After a Salt Lake County child care employee condemned the County Council’s decision to eliminate four day care facilities, one council member told a department head that she wanted the worker and a colleague who stood beside her to be punished for the remarks.
“I hope they have some sort of disciplinary action,” Republican council member Aimee Winder Newton wrote in text messages obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune. “So inappropriate.”
The text exchange with Parks and Recreation division director Chris Otto, who oversees the day care programs, followed a Nov. 4 meeting in which frustrations flared in response to the council’s decision to shutter child care centers — in Magna, Kearns, Millcreek and Salt Lake City — that serve more than 250 families.
Council Republicans have argued that it’s unfair to make all taxpayers subsidize child care for relatively few families. On Tuesday, the council finalized its plan to close the centers by the end of May.
During the November meeting, security escorted one parent out, and the council had to take a break after the public comment period to let emotions simmer before moving on to its regular agenda.
Two attendees identified themselves as employees of the Northwest Community Center in Utah’s capital. One of them, Leslie Patino, said it was clear the council members were “hearing, but you’re not really listening” to those who came to support the facilities.
Patino’s co-worker stood near her as she spoke but did not say anything.
“We can tell on your facial expressions — you guys are just sitting here, kind of brushing it over,” Patino said. “We, as a community, we all wanted to be a part of this decision — and it was made with no information, no little warning, nothing.”
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Council members listen as Leslie Patino offers comment during the November council meeting regarding Salt Lake County-operated child care centers.
Patino also criticized the council’s proposal, at the time, to delay the day care closures until midyear, rather than the end of 2025, because day care prices, she said, would still be unaffordable then.
“As all these parents have said, they don’t have a place to take their kids,” Patino continued. “This was where they could take them. We take care of these kids and we treat them like our own. … If the budget was so high that we’ve got to get rid of it, why were we not getting paid more to take care of your kids?”
Patino also repeatedly asked the council members to maintain eye contact with her as she spoke for her allotted two minutes. Later, as tempers erupted between the public and the council before a break in the meeting, she yelled, “Your privilege is showing; we can all feel it.”
The text messages The Tribune received through an open records request showed that later that day, Otto, the Parks and Recreation administrator, told Winder Newton that his staff was “pretty tore up” over the day care discussion.
“I really appreciate everything you did to try and extend the program,” Otto wrote. “You did not deserve that outrage. I think your points about the inequities of the subsidy are absolutely valid.”
Winder Newton replied with a thumbs-up and asked, “What in the world was up with those two employees who were so disrespectful?” Otto replied that he agreed, and that he was “honestly embarrassed about it.”
“I can only imagine,” Winder Newton replied, adding that she hoped the employees would be disciplined.
Later in the thread, Otto said officials planned to “coach and counsel” the duo, who he added were high school students.
A county spokesperson said Otto had no additional comment on the text conversation.
Patino could not be reached for comment.
For her part, Winder Newton told The Tribune the council feels it’s “very important” that all county employees are “respectful” in public, especially when they are identified as a county worker.
During a public hearing this week, parent Jessica Ku — whose two children attend the Millcreek Activity Center and Northwest Community Center — told council members that parents have spoken to many other employees who support the facilities but fear retaliation from the council if they speak out.
“Staff at these centers have been pressured into silence, unable to speak, even as private citizens, for fear of termination,” Ku said. “This is not how government should operate, and this is not how you treat the people you represent.”
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