Directing SLC with a careful touch: Cindy Gust-Jenson takes nonpartisan approach to guiding City Hall

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She may be the second most powerful person in Salt Lake City but chances are you've never heard of her.

A jackie-of-all-trades, this accomplished vegetable farmer from Magna had a radio gig, worked as a health-care administrator and an insurance agent and helped run Ted Wilson's failed campaign for U.S. Senate.

But Cindy Gust-Jenson has left behind the private sector and partisan politics. For the past 20 years, the modest manager of 13 staffers has quietly -- and quite apolitically -- guided policy through City Hall's legislative arm as the respected executive director of the City Council.

Besides meeting agendas, she oversees all contact with residents, shepherds the city's public processes and directs all policy analysis.

Both her mind and approach are as neat and measured as the plants and pictures in her uncluttered corner office.

"She's probably one of the most influential women in the state," says Council Chairman Carlton Christensen, a three-termer who marvels how Gust-Jenson handles the stresses of having "seven different bosses."

"There are few that could do the job as effectively as she does," he says. "But she's very careful to know what her limits are and not abuse that role."

Virtually every special-interest group, every neighborhood dispute, indeed, every city policy has crossed Gust-Jenson's path. That may explain her sober, even "rigid" style. "We have to be because there's a lot at risk," she says. "We can create a simple mistake as an office and it could create significant problems in the community."

Public policy analyst Russell Weeks lauds Gust-Jenson's skill in forging paths out of an impasse. "She remembers precedents and things that have worked in the past that can be shaped to address problems," he says. "Cindy has listened to just about every City Council member since, I think, 1988 and has tried to help each of them leave something for Salt Lake City. The power of power is giving."

Named executive director at age 28 -- when Palmer DePaulis was mayor -- Gust-Jenson, now 49, was deemed the least objectionable among a select field of candidates with pronounced council ties. It signaled a U-turn for the politically attuned overachiever who began her career with then-Mayor Ted Wilson, handled press for his Senate run, then ran a County Commission campaign.

"I was worn out," she says. "I was really excited to come to a nonpartisan job."

Steering the capital's legislative ship, Gust-Jenson has seen dozens of politicians take turns on the council deck and four mayors take the helm across the hall.

Jan Aramaki, a colleague of 14 years, praises her ability to juggle policies and personalities in a politically charged arena.

"I don't know how she does it," Aramaki says. "She really does have that finesse to balance."

Kay Christensen -- the city's senior budget and policy analyst and a friend of Gust-Jenson since Mayor Deedee Corradini's first term -- agrees.

"Nobody would be able to necessarily pigeonhole Cindy politically," she says. "Cindy knows everybody, works hard to know what's going on. Her power is through knowledge."

Gust-Jenson, who says "my job is on the line every single day," treats her objectivity like a religion.

"I'm always so careful to be really equitable," she says. "At any point, if I'm not cautious enough to work with everyone ... then I'm not employed."

And she carries that diplomacy into her personal life.

"Sometimes, we'll tease her and say, 'What do you think about such and such,' " aunt Joyce Young says. "She just always gives the middle-of-the-road answer. That's how she's stayed in her job as long as she has.

"Our family is Democratic. I assume she leans that way, but I don't know."

Growing up on the family farm, Gust-Jenson harvested and sold corn and tomatoes since she was 5. She also took frequent trips downtown -- "I've loved the city since I was a little kid," she says -- where she eventually met her husband of 27 years. The couple, along with their two daughters, have lived in Salt Lake City ever since.

After studying political science at the University of Utah, Gust-Jenson completed a business-administration degree at the University of Phoenix. She did research analysis for Wilson for three years, then served five years as communications director for the Utah Health Care Association before returning to the public sector.

These days, her passion is cooking, including baklava and other pastries, for her Greek family. Indeed, she insists she is more comfortable in the kitchen than with the crowd at public functions.

"I don't have the personality to be at the forefront."

Gust-Jenson also takes issue with her level of influence. "I'd say I'm more a facilitator than a gatekeeper. There's nothing that comes through the door that we don't forward to the council -- and the volume is really high."

So is her work ethic. A night owl, Gust-Jenson often is up doing city business until 3 a.m. and, Young says, is "always on call."

"I've had to remind her at times to turn her cell phone off when she goes on vacation," Christensen says, "to relax a little bit."

But Gust-Jenson shows no sign of tiring. Smiling before a clock commemorating her 20 years of city service, she says she hopes to help run Utah's capital "as long as they'll let me."

"I don't have a desire to be elected, I just have a desire to do the work of the government."

Councilman Eric Jergensen attributes the longevity to Gust-Jenson's ability to ferret through intertwining issues with a clear voice.

"She's very good about making sure she treats everyone the same way," he says. "Even those with whom she might disagree."

But if she has enemies, she wouldn't tell you.

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