Meet the candidate: Alan Wessman for Utah County Commissioner

As Election Day draws near, KSL NewsRadio is interviewing candidates to get their stance on today’s issues. Keep an eye on our election coverage as we continue speaking to the 2024 General Election candidates.

SALT LAKE CITY — Transportation, children’s justice and a possible change to the makeup of the Utah County Commission. These are all issues discussed by Alan Wessman, who is running to fill a seat on the Utah County Commission.

According to Ballotpedia, Wessman ran for the Utah House of Representatives in District 64 in 2022. He lost in the general election.

He spoke with KSL at Night hosts Maura Carabello and Adam Gardiner on Sept. 16, 2024.

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This interview has been modified for brevity and clarity.

HOST MAURA CARABELLO:  Utah County is exploding, and has been for decades. It has a major university and several other colleges. It has a young age which makes it appealing, and [also] generations of people. You have natural resources, and South Valley is going nuts.

Please introduce yourself to our listeners.

Alan Wessman and the United Utah Party

ALAN WESSMAN: My name is Alan Wessman, and I am running for the [Utah] County Commission seat with the United Utah party. I’m running with United Utah because I want to be independent of a lot of the silly kind of partisan battles that tend to just distract and waste time in government.

I have been a Utah County resident for 30 years and am a software engineer.

I love thinking about big problems, big systems, different factors and influences.

So when we’re dealing with something like Utah County —which has more than doubled its population since 2000 we’ve got over 700,000 residents— I think it’s really important to have somebody in the Utah County Commission who can both work with people and isn’t partisan minded.

[Someone who] can look at these kinds of big issues that we’ve got, transportation, housing, natural resources, air quality, water consumption, all these different things, and think about them in a balancing, rational, data-centric way.

A change to Utah County government?

HOST ADAM GARDINER: Do you like the county commission form of government, or do you want to see a change?

WESSMAN: I like the county commission form of government for small counties. But for Utah County, over 700,000 people? Having three commissioners trying to do the job and represent the entire county, I think it’s just undersized.

I  feel like our county government structure is not well fitted to the current population and growth of Utah County, and I think that we need to change to a council, executive form of government.

CARABELLO: If you win this seat, how long do you want to be there? How long does it take to make an impact? We were just talking about a major issue, changing the form of government.

WESSMAN: If I’m advocating for a change in the form of county government, then essentially, I’m running to put myself out of a job and I don’t mind that.

I think that it would be a beneficial change. My own place in that isn’t as important as the effects it would have on the people. 

Transportation, children’s justice

GARDINER:  What are some other issues that you care about, that deal with county government?

WESSMAN: I would advocate for better transit options, other ways of getting around … alternatives so that people don’t feel like they have to bring their cars onto the roads and clog them up with everyone else.

I [served on a] a jury at the beginning of the year. It was a difficult case involving a child sex abuse, and that experience opened my eyes to the issue of children’s justice.

The county does have involvement with the Children’s Justice Center, and extending that not only to children’s justice, but also mental health needs and other services the county provides, either through the health department or through other related organizations to make sure that people who are in crisis, people who need help, are getting some resources, some support from the county government.

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Listen to the entire interview below:

 

Related: Meet the candidate: Skyler Beltran for Utah County Commissioner

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