Trevor Olsen is new Mayor of Blanding

by David Boyle
News Director
Trevor Olsen will serve as the Blanding City Mayor starting January 2025. Olsen was appointed by members of the Blanding City Council at their December 10 meeting.
Olsen replaces outgoing Mayor Logan Monson, who will serve in the Utah House of Representatives starting in January after being elected to represent District 69 in November. The area includes San Juan, Grand, Garfield, Kane, Wayne and parts of Emery counties.
Olsen shared his thanks to Monson and his commitment moving forward following the appointment.
“Representative Logan Monson leaves large shoes to fill but I look forward to working with the City of Blanding,” said Olsen. “We have great city employees and Blanding City Council. I look forward to continuing the progress made over the past couple of years. Blanding is a special place we get to call home and it is my honor and privilege to serve.
“On behalf of the City, we thank Representative Monson for his time spent as Mayor of the City of Blanding and wish him the very best as he continues to serve as a Representative in a larger capacity.”
Three candidates were interviewed by members of the council in a public meeting. Robert Ogle and Sam Crane were also considered for the position.
During the meeting, Olsen shared his background as a near-lifelong Blanding resident. He and his wife Niki are the proud parents of Maddyn and Zoey.
Olsen works for the San Juan School District as the Student Services and Federal Programs Director.
He is a former Juvenile Justice Youth Services (JJYS) Counselor, Juvenile Probation Officer, School Counselor at Monticello Elementary, and School Administrator San Juan High.
Olsen has a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Utah Valley University, and a Masters degree in Educational Counseling and Educational Leadership, and an Educational Specialist Degree (Ed.S) from Arkansas State University.
Olsen most recent awards include “Promising Youth Award”, “Resilient Educator of the Year Award” and the University of Utah’s K12 Exceptional Administrator/Collaborator of the Year Award for his work in San Juan County Prevention and Education.
Olsen said he is actively involved in educational, nonprofit, service, youth, and community prevention coalition efforts and has served on the Blanding City Council and numerous committees on behalf of the City of Blanding.
At the meeting, Olsen shared that his professional work between the district, county entities, and federal programs has expanded his knowledge with both budgets and government systems, which he shared would be assets in the mayoral office.
“I want to get back involved and serve as mayor and serve the community and continue to make great things happen here in the city. I’m very supportive of the direction the city has gone and and the way that things are going and I would love to be involved with continuing that as mayor.”
Speaking while city council members wrote down their votes, outgoing Mayor Logan Monson shared his support for those who applied for the position.
“We have some very good options tonight,” said Monson. “All three of our candidates, thank you for being interested, for being willing to do this. It’s not an easy thing to even apply for something like this. I think that the city will be in good hands either way.”
Members of the City Council also offered their thanks and support of the candidates but ultimately unanimously cast votes for Olsen to serve as the next mayor of Blanding.
Olsen’s term will run through 2025. Filing for Blanding Mayor will be in late spring with a potential primary race in June of next year and a municipal election in November 2025.
At the December 10 meeting, council member Charlie Taylor reported on the awkward intersection of Highway 191, 200 East and Center Street.
Taylor said he met with a representative with the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) about the intersection and the triangle-shaped lot with a clock tower that the city has previously installed.
The city proposed a new veterans memorial there, but UDOT officials will not allow the memorial to be placed there. New plans for the proposed memorial is on city property by the visitor center.
Taylor asked UDOT why the city could install the clock tower in the first place, with the response being UDOT likely didn’t want the structure to begin with.
Taylor added that UDOT actually owns part of Center street and may be willing to abandon the right of way which could give options for the city to change the road to correct issues in the area.
Members of the council gave advice and consent for the city to explore the opportunity to have the state abandon the right of way.
At the meeting, council also had a brief report on a continued effort to look at rezoning requests. Currently the city requires property owners who are rezoning to notify neighbors of the property of a public hearing as well as a $100 fee to cover administrative fees.
At their November 26 meeting, council was amenable to eliminating the notification requirement, with City Manager Trent Herring noting that it’s the city’s job to interface with the public.
“That takes the burden off of the property owner, which could be a very uncomfortable thing,” said Herring.
At the December 10 meeting, Herring said that a recent rezone request gave the city the opportunity to know the cost of sending notices to neighboring property owners. Herring said the administrative costs would be covered by the $100 fee.
Members of the council were amenable to moving forward, with the city taking on contacting neighbors rather than applicants.
Administration and council thanked city staff for their work to light up the city for Christmas celebrations.