner said that “none of us have seen Commissioner Sakievich since January. We need his signature to record this document. We're currently in violation of state law because this ordinance was due Feb. 1.”
According to Utah County Attorney Jeffery Gray, there is no process for removing or temporarily replacing a county commissioner without a resignation.
“They're making law, and people have elected them based on their policy.”
New laws from the Legislature could help with this problem by requiring transparency when it comes to medical conditions for public officials, Gray said. But in the absence of state action, there aren’t clear procedures for officials who need to be out of office for long periods of time.
In the meantime, Powers-Gardner wants Sakievich to focus on his health.
If he isn’t healthy enough to do his job, she stresses that “we still have to run the government. We still have roughly 750,000 constituents whose government needs to continue to work for them, and that work is suffering.”
