Eagle Mountain council split votes rose from 7% of votes in 2020 to 18% in 2026

The Eagle Mountain City Council's approved minutes for Jan. 21, 2020 through Sept. 24, 2026 record 941 votes on agenda items. On 96 of them, or about 10 percent, at least one council member voted no. ^[1][2]

The share has risen in the last two years. The Ledger counted the votes meeting by meeting: a split vote is one where the minutes list at least one no vote on the item. The count includes items on the consent agenda and excludes tabling motions and other procedural motions that came before a final vote on the same item.

By year

2020: 11 of 164 votes (7%). 2021: 13 of 144 (9%). 2022: 14 of 152 (9%). 2023: 7 of 58 (12%). 2024: 9 of 140 (6%). 2025: 23 of 177 (13%). 2026, through Sept. 24: 19 of 106 (18%).

From 2020 through 2024, 54 of 658 votes were split (8%). From January 2025 through September 2026, 42 of 283 were (15%).

The 2023 figure rests on fewer votes than the other years because the Ledger's index holds approved minutes for 8 council meetings that year, against 20 to 29 in each of the others.

Who voted no

The 42 split votes since January 2025 carry 49 no votes in all, because some votes had more than one. Council Member Rich Wood is listed among the no votes on 25 of the 42. Council Member Donna Burnham is listed on 8, Council Member Jared Gray on 6, Council Member Brett Wright on 5, Council Member Zachory Huish on 3 and Council Member Melissa Clark on 2. Burnham's and Gray's votes are all from 2025. ^[1][2]

Of the 42 items, the council approved 23, approved 9 with conditions, denied 7 and tabled 3.

Some of the items

Feb. 4, 2025: the purchase of 20.99 acres for a future civic campus from Ivory Homes and SITLA at $350,166.75 an acre passed 4-1, with Wood voting no. ^[3]

Oct. 21, 2025: the development agreement with Stadion, LLC for a data center expansion passed 4-1, with Burnham voting no. The minutes record no reason. ^[4]

Nov. 5, 2025: the Sweetwater #4 community reinvestment project area plan, covering about 567 acres south of the Meta data center campus, passed 4-1, with Burnham voting no. The minutes record no reason. ^[5]

Aug. 18, 2026: the council adopted the fiscal 2026-27 budget of $363,992,973 on a 4-1 vote, with Huish voting no, and approved a property tax rate of 0.000900 on a 4-1 vote, with Wood voting no. ^[6]

April 1, 2025: a resolution supporting a Utah Inland Port Authority project area in Eagle Mountain failed 2-3, with Gray, Wood and Wright voting no. The minutes do not record their reasons. ^[7]

What the minutes record

The minutes list each member's vote on a motion. They record the discussion in summary and usually do not give a member's reasons for a no vote. The Ledger's tallies are drawn from the approved minutes posted on the city's meeting portal, and each date above links to its minutes.