KAYSVILLE, Utah — The controversy continues over a live concert planned in Kaysville.
Organizers said everyone was on board when they started making plans for the event, scheduled for May 30 in Barnes Park, but the Kaysville City Council members said they were not involved in the process.
Eric Moutsos, the Utah Business Revival organizer, said the events he’s held have been successful so far.
“We had over 3,000 people at our first event in Salt Lake City — no spikes in COVID,” said Moutsos.
Small businesses, said Moutsos, have also benefited from the concerts,
“Some of them were in tears, literally crying, because our revival helped them pay their bills that month,” said Moutsos.
For Kaysville, Moutsos said he has 65 businesses lined up to be there, in hopes to help revive Utah’s economy.
Yet, for Tamara Tran on the Kaysville City Council, she questions where those business are coming from.
“How many businesses are from Kaysville? How many local businesses are we able to support, potentially, through an event like this,” said Tran.
Kaysville City Council members support trekking the economy and helping out business, but Tran said the way things were handled by Mayor Katie Witt has her questioning why this wasn’t discussed at a city council meeting.
“We haven’t had any time to vote on anything,” said Tran. “At this point in time there’s nothing to vote on because they say there’s no applications.”
Mayor Katie Witt is running for Utah’s 1st congressional seat, something council member John Adams said may have influenced this.
“There’s a press release, using her tag line from her campaign,” said Adams. “Are you representing Mayor Witt? Or are you representing Katie Witt for Congress.”
City council members will meet together on Thursday, where they will sign a proclamation against the concert and discuss permits needed.
Without a permit, Adams said holding the concert in Kaysville will be breaking the law.
Pushing the envelope with the government, to Moutsos, is something that may need to happen.
“It’s not un-American to push back against our government and question the government,” said Moutsos. “It’s actually the most patriotic thing we could be doing right now.”
