Jan. 2023 | Vol. 33 Iss. 01
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MAYOR PALMER REFLECTS ON FIRST YEAR IN OFFICE By Justin Adams | justin.a@thecityjournals.com
O
ne year ago, when Lorin Palmer was getting ready to take on the office of Herriman mayor, it was easy to see the challenges in front of him. COVID-19 had much more of an impact on our lives than it does today. The County Council had just approved the development of Olympia Hills against the wishes of most local residents and elected leaders. And, Palmer would be replacing a mayor who had drawn scandal to city hall multiple times, so much so that at one point the rest of the city council had called on him to resign. Palmer burst onto the scene as the lead organizer of the ‘Herriman for Responsible Growth’ group, which campaigned against the Olympia Hills development, though that wasn’t necessarily his top issue upon entering office. On his campaign website, Palmer listed “unity through community” and “improving quality of life for residents” as the first two points of his campaign platform, followed by his position on housing. That seems fitting for how Palmer’s first year in office has gone. While the issue of striking the right balance of housing types and densities certainly hasn’t gone away within the Herriman community, it hasn’t dominated online discussion in the community in the same way it has in previous years. Unity Through Community It’s not hard to see that creating community
connections is important to Palmer. “The job of mayor… It is what you put into it,” he told the Herriman Journal. “I could spend a minimum amount of time and still be fulfilling my responsibilities. I like to be involved with as much as possible. I want to be face-to-face with people.” Indeed, you can find Palmer at all the big onetime events of the year like Fort Herriman Town Days or the Herriman Howl, but you could also find him at the Herriman Food Truck Night on a weekly basis this summer, chatting with residents. Palmer also started a weekly tradition of meeting with residents over lunch. It started rather informal: an invitation to any residents who work from home to join the mayor for lunch at a select local restaurant. In the beginning, the weekly event drew a handful of attendees each week. But the event grew over the year, culminating in a lunch at Garage Grill in December that brought out 60 people and also doubled as a donation drive for the Utah Refugee Connection. Continued page 4 Mayor Lorin Palmer’s weekly ‘Work From Home Lunch Group’ is one of many ways that he has tried to create new ways for residents to connect both with each other and with city officials. (Photo from Mayor Palmer’s Facebook page)
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