Uintah County Deputy Attorney Jonathan Stearmer has put in his resignation notice with plans to stay local while moving to private practice by the end of the year. Stearmer’s career representing local government began in 2007 with Duchesne County before moving to represent Uintah County starting in 2011. Stearmer says his private practice will focus on public lands and land use matters, utilizing technology to work remotely much of the time. This means the Civil side of the Uintah County Attorney’s Office will be on the hunt for a replacement as there used to be 2 attorneys there but had changed in the last year to 1 attorney, 1 paralegal, and 1 assistant. Stearmer has played a role in many upgrades and accomplishments within the County. A few to mention are preserving public lands access, building medical services at the jail, increased accountability with Centrally Assessed taxes, and assisting the legal team of the Uinta Basin Railway. Stearmer himself is a local history fan and had the idea behind the John Wesley Powell River Festival, something he’s proud of while clarifying that all credit for the festival’s development and success goes to the Uintah County Travel and Tourism team. Stearmer says he has really enjoyed working for Uintah County. “I’m a massive fan of local government,” he shares. “I think that’s where we can do the most good is in our own communities instead of trying to solve long distance problems in far away lands. If we focus on each other at a local level it would be amazing.” Finally, in parting, Stearmer has some statements he has picked up on and applies to the way he advises clients. First is to “play nice in the sandbox” and second is to remember “we can absorb stupid”. What that means is if the person you are dealing with just made a stupid mistake, not a malicious or overly damaging one, then the best thing to do is just absorb it and move on. Good luck to soon-to-be former Uintah County Deputy Attorney Jonathan Stearmer on all future endeavors.
