Blake ApgarSalt Lake City Council member Darin Mano plans to step away from his elected office, but he’s leaving the door to another term open.
Mano announced Friday on the “City Cast Salt Lake” podcast that he won’t seek a second full term next year — with one caveat.
“I will only run for reelection again,” Mano said, “if there’s not a great candidate to step up and replace me and represent District 5 well.”
The District 5 council member, who represents the Ballpark and Liberty Wells neighborhoods, told the podcast he believes in term limits and that there shouldn’t be career politicians in office.
“That’s just a value of mine,” he said, “and I don’t want to sit and hold onto power for a long time just because I have it.”
Mano, an architect by profession, said he joined the council to work on zoning reform, affordable housing and urban design issues, and he believes the city has made progress in those areas.
Stepping away from his council post, he said, will give him more time to work with his firm and potentially tap city resources to develop more affordable housing.
Mano was appointed to his seat in 2020 after former council member Erin Mendenhall was elected mayor. He was elected to his first full term in 2021 and will serve through 2025.
Blake joined The Tribune in March 2022 to cover city and county government before becoming an editor in 2024. He is a University of Minnesota graduate who started his journalism career in Las Vegas, where he covered local government, state politics and the depletion of the Colorado River. He is dad to a Golden Retriever named Woodward.