Salt Lake City will likely have a replacement for departing council member Amy Fowler before she sees her DUI case resolved in court.
A Springville judge agreed to bump Thursday’s scheduled court date back to July 20.
For their part, council members intend to fill the soon-to-be-vacant east-side seat by July 18.
“I need some additional time to get with the city on this case,” Fowler’s attorney Skye Lazaro said at a brief virtual hearing Thursday, “and see if we can’t work something out.”
Fowler will resign her elected position on July 3, after announcing last week that she will stay in her part-time council seat as the city wraps up its fiscal 2024 budget on June 13.
Council members agreed this week to accept applications to replace her from June 26 through July 10.
The council intends to hold public interviews with candidates July 13. A new representative for District 7, which includes the Sugar House area, could be selected that day.
If needed, the council could finish interviews and pick a replacement July 18. The council will appoint a new representative by majority vote.
That self-imposed deadline is weeks earlier than the Aug. 2 deadline the council faces under state law, which requires a replacement to be appointed within 30 days of a seat becoming vacant.
Fowler’s successor will serve through at least year’s end. District 7 then will hold an election in November to decide who will serve the remaining two years of Fowler’s second term.
Fowler’s resignation date falls two months after her May 3 arrest in Springville on suspicion of driving under the influence.
The Utah Highway Patrol has said Fowler was involved in a collision on Interstate 15 in Murray about two hours before she was taken into custody some 40 miles away in Utah County.
The outgoing council member told a trooper that she did not stop after the crash, according to a law enforcement report, because she did not think the other driver had done so.
After initially denying consuming any alcohol and refusing to submit to sobriety tests, the report added, Fowler agreed to be tested.
Her breath test, according to the report, registered 0.111, more than double Utah’s legal limit of 0.05.
Nearly a week later, Fowler publicly said her arrest was an “eye-opening” experience that made her reflect on her “relationship with alcohol.” She initially vowed to remain in her position and rebuild trust.
Fowler’s arrest came six minutes before she was supposed to appear in a Manti court in Sanpete County to represent a client in an assault case. She announced her resignation hours after The Salt Lake Tribune asked her to comment on missing the court hearing.
