About 50 residents in the Heber City Council chambers and another 50 online waited to learn whether City Manager Matt Brower’s three-year employment contract would be renewed on Tuesday night. And wait they did. The City Council was in closed session for three hours — double the amount of ti me slated on the agenda — when they finally entered the chambers at 9 p.m. for the public meeting. Heber City Manager Matt Brower in his office at City Hall. Credit: Christopher Reeves Following a 15-minute comment period, during which the majority of commenters voiced concerns about affordability, growth and taxes, the City Council voted 4-2 to renew Brower’s contract. Mayor Heidi Franco and City Councilor Yvonne Barney were the dissenting votes. Brower, who has served as city manager for eight years, said in an interview after the decision that he’s pleased with the outcome. “I obviously still have a lot of work to do to improve my relationship with some of the council members, which I look forward to doing,” he said. Brower garnered significant controversy in recent weeks, beginning with an online petition created by Heber City resident Bridget Whiting last month. Whiting raised concerns about the municipal government’s decisions regarding growth and development, and asked for his contract not to be renewed. The petition had about 400 signatures by Tuesday night.  The city manager oversees the city’s roughly 150 employees and enacts the will of the City Council.  “He doesn’t actually work for the citizens. He works for us. We’re his boss,” explained City Councilor Mike Johnston.  Several audience members bristled at his comment, chiming in that their taxes pay the city manager’s salary, which is just over $214,000. In comparison, the managers of Wasatch and Summit counties made just under $228,000 in 2025, while the base salary of Park City’s new manager is $250,000. ‘I’ve seen things for eight years’ Before the vote, Franco alluded to “issues” she had with the city manager that had not been “resolved.” Heber City Mayor Heidi Franco speaks with a resident after City Manager Matt Brower’s contract renewal on Tuesday night. Credit: Christopher Reeves “I’ve seen things for eight years,” she said. “I’m not trying to denigrate anyone at this point. I’m trying to be professional.” Franco was also concerned with a 2019 state audit report that found decades of financial mismanagement by the government of Lincoln, California, the city Brower had managed since 2015, before joining Heber City.  The Lincoln audit was brought to the attention of the City Council in the past few weeks by Whiting and other residents who had researched Brower’s history. The audit report makes clear that Lincoln’s financial mismanagement existed before Brower became city manager. It also indicates that the bulk of financial mismanagement was not from Brower but from employees he supervised. One reason Brower applied for the Heber City manager position was that he’d become “tired of the rat’s nest.” “It was Whac-A-Mole,” he said. “It was, find one problem, solve it, you got three more coming up. It felt like never getting ahead because it was issue after issue after issue.” In comparison, Brower called managing Heber City “a godsend” for its fiscal stability and dependable staff. Franco said Brower never disclosed the audit report and that she would not have voted to hire him as city manager had she known about it. She called it a “significant and negative report on (his) performance.” Credit: Christopher Reeves Credit: Christopher Reeves Heber City Manager Matt Brower speaks with Planning Commission Chair Phil Jordan and City Councilor Morgan Murdock after renewal of his contract on Tuesday night. A performance evaluation for Brower began during a two-hour closed session on April 7. Voting on Brower’s contract was delayed that night because it had not been completed. The evaluation continued during the closed session on Tuesday and is not yet complete.  “I hope to learn more about the mayor’s concerns because I fully pledge myself to try to work with her and the council members,” Brower said.  Although the City Council is supposed to perform annual evaluations, Brower has only received one, which occurred in 2022. Brower said a tricky part of the evaluation this year is that the City Council had not established the criteria with which to measure his performance. Brower and multiple City Council members declined to share what feedback had been given thus far. However, Brower provided one piece of advice he’d been given. “I’m doing too much. I’ve got too much on the plate. I need to slow down and attend to some more of the details,” he said. “I think that’s a fair criticism.” ‘This is not done’ Heber City Councilor Yvonne Barney speaks before voting against renewing City Manager Matt Brower’s contract on Tuesday night. Credit: Christopher Reeves The reason behind Barney’s vote against renewing Brower’s contract stemmed from an anonymous complaint made to the Office of the Utah State Auditor about the city’s contract with the Community Alliance for Main Street (CAMS). Brower has been involved with CAMS since 2018, and said he was expected to be involved as city manager. In January, the City Council approved a $39,900 contract with CAMS to provide at least 50 days of event programming downtown that year. Brower’s position on the board was disclosed in the agenda materials when the City Council approved the contract. The complainant argued that Brower’s position on the CAMS board constituted a conflict of interest, as the city manager is the one who enacts all city contracts that are approved by the City Council. Brower said he is a volunteer who receives no financial compensation from CAMS. Barney agreed with that assessment but added that there is a “possibility” Brower could have had “undue influence in procuring … certain funding for CAMS,” even if unintentionally. Barney argued the City Council should be aware of any boards the city manager sits on. She said that it is a “double standard” that Brower’s contract would be renewed in the middle of a potential investigation by the Office of the Utah State Auditor. She felt that other city employees would not be granted that same treatment. Brower reiterated that, even though his contract has been renewed until 2029, the City Council could still fire him with or without cause before then. If he were fired with cause, the City Council would gather evidence and write allegations, to which Brower could respond within 10 days in a closed session. If he were fired without cause, he would be paid nine months’ severance, or over $160,000. Barney said that she respects Brower and is hopeful that the Office of the Utah State Auditor finds nothing untoward in its investigation. Still, she stood by her vote. “This is not done,” she said. “And until it’s done, I can’t sit comfortably, and I can’t give answers to our citizens.” Heber City Manager Matt Brower shakes the hand of a resident on Tuesday night. Credit: Christopher Reeves The post Heber City Council renews city manager’s contract after prolonged evaluation, mass civic engagement appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less