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New Salt Lake County Mayor Reorganizes Public Works Department

Terry Gildea

Salt Lake County Mayor-Elect Ben McAdams is already implementing changes to the government structure. Thursday he announced he will reorganize the Department of Public Works and appoint two people to oversee it. It’s now called the Department of Public Works and Regional Development. McAdams has named Taylorsville Mayor Russ Wall as the department’s director and Patrick Leary will fill a new position to called Township Executive. McAdams says the two men will help meet the diverse needs of county residents.

“What I’m hoping to do is that we can find efficiencies, clarify the roles of these essentially two governments that we have operating in the Department of Public Works, on being a city government providing services for residents of unincorporated county and one being a regional government operating and serving the people of Salt Lake County,” said McAdams.

Leary, the department’s current director, will turn his attention to the needs of unincorporated Salt Lake County in his new position. Russ Wall plans resign as mayor of Taylorsville next month, pending approval of his position.

“I’ve served as mayor of the city of Taylorsville for the past seven years and as a city council member for four years prior to that. It has been an honor and privilege to get to know the residents better and serve my community,” said Wall.

The County Council will have to ratify the reorganization. McAdams plans to pay for the change with existing revenues in the current budget.

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