Building up community: 2023 Exemplary Public Servant Jeff Martin

Jeff Martin literally dove into a career in public service in high school, becoming a lifeguard for Murray City Corporation (Murray City), Utah, a job he kept through college. “Then I left for a brief stint to work in the automotive industry and ended up coming back to manage the pools in our city,” Martin says. “And then about 2017, they created the facilities division, and I was lucky enough to become manager of that.”

Jeff Martin

As facilities manager, Martin oversaw the design and construction of Murray City’s new city hall building, which serves as part of the revitalization of the city’s downtown area. His dedication to that project and the growth of Murray City is why Martin has been selected as one of American City & County’s Exemplary Public Servants for 2023.

The city had been using an old, renovated school building as its city hall, administrative offices and council meetings, but according to Martin, the city had outgrown the space, and it needed extensive renovations and upgrades. The city also had an old downtown district they were trying to revitalize. That project began about 10 years ago, with the city purchasing properties through a redevelopment agency, and they decided to put the new city hall building there.

And the new building had to be special. “We really wanted a space that would obviously service the needs that we have currently, but also for the future,” Martin says. “And then make it an area that the whole community would be able to utilize. You know, having transparent government, collaboration with our community, just allowing them to utilize this space. We incorporated a new area called Festival Street and Plaza that we’ve already held several events in, which has been fun for the community.”

Getting the community involved in the new city hall was a priority from the beginning, from master plans and surveys, to focus group meetings, and the city council and city representatives steering the direction of the city hall build itself from the design to how it would be used. “This is our building,” Martin says. “Being a resident of Murray City myself, my tax money is going into this project, and it’s designed to be there for the foreseeable future. So, we wanted to make sure that everyone had an interest in it and was excited about the project moving forward and revitalizing our downtown area.”

The design of the city hall by GSBS Architects reflects the community in many ways. The circular exterior wall of the council chamber is made of copper, an ode to a smelter from Murray City. “And that’s kind of how the city really got started,” Martin says. “So that smelting background is really a key element in it, so incorporating that copper into the building is kind of neat. And it just catches your eye and draws you into it.”

The council chamber is large and inviting, featuring a lot of wood and brickwork to honor another member of the community, John P. Cahoon, who founded the nation’s first commercial brick manufacturing plant in 1878, which became Interstate Brick Co. in 1939.

The project was not without hiccups. First, there was a more than 50-foot-high cell tower on the site that had to be relocated. “And that’s no small task in and of itself,” Martin says. “I think the process on that started probably five years before we even began breaking ground on the building. And when we broke ground, it was still there. So, it was difficult to get through that, and work through those delays.”

And then there was COVID. Martin credits his procurement teams for getting to work, along with collaboration with MOCA and Layton Construction Co. “Luckily, through our contractor and architect, we were able to push along, get a lot of the products and supplies ordered and on-site ahead of when everything shut down,” he says. “So, it actually saved the community quite a bit that we were able to get started and push through it before everything really did have to shut down. And then obviously, the delays and cost escalation that happened after, we saved quite a bit of money, because we did that.”

The new Murray City Hall officially opened in June 2023, housing the city council chambers, the police department headquarters and meeting space.

“Overall, I think we’ve had some really positive feedback about the building and design,” Martin says. “We’ve got a lot more space there for our meetings that we’ve held. We’ve held volunteer group dinners and our board of commissions dinners, where we never would have had the room or space at our old building to do that. It’s been nice having this facility and the grounds really are inviting.”

Now that the city hall is complete, Martin is continuing to work on projects that will improve Murray City’s downtown district, including the renovation of the nearby Cahoon Mansion, which was built in 1900 and purchased by the city in 2017. The renovated brick building will become the city’s new museum space. According to Martin, the project should be completed by the end of the year.

“It’s right across the street from the plaza, so it’ll be another thing to bring our community together in that same space,” Martin says. “And then just about a block and a half away from the city hall building, we have the historic Murray Theatre, which was built in the 1930s. We’re renovating that, to bring it back to that same Art Deco styling. It should look really cool renovated.”

Renovations include adding a larger stage, so it will serve as both a movie theater and a space for live performances. Martin says that when completed, the new Murray Theatre could be added as a location for the annual Sundance Film Festival, headquartered in nearby Park City.

“They have a lot of other theaters in the Salt Lake Valley, not just Park City, that host the films. They’re excited to have another facility to use. It should seat about 300 people, and it will really bring the community together, to have an indoor auditorium, even for those live performances that we host throughout the year.”

Martin also is supervising the transformation of a former armory surplus building into a rental event space located near Murray Park.

“I’ve got a little bit happening,” Martin says, laughing. He’s excited to see how much has changed, and the progress the city has made.

“I love the people of this community. When I was working at the rec center, I really got close with a lot of people that would come to utilize our rec center. It’s just a really tight-knit kind of close community. It seems like you know everybody here in our city, and it’s awesome to be able to work in this job, and it’s really rewarding.”