To the contrary, the Cottonwood Heights Republican is calling for less Salt Lake County control over the valley's six unincorporated suburbs as he seeks the District 6 council seat that GOP Councilman Marv Hendrickson is vacating this year.

Warnick wants wall-to-wall cities - a move he said would improve services and give locals greater control over their own communities.

"People should be making decisions about their own neighborhoods," he said. "There is no way that [county government] can represent a large, splintered geographic area as effectively as if the people in those areas were handling it themselves."

Warnick enters the race with a long political history - as a one-term Utah legislator in the late 1960s, as a former American Fork City Council member, as an ex-Utah County commissioner and as part of the Cottonwood Heights incorporation committee.

"I've always had politics in my blood," he said. "I enjoy the process. I enjoy the decision-making."

Warnick will wrangle with fellow Republican Max Burdick and Democrat Roger Harding for the southeastern County Council seat. His district stretches through parts of Sandy, Cottonwood Heights and Midvale.

Warnick has raised few campaign issues - "I don't have an ax to grind," he said - only that the county doesn't belong in the municipal-services business. Those basic government functions (such as snow plowing, garbage collection and road repair) are best provided by cities.

With Hendrickson stepping down from the council, Warnick brands himself as an experienced replacement.

"You need heads on the county," he said, "who have been there, done that."

jstettler@sltrib.com

Robert Warnick

* Age: 70.

* Party: Republican.

* Family: Wife, Carol; children, Gina, Troy, Daren, Anthony.

* Occupation: Political science instructor, public information officer, retired real estate broker.

* Education: Bachelor's degree in political science and master's degree in public administration from the University of Utah.