Heber City Council, Residents Split Over City Manager's Contract Renewal
Mayor Franco says she never would have hired Matt Brower had she known about a California audit. A 3-3 council split now leaves his job on the line.
A single vote separates Matt Brower from a fourth term as Heber City's highest-paid employee, and the deciding factor may be a California financial audit he never disclosed to the council that hired him.
At the April 7 City Council meeting, the vote on renewing Brower's contract split three to three: Councilors Aaron Cheatwood, Mike Johnston, and Sid Ostergaard in favor; Councilor Yvonne Barney, Councilor Morgan Murdock, and Mayor Heidi Franco opposed. A majority of four votes is required to resolve the contract either way, so Cheatwood moved to delay the decision to a special meeting on Tuesday, April 14, at 7:30 p.m.
The sharpest moment of the April 7 meeting came when resident Bridget Whiting alerted the council to a California State Auditor's report documenting financial mismanagement in Lincoln, California, the city Brower managed from 2015 to 2018. The audit, covering 2013 to 2017, found "questionable loans, transfers and allocations that did not always comply with state law," including misuse of restricted funds, overcharging and undercharging of developers, and misrepresentation of the city's financial position. Mayor Franco said she learned of the report only in the week before the vote and that Brower had never mentioned it. "If I had known about this California State Auditor investigation into Lincoln's mismanagement issues back in 2018, I never would have voted for him to become city manager," she said. Franco was a city councilor at the time of Brower's original hiring.
Also during public comment, local attorney Joshua Jewkes revealed that someone had filed a complaint against Brower with the Office of the Utah State Auditor. The complaint centers on a $39,900 agreement the City Council approved in January 2026 with the Community Alliance for Main Street, a nonprofit run by former Heber City Councilor and current Wasatch County Council candidate Rachel Kahler. Under the deal, the organization is contracted to program downtown events for a minimum of 50 days annually. Franco confirmed the complaint exists but expressed concern it was made public before due process had run its course.
Further complicating the renewal: the City Council had never provided Brower with regular performance evaluations across his nearly eight-year tenure. After the meeting, Brower said he had "no idea" what factors drove the opposing votes from Barney, Murdock, and Franco.
His supporters argued he is being scapegoated. Cheatwood said residents frustrated by Heber's rapid growth were targeting Brower because he is the "figurehead of the city," even though, as a non-elected manager, he executes council policy rather than making it. Former council candidate Corey Noyes pointed out that Brower's $217,000 base salary in 2025 falls below the approximately $228,000 earned by both Wasatch County Manager Dustin Grabau and Summit County Manager Shayne Scott, and well below Park City's newly appointed manager Adam Lehnard at $250,000. On KPCW's "Local News Hour" the day before the meeting, Brower said: "I've been in the city eight years. I've been exceptional, I believe, at my job and moving the needle forward on council's policy and budget priorities. I think we set a high bar for transparency and accountability, and so the record stands for itself."
Opposition extended beyond the dais. Whiting's online petition, launched in mid-March 2026, argued that "leadership decisions have long-term impacts on our land, taxes, infrastructure and quality of life." Councilor Barney cited public concern as the reason for her opposing vote, while Heber resident Adam Thompson warned that blocking renewal would "set a precedent that online slander and a toxic culture is what a new manager is going to enter into." The stakes reach beyond Heber's borders: Brower's Envision Heber 2050 plan projects the city's current population of roughly 18,000 will nearly double to 31,395 by mid-century, with capital projects including the C Street pedestrian alleyway and Main Street Park bandshell still in progress.
The April 14 special meeting will determine whether Brower's tenure extends to May 2029 or whether Heber faces its first city manager transition in eight years, with active infrastructure schedules and long-term planning commitments hanging on the outcome.
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