SPRING CITY—The two Spring City Council members who voted “no” in a 3-2 vote in February repealing a compromise zoning ordinance (2025-05) permitting division of some 1-acre lots in the city and returning the city to 1.06-acre lots citywide have resigned. Replacements were chosen and sworn in at a Spring City Council meeting Thursday, April 2.

Marty McCain, who was appointed to fill a vacancy in 2024, and Courtney Syme, who was elected in 2022, submitted their resignations in mid-March about a week apart.

Meanwhile Mike Nilson, who also supported permitting owners of 1-acre lots in some parts of the city to split their lots also resigned as a member of the Planning and Zoning Commission. So far, no action has been taken to replace him.

The council appointed James Baker, who lost a bid for a two-year seat on the council in November 2025, and Stan Soper, an attorney and newcomer to town government, to fill the council vacancies. Both appointees will serve until Dec. 31, 2027. Both have the option of filing and running for council seats in the November 2027 municipal election.

Baker spent 40 years in banking with Zions Bank and Bank of America. He has been a leader in the Main Street Alliance in Spring City. He emphasized following the general plan in zoning decisions and said he supports additional community surveys to accurately gauge resident opinion on the lot-size issue.

Soper, a graduate of Yale Law School, has had a residence in Spring City since the early 2010s. He spent nearly 30 years as senior vice president and chief legal counsel for the Nutraceutical Corporation (later renamed the Better Being Co.), a manufacturer of vitamins and supplements based in Park City. In comments to the council, he supported keeping larger lot size and preserving Main Street and historic homes.

Besides Baker and Soper, candidates who applied for the seats included Michael Black, deputy treasurer for the city; Douglas Welker, who has lived in Spring City for eight years and previously worked as a project manager for the U.S. Department of Energy; Dan Rasmussen, a fifth grade teacher at Manti Elementary School who ran for mayor in the last election; David McEwen, who described himself as having a corporate background in conflict resolution; Margaret Grindstaff, a middle-school teacher with grant-writing experience; and David Cuma, who, in about 2018, took the lead in an effort to bottle and market Spring City water.