Meet the candidate: Steve Van Wagoner, Weber County Commission Seat C

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

SALT LAKE CITY — Steve Van Wagoner is a Democrat running for seat C on the Weber County Commission.

Van Wagoner is a Utah native and according to his webpage, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps when he was 17. He later worked as an electrician and entrepreneur. 

Van Wagoner spoke with KSL At Night hosts Maura Carabello and Taylor Morgan on Oct. 28, 2024.  A partial transcript and the full podcast are provided below.

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KSL NewsRadio has modified this interview transcript for brevity and clarity.

HOST TAYLOR MORGAN: First, where exactly is seat C? So those voters in Weber County who are listening know if you’re on their ballot or not.

GUEST STEVE VAN WAGONER: That is a great question. We have three county commissioners in Weber County, and they all serve at the pleasure of at large. One seat, county-wide, covers 15 cities, seven towns from the Ogden Valley out to the Great Salt Lake, from Willard Bay down to Uintah.

HOST MAURA CARABELLO: Steve, tell us what county government does because I think … people often don’t know the services the county provides.

VAN WAGONER: A county commission in Weber County… combines the administrative and the legislative. In Weber County, we have three county commissioners. On one hand, we are making policy — the planning approvals, the land approvals, and setting the budget.

[On the other] hand, we’re spending that budget, implementing, making sure that we’re managing the over 1,400 employees that work for Weber County. 

CARABELLO: Is this your first election?

VAN WAGONER: This is my second election. I just came off a loss in 2023, [I] ran for Ogden City Council District Four.

MORGAN: Steve, tell us a little bit about your background.

Steve Van Wagoner on Weber County growth

VAN WAGONER: I grew up a farm boy here in Weber County. As a farm boy, you learn one thing, and that is that although the job may finish, the work never ends…

[I served] my country in the United States Marines. I started a business as an electrical contractor. That business grew, [then] I started another business out of Austria. That business opportunity led to another thing, and met a beautiful lady 24 years ago and here we are, 24 years later with two beautiful daughters.

I moved back to Utah for one reason — to give my daughters the opportunity that I know is here in Utah.

CARABELLO: What’s your approach to growth in the next decade for Weber County?

VAN WAGONER: The counties and the municipalities [must] get out of the business of playing financier and developer with your tax dollars and your tax base. There are priorities of every municipality. We need to fulfill those first.

[Water] is a big one. It impacts our life, our our agriculture, our Great Salt Lake. So we’ve got to take a measured approach. We need to really take a realistic look at our water, our water shares, our water rights, and how that’s being allocated.

MORGAN: What are you hearing from voters as you’re out campaigning?

VAN WAGONER: We don’t have representation that is listening… So, meeting our people on their turf, wherever that turf might be.

Listen to the full interview from KSL at Night below.

Related reading:

• Meet the candidate: Rep. Blake Moore running for re-election in Utah’s 1st Congressional District
• Ground broken for nearly 300 new starter homes in Weber County

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