If you’re curious about life in Utah County, what makes it tick, or just looking for your next adventure—or your next meal—join me as we shine a spotlight on a county that’s deeply rooted in community values and brimming with opportunity.

I’m Kenneth Wilson, your county administrator and host for today’s County Administrator series. In this episode, I have the privilege of speaking with Ezra Nair, my colleague and the County Administrator for Utah County, Utah—a place that's experiencing explosive growth and transforming rapidly before our eyes.

Together, we explore what sets Utah County apart—from its booming tech scene and innovative industries, to the challenges and opportunities that come with rapid population growth. Ezra shares his journey from Illinois to Utah, insights into local culture and community, and the ways Utah County is tackling issues like affordable housing, public safety, and infrastructure.

We also dig into some fun and surprising facts about Utah County: its role in the upcoming Winter Olympics, its vibrant restaurant scene (yes, even in Provo!), and the blend of rural roots and urban dynamism that makes it so appealing to newcomers from across the country.

Moments

00:00 About the county and its lake

04:30 Moving to Utah and its growth

08:55 Growth industries in Utah

12:52 Improving transit in Utah County

15:31 Preparing for Utah 2034 Olympics

17:38 Provo’s diverse restaurant scene

22:25 Supporting local farms in Utah

23:56 Outdoor recreation and healthy living

26:55 County's role in mental health

32:28 Utah's beaches and mountains

34:24 The role of county government

Here are three key takeaways from our discussion:

• Rapid Growth & Opportunity: Utah County is projected to reach a population of one million by 2065 and may even surpass Salt Lake County. Its youthful demographic and tech-driven economy are fueling exciting prospects for the future.
• Quality of Life & Innovation: The county invests heavily in infrastructure, public safety, and recreation, embracing public transit solutions and maintaining a healthy environment with abundant outdoor activities and a thriving farm scene.
• Community & Culture: Utah County stands out for its strong sense of community, diversity brought by transplants from across the nation, and a rich food scene — yes, you can find great chicken & waffles and grits in Provo!

talkofthecounty@franklincountyohio.gov

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Copyright 2026 Franklin County Board of Commissioners

Good morning. I'm Kenneth Wilson, your county administrator. We are excited to have another episode of Talk of the County. This is what I will call the County Administrator series. I am taking the opportunity to have conversations with some of my colleagues from across the country, those that I work with in the national association of County Administrators. This morning, I'm fortunate enough to be speaking with a professional from the west coast, Utah, Utah county, to be exact. The floor is yours, sir.

Introduce yourself, tell the listeners about your county, how you got into this work. Did you know from college that you was going to end up being a county manager? Administrator? I don't think that just counts. Happens to too many of us. Even though I met a kid that shadowed me once and he said that he knew that he wanted to be a county administrator in high school. So the floor is yours.

Great. Thank you. Yes, I'm Ezra Nair. I'm the county administrator for Utah County Government. It's the second most populous county in Utah, just south of Salt Lake. Our our county seat is Provo, Utah, home of byu, which is where I went to school. I got my master's degree in public administration there and have just fell in love with public service as I've worked here. So I came from the city, actually.

I was a city manager for a few years in one of the fastest growing cities in the county and had made the jump over to county. And the county's been great. We have so many unique issues with our fast growth as well. The county's very young. It's growing rapidly. We're projected to hit a million residents by 2065. And a lot of the projections have us even becoming more populous than, than Salt Lake County. We've got a lot of room to grow still in Utah County.

We've got a little over 2,000 square miles of land area and one of the largest lakes in Utah. Kind of second to second to Salt Lake, but largest freshwater lake. I think it's about 140 square miles right in the center of our county. And that creates some unique challenges for us, but a lot of great opportunities as well. I really love local government. I mean, there's so many, so many things in the county that are very exciting. Every day is a little bit different. You can go from, as you know, public safety to our health department to public works.

So many different issues that we deal with every day. But yeah, the growth is a huge challenge for us, but presents a lot of opportunities as well.

Growth is opportunity. I know that there are many people that the appreciation for Utah. I would say is growing every day. The two occasions I had to be in Salt Lake County, I met people that had were California transplants, Nevada transplants. Because of what you just said. Opportunity in caps is represented by the state of Utah. I think it's been a lot of myth busting too associated with life in Utah. There's a lot of living that you can do in Utah.

Talk a little bit about, you know, you got people that have, that have come to for jobs and opportunity from places like Las Vegas. Every time you can you get in an Uber in Salt Lake City, you, you hear from somebody almost that has a story as to how they, they ended up hearing that they love it. So yeah, tell my podcast listeners a little bit about that now when nobody leave Franklin county, come to Utah in this, this half an hour we're going to talk about this, but I want you to share with our podcast. Listen.

That's great. Yeah, I'm a transplant to Utah myself. I actually grew up in Illinois, the west suburbs of Chicago just out there. But I've been in Utah for about 14 years now and have loved it a lot. It's incredible place. And you know, a lot of people think of it as kind of a smaller knit religious community because that's where we got our roots from. I mean pioneers came out from, you know, running from religious persecution, ended up settling in Utah and that's where a lot of the growth originally stemmed from. But as the word has gotten out as more people have have come to Utah to see the mountains, the Salt Lake Olympics in 2002 was huge for us, the Winter Olympics and we're actually hosting them again in 2034.

So we're very excited to kind of bring the world back as well. But the more people come and visit and see, we can be from Utah Lake to the mountains in half an hour. It's pretty amazing the amounts of recreational opportunities that are, that are out there and the environment is really amazing. But then also our growing tech center have a lot of jobs in Utah. We have one of the youngest demographics in Utah county in the state. And so a lot of those jobs are focused right around Utah. We have transit options to get to work and a great network of work, recreation, family, lifestyle, lots of things that people just love. So it's a great, great place.

What attracted you, a kid from Illinois, to Brigham Young University?

Yeah, Brigham Young University is a religious school. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is, is the, the main, it's the religion that the school is founded from. And so I am a member of that church. That's what kind of brought me out to Utah.

So does general student body take the code of conduct that the athletes and others that are part of the university community around abstaining from alcohol and different other codes of conduct associated with being a student athlete or scholarship? If you don't know an academic scholarship, I would assume that you make those same covenants as far as behavior is concerned.

Yeah, actually the entire university does. All the student members, whether you're a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or not going to the university, you agree to live to that honor code. And everybody tries their best. I'm sure not everybody. Of course, we've had a couple situations in the news that they didn't make it, they didn't make it. But we all try our best and try to uphold that code and ask for forgiveness when we make those mistakes.

So you go for four years, you hear a lot about the missionary work that's required. Does that happen within your four year period or that's in addition to your four years as a four year student there?

Yeah. No. If people choose to serve missions, it's a two year commitment for young men. You can go actually either before you go to school. It's not necessarily associated with the school. Some people go, they don't necessarily go to byu. For me, I went to BYU for a year and then took some time off to serve in South Carolina. So I went to South Carolina, spent some time over there teaching people about Jesus Christ and sharing and serving lots of service opportunities.

And it's a really great experience, I think, to get out and see the world. Some people go overseas, some people stay in the country. But for me it's just been a great, it was a great experience and pretty foundational to my desire to serve and actually to get into public service. Kind of seeing how they deal with some of the issues in South Carolina with public housing and obviously they're growing as well. Just with nice weather and low cost of living. Yeah, exactly.

Cost of living is a big benefit in the South Carolina community. And I think, you know, Utah I think benefits from now the growth is occurring, but you are able to get in front of it and have it occur in a controlled way. And I also think that you all are selective in the industries that are coming to Utah. Talk a little bit about the growth industries that are coming to Utah. I know you all are a biomed high bed, you all have AI and all the different things that are occurring in the state. Of Utah and in Utah County. Let's put the focus on Utah.

Yeah, no, there's, there's a lot of different sectors that we focused on. Tech is a main one. Our educational institutions. We actually have five large universities. BYU is a well known one, but we also have Utah Valley University, a couple medical schools as well. And it's a big part of our drive for more tech and other jobs as well. So we kind of train our workforce here and then have lots of jobs for them to move into. Manufacturing is a big one.

We have a military base on just like the south end of Salt Lake county, which is close to Utah County. And so that drives a lot of jobs in that sector as well. Lockheed Martin, different, different industries actually stationed out of Utah as well, have headquarters, or not necessarily headquarters, but areas where they, they build and manufacture there as well.

Housing. Is affordable housing and housing in general an issue in Utah or is the. Is new construction occurring at a rate that is necessary to keep up with population growth in the income levels?

Yeah, that's been actually a huge issue that we've dealt with. It's been the number one issue for the governor and Utah counties played a big role in trying to alleviate some of that. But housing prices have skyrocketed. We used to be an incredibly affordable state and then I think kind of in the COVID era, a ton of people moved in and then we still have a lot of kids in Utah and so those kids are grown up and trying to find housing of their own. So there's a lot of demand in the market. And so we've, we've tried a bunch of different methods and, and worked with the state on, on incentive programs to help increase the supply of housing because we have land. But infrastructure is the biggest, the biggest issue. We only have so much water in Utah, living in the desert, and our transportation grids are incredibly strained as well.

So we're trying to look at innovative solutions with transit options, with advanced air mobility to try to figure out ways to navigate the, the terrain of Utah. It's beautiful terrain, but it also makes it really difficult building roads through the mountains.

Right.

And other issues that we deal with.

Is traffic an issue in, in Utah County?

Definitely an issue, but not as bad as some areas think. We've done a really good job investing in transit options to make sure those peak times of demand when people are commuting. We have this main north south corridor on the i15 that receives a lot of travel daily, commuting in the morning and evening. And we're trying to do everything we can to enhance our transit system, to get those cars off the road and provide options for people that can hopefully also make housing more affordable.

You all have a pretty advanced light rail system.

Yes.

Does it connect Utah county and Salt Lake county, or is there a break?

Not yet. Yes, that is actually a pretty big point of contention that we're working through and trying to get that light rail connected to Utah County. We're right now working with a company that does micro transit services. And so it's essentially like, it's kind of like Uber for transit, where you download the app through our transit provider, uta, and you can schedule a ride and it'll connect you to the different transit options, it'll connect you to trains or buses to get you to your destination, but then also solve that first last mile problem where you have a van that can get you from the station to your destination. And so we actually are doing a really big partnership with our transit authority in Utah county right now. The county is funding a significant portion of it, but that's going to give us a lot of the data that we need to, to let the state know, hey, we need additional resources to get, get the trains down here, get the light rail down here. Because we're expanding not only our, our ground transit options, but we've recently invested. We have an airport in Provo.

The county's invested $79 million into expanding that airport and providing kind of like a second hub to the Salt Lake International Airport so that you can have more, more trips in and out.

Yeah, you have the Utah. Yeah, the Utah Jazz. So you have NBA, which is just kind of like on an island there. You. What are the sports, other than collegiate sports that our listeners may not be aware of, that exists in the Utah region?

Yeah, NHL. We have the Utah Mammoth now. It's a new hockey team. We are very excited about them. This is our second year of having the Utah Mammoth here. And with all the eyes on the gold medal hockey game in the Olympics, we have one of our mammoth players on the team and so excited to see the success of that team. And we're hoping to bring that excitement to the 2034 Olympics as well. Of course, we've got the 2030 Olympics before that, but we're very excited about how much hockey is just growing as a sport home and state.

How soon would the infrastructure investments and for the facilities that you will be adding, I know you all benefited from last Olympics and the things that were built in, how soon will all of those things really take off to build the, preparing for the Olympians to be there, the building of the villages and all that goes with the Olympics.

Yeah. After the US Hosts the Summer Olympics in la, that's when all eyes will kind of go towards Utah as that'll be our next US Venue. But it's great. We've actually kept our Olympic facilities in really good shape since the 2002 Olympics and that's given us a leg up on being able to, to meet the demand and meet the needs. But we'll definitely need to add more in the 2002. We had a big focus on Salt Lake for 2034. We've got the name as the Utah 2034 Olympics because we'll have multiple counties involved. We've got an Olympic venue in Provo that will actually host, host games at.

And we're very excited to connect more of the counties together through the Olympics as well and have a little bit of one time investment in infrastructure focused on the long term benefits. That's how we're able to build such an amazing transit system. Is using the Olympics as a catalyst to continue to grow our transit system for a long term impact and not just spending all this money for a three week period or four week period for the Games.

If I go to Salt Lake City or I'm in Utah County, I'm gonna say Utah County. What restaurant, what type of food is a must in Provo? What is, what is the food in Provo that I absolutely should have next time if I happen to be in Utah County?

Yeah, there, there are actually a lot of options. That is one thing it's interesting. You know, Utah is not a big, not well known for, you know, having lots of bars and drinking and stuff. There are those options for sure. But we recently actually had a gentleman come by who's big into the Big 12 sports and he said, you know, Utah is great. It's like, I won't drink, but I'll eat. You have so many places to eat. And I think a lot of it comes from.

We have a lot of our population that's traveled the world and that comes back to live in Utah. And they, they bring restaurants with them. They bring different, different cuisines from all over the US all over the world. We have amazing international cuisine actually in Provo. And so you really can't go wrong with anything. Just go to Provo center street and there's, I think it's the most concentrated. I know it's in the state, but it's one of the most concentrated areas of independently owned Restaurants, So. So no chains, really, on that Center Street.

You can just walk through and. And go to really, any. Any of those restaurants in our downtown scene in Provo.

Come on. You almost sound like a certified tour ambassador who's trained to say they're all good. Come, come. Tell me one type of food. What's your favorite?

My favorite is actually what's your favorite Southern eats in Utah. So station 22 and in. In Provo, that's. You got chicken waffles in Provo. People almost don't believe it when they hear it, but it is. It is amazing.

Chicken and waffles in Provo.

That's right.

Southern Provo. They got greens in Provo. In Provo, yeah. Okay.

Yeah, it's. It's one of the unique gra.

Fried chicken and Provo.

There. There's grape fried chicken and Provo grits. Yeah, they got grits.

Got grits.

Yeah. People that believe at Joe's Cafe, he makes a mean grits that's just an orum just up the street from Provo.

But now when we talk about grits. When we talk about grits, please tell me salt, pepper, and butter and not sugar.

Well, he's got both options.

Oh, yeah. Oh, no.

I go for the salt. Pepper.

We can't. We can't.

I go for the sugar. But some people love the salt.

We can't be doing no sugar and no grits. That's gonna hurt the legitimacy of Utah county if that word leak out that they putting sugar and grits in Utah. If you gonna be legit, it's gotta be salt, pepper, and butter.

We got all options.

I'm biased. I'm just gonna say it. This is my podcast. We ain't talking about no sugar and no grits on top of the county podcast. We just aren't doing that, Ezra. We ain't doing it. We ain't doing it. Now, what do you do for leisure? What is the top leisure, Everyone? One of the things Utah is known for is the Salt Lake.

The Sundance Film Festival.

Yeah.

Just north of. I think it's north. I think I got my geography right. North of the Salt Lake area for the Sundance Film Festival.

Sundance is fantastic. So actually, this is. I'm glad you brought this up. This is best kept secret of Utah County. Sundance is actually in Utah County. The area that Robert Redford bought and called home is in Utah county, and that's where the Sundance Film Festival originated from. But Sundance is actually a beautiful mountain resort in Utah County. It's in unincorporated county.

And so we are Great partners with them and help them with a lot of their needs as well. There's a new resort out there that we've helped fund. A good portion of it is going towards a veterans program to help veterans with PTSD or different challenges from serving. But it's an amazing resort. It's right in the mountains. It's very peaceful, tranquil. But that's where the Sundance Film Festival started. And then it kind of outgrew the resort a little bit.

So a lot of it's in Park City, but now it's moved to Colorado, but we're hoping it comes back eventually. But really the roots started out in Utah county in that Sundance Mountain resort.

Yeah. The skiing scene is also something that's big in Utah.

Yes.

Do you ski?

No, I don't. I like not breaking my legs. I tried to avoid extreme sports for. For my long term health.

You don't snowball?

I used to, but hung up the snowboard very, very quickly. I didn't even go for that many times, but I think I just fell over too many times. I was like, you know what? I like the hiking and I'll just enjoy the scenery and not have to risk my life every time.

I avoid the steep hills and all of that speed.

Yes.

Okay. Okay, that's fair. What would a person, not that we haven't covered would not realize that is abundant in Utah County?

Oh, that's a great question. You know, our farm scene is pretty amazing. Utah county is one of those unique counties that has a great mix of rural and urban living. Because we're growing so fast, we have a lot of land area. But at the county, we try to help maintain some of the farmland that we have. We have a fund that helps support those farms as development pressures come in. So people can still, you know, learn about where their food comes from. People can still have local food options.

We have many great farms. We're actually the second biggest tart cherry producer in, I think in the country in Utah County. And so farming and agriculture is very big in the county, despite having all the amenities of a wonderful urban.

So everybody that got painless joints in Utah county, then with the tart cherry juice?

I guess so, yeah. Everything's great. I mean, we try to keep our people healthy by having local food and those options.

Now talk about that. That is one of the things that is part of the economic development message for the state of Utah is that you all are one of the healthiest states in the country as far as diabetes, cancer rates, all of those things. Talk a Little bit about what makes that be the case.

Yeah, a lot of innovative health solutions. We have healthcare providers. Healthcare is a huge industry in Utah and especially in the county as well. And as we just continue our medical research and focus on healthy habits, it's easy to get outdoors in Utah just because you have so many different recreational environments within such a short drive or such a short bike ride or walk. We have a lot of investment in our trail network. We're just continuing to focus on that outdoor recreation and help people get the sunshine they need, get outside. We also have a young population as well. We mentioned that before.

That. That definitely helps. But having kids around just keeps you young and hard. At least I've got a few kids of my own that keep me very busy and very active.

What's the average household size in Utah County?

Oh, that's a good question. I don't know exactly off the top of my head, but I think you'll find most families, three, four, five kids is not. That's kind of the norm.

Three, four. Yeah, I asked the question. Yeah. You said there's a lot of kids around.

Yep.

So as a result of that, what types of industries are there that cater specifically to families? Because you got kids, they got to. I know there's plenty of outdoor activities, but kids need to move, kids need stimulation.

Yeah, yeah. We have a lot of trampoline parks, a lot of indoor playgrounds, arcades. You know, some of the things that, you know, I don't really remember seeing too much back in Illinois, but there's. There's tons of recreational opportunities, a lot of demand for that. And so that's really one of those unique industries, I guess, that have kind of grown as well. You know, they don't necessarily make all the national headlines.

Right.

They're staples of our community as well.

How much emphasis in time is placed on public safety? Talk a little bit about that.

Yeah, we want to keep our community the safest as possible. Utah county, we're known for investing a lot in our public safety efforts and really focusing most of the county efforts towards public safety. 80% of all our budget and operation goes directly to public safety. And we take pride in that in Utah County. And we want to make sure, first and foremost, we're keeping a safe environment for families. And investing in that is when individuals,

unfortunately, have contact with the criminal justice system and they are placed under custody. Is that under the city or the county is responsible for your jail slash correctional facilities?

Yep, that's the county jail. And also the county is the board of our mental health resources as well. Our behavioral health facilities, we call it is run through the county as well. Receives a lot of state funding, but the county supports greatly and directs the board as well for those efforts and those work hand in hand. Public safety and. And mental health resources, criminal justice, it all all works together. And the county is, is the main, the main contact for all those.

What is, what, what's the size of your. Your jail in. In Utah County?

Yeah, it's, it's expanding fast. So we've got roughly 2,000 beds and we are probably needing to expand again shortly here. It's, it's interesting as the county has urbanized and, and continue to grow. You know, we're almost 800,000 residents and it's, it's. It's shocking to see, you know, how much has changed. Our jail is actually featured on. Can't remember the network, but 60 days in that television show.

Yeah.

Had a whole series on our county jail. And, and so if you want to learn more about the jail, that's a great one to watch.

Okay. Americans love football. The NFL is extremely popular sport. What is the team of that most Utahans root for?

It's interesting. Yeah. So it used to be the Broncos. That was kind of our closest team, but ever since the Raiders moved to Vegas that the growing one a little more popular. But I know a lot of people in our county would love to see an NFL team in Utah. Not sure when or if we'll get there, but we're, we're just excited about having hockey right now.

What is the. You in the Utah Mammoth is NHL.

Yes.

Okay. Yeah. So they should, they should. I should be looking for that. See whether they come in and play the Columbus Blue Jackets because I don't think they've been in yet.

Might be the case. But

that's, that's, that's cool. Baseball. Is there a minor league baseball in. In Utah?

Yeah, we have the Salt Lake Bees. That's our minor league team, the Salt Lake Bees. And they're relocating. They recently relocated to a little bit closer to Utah County. Not quite in Utah county yet. Make a home for them there, but not quite.

What's the combined population of Salt Lake county and Utah county together?

Two million people.

Two million people.

Yep.

So that's, that's made. Yeah, that's major metro right there.

Yep.

When you put them two together especially.

Yeah.

Reality tv. What reality TV is. It seems like Utah is a hotbed for you reality tv. Why is that?

I honestly, I don't know people. I think Just think we're, we're a fascinating bunch. It's, it's very interesting seeing the dynamic of kind of a formerly religious, only religious community kind of blossom into, into a lot of different cultures all meeting together. But I think just the diversity of cultures that we brought to Utah. A lot of people call Utah home that, that I grew up in different areas and so it makes for unique television, I guess.

Yeah. What, you know, what part of Utah do they film? Housewives of Salt Lake City.

I think that's mostly in Salt Lake, but I have no idea. I'm sure they're, they're spending some time in Utah County. We've even got the Bachelorette is from Utah.

Now they'd be misbehaving on that Reality TV folks be misbehaving. They ain't living by the code, by the code of conduct and Utah just acting up.

You know, reality TV is interesting. It definitely highlights the more interesting things.

Yeah, the more interesting things definitely for sure.

For the most part just enjoy it without having to deal with all that.

So you, what's, you know, Spotify, Apple music, what's your thing, what's your jam? What type of music you like to listen to?

Oh, I like all kinds of music but love hip hop. Podcasts. I mostly listen to podcasts. That's probably my main, main thing. If I'm driving in the car, I'm listening to a podcast, whether it's about credit unions, about counties, and this one I'll have to add to my, my list for sure.

Oh, definitely talk of the county to your podcast. We got a whole catalog, got two seasons so you can catch up.

Well, I'm excited.

Start with season one through 40. So we gonna, we gonna definitely make sure we make this available for you. Yeah, podcasts are definitely what's up right now. So I'm, I'm going to ask you a question that I always ask and I think that I got an idea of what I what assume the answer going to be. If they ask you beach or mountains, which one you, which way you lean?

Oh, mountains for sure.

I mean, I mean they out, probably out your window every day. You can't, you can't, you can't miss.

Well, that's the interesting thing about Utah is that, you know, I'm actually closer to the beach side, but they're both within a 30 minute span. So I've got beaches on Utah Lake. We're working on improving those. The county's invested in some, some projects to improve the lakeshore of Utah Lake. But then the mountains are amazing. We're just short drive from the mountains. Such an incredible, incredible thing to have. And it's, and it's really interesting how the mountains and the valleys kind of combine to have such a unique living environment where we can enjoy both in a day.

I mean, you can be hiking the mountains and jet skiing in the next minute.

Yeah. I like to venture away from Franklin county and allow my podcast to expose people to other areas. So I so much appreciate your time in sharing about life in Utah county and the unique things there. So as we close our office, always provide the floor to my guests to any closing remarks, any final words, any, any fun facts about your county that you want to leave on the record for podcast listeners.

Yeah, Utah county, it's a fantastic place. We really love it. It's heavily rooted in our community values, but it's vibrant with opportunity. That's the kind of tagline for our strategic plan that, that we've put together and we'll be approving next month. And so we're very excited about that and, and just showcasing the opportunities that we have for growth in the county. And it's a great place to visit. We'd love for you to come. Stay.

We continue to advertise Utah Valley. Explore. Utah Valley is our, our Visitors and Convention Bureau moniker. And it's. There's so many places to explore in Utah county and in the state really too.

What I love about the national association of Counties Naco is there's 3,069 counties. And if you've seen one county, Naco, say if you've seen one county, we all are unique and we all have different characteristics. And by my involvement in naco, I get an opportunity to meet so many great people like yourself that we all come from different places and we land in different counties and we all are going through a tour of learning, so to speak. And we're dedicated, most importantly, dedicated to service, dedicated to making our communities better. And county government is the most important level of government. I'm biased, but it's the most important level of government. Point blank period. So I want to thank you for spending this brief amount of time with us.

And as we conclude, as I always close out saying, do you. Because nobody else has time to thank you.