Building Utah’s Future: Youth, Community, and Leadership with James Ebert

 

In this episode of the PoliticIt Podcast, host Senator John D. Johnson sits down with James Ebert to discuss what long term community leadership looks like when it is shaped by frontline experience. Drawing on Ebert’s career in law enforcement, county government, and nonprofit leadership, the conversation explores how public safety, behavioral health, economic development, and youth investment intersect, and why prevention rather than reaction produces stronger communities.

PoliticIt Radio – Twenty Two Years

What follows reflects that conversation as it unfolded, including a significant announcement Ebert makes publicly for the first time.

From Riverton to Public Service

Ebert describes a career path shaped less by ambition than by experience. Raised in the Riverton area and a graduate of Bingham High School, his early years included college in Dixie and time working in elevator construction in Las Vegas. Those experiences preceded his return to Utah, where he put himself through the police academy and entered law enforcement.

He explains how those varied chapters helped form a practical leadership style grounded in direct exposure to work, responsibility, and people navigating real world pressures. That perspective later influenced how he approached public service at broader levels of government.

After joining the Riverdale Police Department, Ebert spent 22 years serving the community. Day to day police work, he explains, provided an unfiltered view of how addiction, behavioral health challenges, and poverty play out in families and neighborhoods. Those encounters became foundational to how he later thought about policy, budgets, and prevention.

Why a Police Officer Runs for County Commission

In the conversation, Johnson presses Ebert on his transition from municipal law enforcement into county politics. Ebert explains that while cities respond to immediate tactical problems, counties shape the policies and fund the services that influence long term outcomes.

The decision to run for county commission grew from that distinction. Law enforcement responds after crises occur. County government has the capacity to invest in the systems that determine how often those crises arise in the first place. That realization reframed how Ebert thought about public safety and public spending.

Shifting the Lens from Symptoms to Causes

While serving on the county commission, Ebert oversaw a portfolio that included both social services and economic development. In the episode, he emphasizes that this pairing is intentional.

Economic development creates stability and opportunity. Social services and behavioral health interventions reduce the conditions that drive repeated interaction with the criminal justice system. When those efforts operate in isolation, costs rise and outcomes stagnate. When coordinated, they reduce long term demand on public safety systems.

Ebert explains that county budgets tend to be heavily weighted toward corrections and law enforcement. Connecting that fiscal reality to its underlying causes led him to advocate for prevention focused investments, particularly those aimed at youth development.

Youth as the Long Term Solution: The Boys and Girls Clubs

After leaving elected office and briefly stepping away from public service, Ebert became Executive Director of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Weber Davis. In the conversation, he describes the move as a continuation of the same philosophy rather than a departure from it.

Children and adolescents, he explains, are far more responsive to mentorship, structure, and opportunity than adults already entrenched in cycles of instability. Programs that provide academic support, social development, and positive relationships can redirect trajectories early.

Ebert summarizes that transition candidly.

“I went from law enforcement where nobody likes you to politics where 49 or 51 percent of the people like you to a nonprofit, Boys and Girls Club, where everybody loves you.”

Behavioral Health, Addiction, and Homelessness

Throughout the discussion, Ebert returns to the interconnected nature of behavioral health, addiction, homelessness, and criminal justice demand. From his law enforcement years, he saw firsthand that enforcement alone does not resolve underlying conditions.

He argues that effective responses require humane enforcement paired with accessible treatment and economic pathways that allow individuals to regain stability. Without those systems working together, communities repeatedly pay both in human cost and public expense.

The Budget Reality: Corrections and County Spending

One of the more sobering points Ebert raises involves county budgets. Approximately 51 percent of county spending goes toward corrections and associated sheriff functions. That concentration limits flexibility in areas such as mental health services, homelessness initiatives, and workforce development.

Ebert stresses that this is not an argument against public safety. It is an argument for reducing demand through prevention so that public safety resources can be used more effectively.

“If we have less demand for those services, the costs will naturally go down.”

Place Based Economic Development and Regional Coordination

The conversation also turns to economic development strategy. Ebert stresses the importance of regional coordination to avoid uneven growth patterns that leave some communities behind. Without coordination, regions risk creating pockets of distress that undermine broader economic gains.

Place based strategies align transportation, land use, workforce planning, and industry recruitment with quality of life investments such as housing, transit, and public amenities.

Taxes, Property Tax Pressure, and Fiscal Balance

Ebert explains that sales tax accounts for roughly 38 to 40 percent of county revenue, while property tax contributes about 32 to 35 percent. Property tax is particularly sensitive because it directly affects homeowners regardless of income or mortgage status.

A diversified economic strategy that expands the sales tax base can ease pressure on property tax while still funding essential services.

A Public Announcement: Running for County Commission

Near the conclusion of the episode, Ebert makes a significant announcement. For the first time publicly, he confirms that he is running again for a county commission seat he previously held.

He frames the decision not as a return to politics for its own sake, but as a continuation of unfinished work. The same priorities discussed throughout the conversation youth investment, behavioral health integration, prevention focused public safety, and long term economic strategy are the reasons he believes the moment calls for renewed service.

Closing Perspective

The conversation with James Ebert underscores a consistent theme. Effective leadership blends compassion with fiscal realism. Whether in law enforcement, county government, or nonprofit leadership, the objective remains the same: reduce downstream costs by addressing root causes early.

For communities navigating growth, budget pressure, and public safety challenges, the lesson is clear. Investing in youth, coordinating regionally, and integrating behavioral health with economic opportunity are practical strategies that strengthen communities and improve outcomes for generations.

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