Draft

Hillcrest High School, Midvale, UT

Chair Rob Axson opened the meeting and welcomed the members at 10:10am. There were 104 in person and 26 online for a total of 131 members present. 

Pastor Chuck Beickel of Faith Baptist Church Layton gave the prayer. 

Bill Hoster, Washington County, led the body in the Pledge of Allegiance 

Sarah Montes, Salt Lake County, read the Preamble to the Platform of the Utah Republican Party.

Rob made introductory remarks. We received reports from the following elected officials: Tina Cannon, State Auditor; Mike Schultz, Speaker of the House; Cole Kelley, State School Board District 12; Jennie Earl, State School Board District 1. 

We also heard reports from the Party Officers in the following order: Kim Coleman, National Committeewoman; Stafford Palmieri Sievert, Secretary; Melanie Monestere, Vice Chair; and Robert Axson, Chair. 

Reports by Brad Bonham, National Committeeman, and Chris Null, Treasurer were deferred until later in the agenda. 

Jordan Hess, Washington County, made a motion to move the agenda. It was seconded. Jordan then made a motion to amend the agenda to add a one sentence resolution between items 6 and 7. The motion was adopted. 

Lowell Nelson, Utah County, made a motion to add two items to the agenda - a discussion of the retrospective on convention and a motion to implement a resolution from convention. Rob clarified that his second item is item 8 under the business and we can include a retrospective on the convention in item 4. Lowell withdrew his motion.

Becky Hope made a motion to use paper ballots. Rob ruled this out of order as it was not timely to the agenda. He recommended she make this motion during the adoption of the election results. 

The agenda was adopted at 11:28am. 

We moved to the adoption of the February 8, 2025 minutes. There was no discussion and the minutes were adopted. 

Brad Bonham, National Committeeman, gave his report.  

We proceeded to the state school board district 7 election. Rob invited Chris Null to explain the election rules, which he did. Rob clarified that even if we move to paper ballots, the people online will still use the system we have prepared because according to our rules we have to provide an anonymous way for all members of the SCC to vote. 

We did a test vote. Chris Null answered questions. We offered iPads to those who did not have a smart phone. There were three people in the room who asked for the iPad option. 

We considered the election rules. Becky Hope made a motion to bifurcate the vote so that we use paper ballots in the room and Election Buddy online. There was an objection. 

Olivia Dawn Horlacher Williams, Davis County, made a motion to divide the vote so that we vote on the method of election in the room to be paper ballots and then we vote on how to conduct the election online so that we can consider a different methodology. Rob ruled this out of order because the two motions would not stand alone as we do not have another anonymity option for people online. For a motion to be divided, each motion has to stand alone. 

Mac Sims, Utah County, explained that if we have two methods to vote it could be possible for people in the room to vote by paper and vote online. Maryann Christensen proposed an amendment to the motion to show their credentials to be removed from Election Buddy before they are handed paper ballots. We had a discussion about Maryann’s amendment to the motion. 

Brad Barrowes, Weber County, made a motion to call the question on the election rules and all underlying questions. It was seconded. The motion passed. 

We moved on to Maryann’s amendment to the motion. The motion passed. We returned to Becky’s motion as amended. We would move to a paper balloting process, where members in the room would have to re-credential to be removed from Election Buddy prior to receiving their ballots. People online would still use Election Buddy. The motion failed. 

Olivia Dawn Horlacher Williams called division. Members stood to vote. The motion failed again. 

We moved to candidate speeches for the SSB7 special election. Candidates spoke for three minutes in the following order: 

• Marci Houseman
• Douglas K. Wagstaff (via Zoom)
• Bruce A. Williams (via Zoom) 
• Jeffrey Ferlo 
• Jesse Curtis
• Kris Kimball (submitted a video, was not present) 
• David Austin Linford
• Erin Longacre
• Glen Burton

We shared Kris Kimball’s video with those on Zoom as a link. We did a test vote. Stafford Palmieri Sievert updated the credentials report: There were 117 in person and 42 online for 159 total members present. 

We opened the election. The results for round 1 were: 

Candidates who were not eliminated or elected gave a 60 second speech in the following order: 

• Marci Houseman
• Bruce A. Williams 
• Jesse Curtis
• David Austin Linford
• Glen Burton

There was a new member who had entered the Zoom. Rob indicated that we were credentialing this person before we would move on. Olivia Dawn Horlacher Williams, Davis County, objected. She then made a motion to keep credentialing closed until the end of the school board election. The motion failed. Olivia called division. The motion failed again. 

Stafford Palmieri Sievert updated the credentials report to 43 online and 117 in person for a total of 160. 

We opened the election. We closed the election. 

Mac Sims, Utah County, made a motion to extend meeting time sufficient to complete our elections and the caucus and convention date discussion. Joe Levi made a motion to amend the motion to extend time sufficient to include all the binding business (and specifically excluding the auxiliary reports). The amendment to the motion passed. We then voted on the amended motion. The amended motion passed and time was extended. 

The results for round 2 were: 

We moved on to round 3 with two candidates who gave 60 second speeches in the following order: 

• Marci Houseman
• Glen Burton 

The results for round 3 were: 

We moved on to the Executive Committee election. Candidates from all congressional districts spoke before we voted. The CD1 candidates spoke in the following order:

• Bret Haney
• Teena Horlacher
• Jamie Munns
• Ben Soholt

The CD2 candidates spoke in the following order: 

• Jordan Hess 
• Don Guymon
• Peter Cannon 
• Kaye Pratt
• Rachelle Morris 
• Chad Saunders 

The CD3 candidates spoke in the following order:

• Kirby Glad (via Zoom)
• Mike Carey
• Neil Sebring
• Lyndon Brittner

The CD4 candidates spoke in the following order: 

• Charles Wood
• June Rigby 
• Maryann Christensen
• Mac Sims
• Gunnar Thorderson (via Zoom) 
• Brooks Benson
• Mike Bird

Stafford Palmieri Sievert gave an updated credentials report of 45 online and 116 in person for a total of 161 members. 

Round 1 results were as follows: 

Congressional District 1

Congressional District 2

Congressional District 3

Congressional District 4

The candidates gave 30 second speeches in the following order: 

• Charles Wood
• June Rigby 
• Maryann Christensen
• Mac Sims
• Brooks Benson
• Mike Bird

We opened the election. We closed the election. 

The results of round 2 were as follows: 

The candidates said their names in lieu of a speech in the following order:

• Charles Wood
• June Rigby
• Maryann Christensen
• Mac Sims
• Mike Bird

The results of round 3 were as follows: 

At this point, we were running out of time with the hard stop of 5pm in the venue. We would have to move the rest of the CD4 election to an adjourned meeting. At this time, CD 4 had one representative elected to the executive committee, which was Mike Bird, and one vacant spot. 

Rob gave an update on finding a venue for convention. Rob explained that a year ago the SCC passed a special rule that allowed the chair to book venues for convention up to 4 years in advance. Immediately after that special rule passed, Rob started working on not just next year (i.e., 2026) but the next four years. Unfortunately, the three venues that are large enough for a nominating convention - when we have 4,000 delegates plus guests - only allow booking more than 13 months in advance if booking the entire venue. Our preference was Mountain America, but we only need two of the five halls, not all five halls (which is too much space and 3x the price). So we waited until March of 2025 (13 months in advance) and stayed in close touch with Mountain America - but in January of 2025, someone else booked the entire venue for 2026. We are still targeting April 25, 2026 for the nominating convention next year but we are still working on the venue. Our other options are Salt Palace and the Delta Center. Rob will confirm as soon as possible. 

Rob also gave an update on caucus. Originally we had been targeting March 10, 2026, which is the first Tuesday after the adjournment of the legislative session. However, Willie Billings, the Washington County Chair, let us know that because it’s so hot in Washington County, spring break in St. George is that week. We are currently considering March 3, 2026, which is during the legislative session, but would require some legislators to drive home to their districts during the last week of session. We are working through other options and will report back to the SCC soon. 

Joe Levi made a motion to establish an adjourned meeting. There was no objection and the adjourned meeting was created. Rob clarified that the three things we must add to the adjourned meeting agenda are to finalize the CD4 EC election, the audit committee election and the constitution and bylaws committee election. 

Joe Levi made a motion to add those three things into the adjourned meeting as well as all unfinished business. He amended his motion to include those three things and only item 8 from today’s agenda on the adjourned meeting agenda. We stood adjourned at 5:07pm.