A Republican from Sandy is hoping to leave his elected seat on the Salt Lake County Council to take over the office responsible for tracking and recording real-estate transactions and land ownership in the county.
Max Burdick, who was re-elected to his part-time position in 2016, will spend the next two weeks working to persuade nearly 800 members of the Salt Lake County Republican Party’s central committee to choose him over six others who have expressed interest in the full-time post overseeing the recorder’s office.
TIMELINE<br>July 10 • Julie Dole files candidate paperwork<br>July 21 • Gary Ott family strikes deal with county for recorder to resign<br>July 25 • Adam Gardiner files candidacy papers<br>Aug. 1 • Ott’s resignation takes effect<br>Aug. 4 • Max Burdick files candidate papers<br>
The brief campaign follows the resignation of longtime Recorder Gary Ott, whose family negotiated his removal from office after his years of public struggle with an undisclosed medical condition that has affected his mental capacity and amid ongoing investigations into the office.
“I would like to [run] because my life has just led me here,” Burdick said at a Friday news conference where he signed party paperwork to launch his campaign.
Burdick called himself a ”nerdy” person who grew fascinated with the ins and outs of the office as he worked in real estate. He said he decided to run after Ott left office.
The office is now under the control of Julie Dole, the former chief deputy recorder who said she’s been running the operation in recent years and is also hoping to become the interim recorder.
Dole, a longtime county Republican Party insider, filed paperwork to organize a committee to run for the office on July 10 — 11 days before Ott’s family and independent attorney reached an agreement with the county to end his time in office, documents from the county clerk’s office show.
In Ott’s absence — his last day was July 31 — Dole has taken full control of the office as acting recorder. She was previously chief deputy and next in line for the position. She has appointed her own deputy for the two weeks before party insiders will choose an interim recorder who will run the office until someone is elected in the November 2018 election.
Ott is in a medical facility and has suffered from what court documents described as a permanent mental incapacity.
State Rep. Adam Gardiner, R-West Jordan, also filed paperwork that’s required before recorder hopefuls raise $250 or more in their campaigns. Gardiner filed his paperwork July 25.
Gardiner said if selected during the party’s Aug. 17 convention, he’ll resign from the Legislature.
“Because management has been in shambles these last four years, I believe I owe it to the taxpayers to work overtime in solving problems that continue to plague the office,” he said in a Friday email to The Tribune.
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