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SALT LAKE CITY — The council of Utah's capital city is shaking up its leadership to start the new year.
Members of the Salt Lake City Council voted unanimously Tuesday evening to name Darin Mano (city District 5) as the chairman of the council and Victoria Petro-Eschler (city District 1) as the council's vice chairwoman.
The chairperson is responsible for scheduling council agenda items, monitoring council priorities and signing ordinances and resolutions approved by the council. They also meet with the mayor's administration and other key city leaders; the vice chair serves as a backup to the chairperson's primary roles, according to the city.
The roles are shifted around every January. While 2023 is a municipal election year, neither Mano nor Petro-Eschler are up for reelection this year. The mayoral seat and council districts 2, 4 and 6 will be on the ballot instead.
Mano, whose district includes the Ballpark, Central Ninth, East Liberty Park and Liberty Wells neighborhoods, previously served as the vice chairman behind Salt Lake City Councilman Dan Dugan. He was first appointed to the council in 2020 to replace the seat vacated by Erin Mendenhall after she was sworn in as the city's mayor, and then re-elected in 2021 during the city's first test of ranked-choice voting.
Prior to an unofficial vote ahead of Tuesday's formal vote, Mano said he was "excited" about the nomination and ready to focus on key issues in the city.
"I'm particularly excited to continue working on some big land use and housing issues that we've been working on," he said.
No other candidates were proposed during the city's work session meeting.
Petro-Eschler, whose district represents the Fairpark, Jordan Meadows, Rose Park and Westpoint neighborhoods, joined the council in 2021. She was first sworn in right after the 2021 election to replace the seat vacated by two-term member James Rogers, who resigned a month before the election. She was sworn in again in 2022 to the current four-year term that she's serving.
She also serves as a nonvoting member of the Utah Inland Port Authority, as the port is located in her district.
Petro-Eschler told her colleague that she believes Mano's experience in architecture is important as the city's skyline continues to change with growth. That experience, she adds, includes the "critical thinking lens" and an innovative approach to the "problems that we're seeing."
Conversely, she said she appreciates meeting with state legislators over issues related to the city, which is something that she will do in her new role.
"I really look forward to this," she said. "I believe Councilman Mano and I are great balances for one another. His skillset that he has accumulated through experience and education is almost exactly contrary to what I have gotten through education and experience, but they are two sides of the coin that our city is desperately needing."
