AI-generated summary. We recommend consulting the bill text for important decisions.

In Utah counties that use a "council-manager" form of government — where an elected council appoints a professional manager to run day-to-day operations — this bill shifts executive power from the county manager to the elected county council and draws firm limits around what the council can hand off to the manager. Specifically, the council cannot delegate to the manager the powers of an elected county executive or elected county officers such as the sheriff, assessor, or treasurer, and cannot require those officers to report to the manager. The bill also declares county managers to be at-will employees and, starting May 6, 2026, prohibits employment contracts that include automatic renewals, terms longer than four years, severance pay upon termination, or pay increases that differ from standard county policies for other at-will employees.