Sneak peak of our progress on the North Ogden Library Branch Remodel (everyone dreams of finishing their basement, right?!)
Utah Rep. Justin Fawson to step down, move to North Carolina
NORTH OGDEN — Utah Rep. Justin Fawson won’t run again for his seat, making him the third incumbent House member serving Weber County to forego re-election plans.
He’ll finish the current legislative session, now in its last week, and stay on in the House until May or June, when he plans to formally resign to join his wife, North Ogden City Councilwoman Sara Fawson, in North Carolina. Sara Fawson, who’s moving for work, plans to step down from her city council post effective March 13.
“It’s been an amazing place to raise our family,” Justin Fawson, a Republican who’s long lived in the North Ogden area, said Monday by phone. Leaving behind family, friends and loved ones is “the hardest part.”
Two other Republican state lawmakers serving Weber County — Rep. Gage Froerer of Huntsville and Rep. Dixon Pitcher from the Uintah Highlands — announced earlier this year they wouldn’t run again for their House seats.
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Froerer, whose District 8 seat covers eastern Weber County, plans to run for a seat on the Weber County Commission while Pitcher, whose District 10 post covers parts of southern Ogden and South Ogden, said he wants to pursue other interests. Fawson’s District 7 House post covers parts of northern Ogden, North Ogden and Pleasant View.
North Ogden voters elected Sara Fawson, a midwife and nurse, to the city council just last November and she had been serving in the post only since Jan. 2, when she was sworn in. But a job opportunity recently arose, prompting plans to move to the Raleigh, North Carolina, area.
“I certainly had intended and planned to stay,” Sara Fawson said.
Justin Fawson had expressed interest last December in running for a Weber County Commission seat in elections this year, though he later stepped back from the idea, and he said his wife’s plans emerged after that. He’s advised Weber County Republican Party leaders of developments and said he hopes to get the word out so would-be replacements to his House post aren’t left wondering what his plans are.
The filing period for elections this year formally runs March 9-15. But if Justin Fawson steps down by June, as planned, GOP leaders would have to tab someone to fulfill the rest of his current House term, through the end of 2018.
The remaining North Ogden City Council members are to select someone to fill Sara Fawson’s term through 2019, per state law, and they’ll discuss the process at the body’s regular meeting on Tuesday. Voters in 2019 will select a replacement for the final two years of her term, 2020 and 2021.
Justin Fawson, who works in marketing, has served in the Utah House since 2014 and previously served on the North Ogden City Council. He touts himself as a fiscal conservative and advocate of limited government.
Contact reporter Tim Vandenack at tvandenack@standard.net, follow him on Twitter at @timvandenack or like him on Facebook at Facebook.com/timvandenackreporter.
