Coin toss decides Salt Lake City Council appointment for Jennifer Napier-Pearce
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Jennifer Napier-Pearce takes oath of office. Photo: Kim Bojórquez/Axios
Jennifer Napier-Pearce, the former executive editor of the Salt Lake Tribune, was appointed to the Salt Lake City Council Tuesday to represent downtown.
- And it all came down to a coin toss.
State of play: Council members gathered at City Hall to select a new District 4 representative, but deadlocked between two finalists: Napier-Pearce and Tea Zaanti owner Scott Lyttle.
- To break the tie, a coin was flipped, with Napier-Pearce assigned heads and Lyttle, tails.
- It landed on heads.
Catch up quick: The vacancy is the result of a residency probe released last month that found Salt Lake City Council Member Eva López Chávez did not live in the district she was elected to represent in 2023.
- State and city code require municipal officeholders to live in the district they represent, so the city recorder declared the seat vacant.
How it works: That triggered a 30-day deadline for the remaining council members to make an appointment.
- An open application process for the District 4 seat drew more than two dozen applicants to apply.
The big picture: This is the first time Napier-Pearce has sought public office after years of working in state government and public affairs.
- After resigning from the Tribune in 2020 over differences between her and then-publisher Paul Huntsman, she worked as a senior advisor and director of communications for Utah Gov. Spencer Cox.
- She's now the chief of staff for the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation.
- She's married to former Utah Supreme Court Justice John Pearce, who retired last December.
Between the lines: Other notable applicants included former District 4 Council Member Ana Valdemoros, former Downtown Community Council chair Tom Merrill and 2023 District 4 candidate Clayton Scrivner.
- Valdemoros, who represented the district between 2019-2024, withdrew her application a day before the vote.
What they're saying: After the coin toss, Napier-Pearce described the process to reporters as "wackadoodle" while holding up the old coin and said she was excited to work with the council.
- "District 4 residents deserve stability. They deserve somebody who has a voice. They haven't had a voice at the table for a little bit. I'm ready to get to work," she said.
- Napier-Pearce said that growth was the single biggest challenge impacting downtown residents.
What's next: Napier-Pearce will serve the remainder of the term, which runs through January 2028, and then seek election for a full term, she said.